The original, original supercar: Ferrari 250 LM Stradale

31 Mar 2018

For those who believe the Miura is the original supercar: I believe that this is in fact the original supercar. The Miura is the first car to have a transversally mounted V12, mid-engined cars date back to the ‘40s. What people forget is that FIA required cars to be homologated before they’d be allowed to participate in the 24 Hueres du Mans, and though Ferrari shifted the requirements slightly with the 250 GTO (ironic, isn’t it?), they too, required their cars to be homologated. Meaning that, yes, the 250LM also has road-going versions. Named the Stradale, just like the Alfa 33 Stradale that came out a year later.

Of the 32 total 250 LMs, 1 was a Stradale from the factory (the white one above), 1 was turned into a semi-stradale in 1967 (originally raced, given the plexiglass rear window (like the white one has) but with regular body underneath), and the remaining 30 remained to be road-legal race cars.

So, what do you believe to be the first supercar?

Comments

Brit Car Driver how about you? ;)

Lol. So…I’m putting on my flame suit, about to drop some strong opinions. I’ve always been of the mindset that there can be front engined supercars, so long as they aren’t just very fast GT’s. The 250 GTO is a good example, superlative speed compared to its peers, better handling, lighter, etc. The 250 Lusso, is a GT, not a supercar, even though it is built on a similar chassis and has the same engine in a different state of tune. The character to me defines the classification. I also believe that a true supercar should not be a super version of a more common sportscar, but rather a dedicated platform or a detuned/homoligated race car. Example being a Corvette Z06. Sure, crazy fast and offers supercar performance…but is not a supercar. A 288 GTO, however, is a homoligation of a Group B race car…supercar. 458 Italia, around the same performance as a C7 ZO6, but it is a dedicated platform…supercar.

I didn’t know about the 250 LM until this post, but I love it, and if we are going by the mid-engine definition then I agree it was the first. I still think though that there are front engined supercars, and the first, for me, is the Mercedes 300SL. A racecar for the road, glamourous, exotic, had wild doors, and was the fastest car in the world. Next for me would be the Jaguar XKSS. Literally a D-Type LeMans winning racecars converted for road use. Super limited production, exotic construction, and definitely not a GT car, but head and shoulders above just about any other sports car available at the time. So, I think the supercar formula started to come together in the 50’s and really got perfected with the 250 LM, Tipo 33 Stradale, and Miura.

Haha, also just realized that’s probably because of my post earlier about the Miura. It seems to be the generally accepted “original supercar” so I still often call it that.

Stunning

I know I may sound a bit weird in saying this, but how about the Mercedes Simplex? It was simple to operate, luxurious, and fast at the time, which, in combination, make it a worthy candidate for the first supercar. There were performance cars before it, sure, but they were all hard to operate, making them more race car than supercar.

I’d say the problem is that people wouldn’t consider it a supercar because of its layout, though the bit of “luxurious” would also be a reason, I mean… I wouldn’t exactly say a Ferrari 488 Pista is very luxurious, even less so; today’s hypercars, like the McLaren P1, I mean… Clarkson even said it’s as well equipped as a pair of monk’s underpants.