1964 Ferrari LM short nose

Reconstructed LM 6045

This is LM 6045 when Peter Roelofs (Holland) received it from Fossil Motorsports who had reconstructed it from parts salvaged from the burned original, plus a new frame and body. The rusty water radiator, engine block and much of the suspension were original. Immediately behind the water radiator is the aluminum oil tank. I was the second owner after Roelofs finished the car.

This photo and the above photo show a lot of the frame triangulation. The frame extends upward to form a roll bar hoop behind the driver.

Frame triangulation is deeper (and therefore stiffer) around the engine. The center of mass is concentrated between the longitudinal wheelbase by locating the fuel tanks on each side of the engine. The large tank in the lower foreground is just an oil breather catch tank. The original cars didn't have the blue and red AN line fittings. The tires are Dunlap vintage racing, replicas of tires of that period.

The raised height of the rear bodywork limits interior work spaces with ceilings in excess of 11 feet.

This was a jewel of a car in that it was beautifully designed and constructed. It was also a tremendous pain in that the gearbox broke before I even received the car. The box had a reverse gear added as an afterthought and was easy to break and drop parts into the rest of the gearbox. The car was not really designed to be driven on the street, though that is exactly what I did with it. As far as a piece of sculpture, I can't think of a prettier car.

Here you can see the wrap-around front windshield, which Peter Brock copied on the Super Coupe. You can also see the Kamm-type rear cockpit area and the integrated flip-up rear deck spoiler. The LM could probably stay with a racing 289 Cobra in acceleration, but it would easily outhandle the roadster on a short-course and outhandle the coupe in all courses except those with high-speed turns, see text accompanying the following two pictures.

The small plexiglass scoops immediated in front of the front windshield direct air down on the driver and passenger footboxes. The scoops on top of the rear fenders direct air down on the rear brakes and to the engine cold-air box. This was the first production body configuration of the LM, the "short nose".

The problem with the short nose LM was that the nose lifted at speed (see the book, page 337).