Cars
Best of the Best
The Peninsula Classics Best of the Best Award brings together nine select concours winners from the previous 12 months. Simply to be invited is an honour. The winner earns a place among some of the greatest classic vehicles of all. Held at luxury hotel The Peninsula Paris, this year’s event was won by a Ferrari 250 LM as painstakingly restored by Ferrari Classiche.
“I am truly humbled to receive this distinguished award,” said owner Chris Cox. “It brings me tremendous joy to show a vehicle with such a rich history at the world’s biggest concours, and being selected for The Peninsula Classics Best of the Best Award is the highest honour a car collector can achieve.”
The Peninsula Classics Best of the Best award pits nine select concours winners from the last 12 months against each other
First presented at the Paris Motor Show in 1963, the 250 LM took the foundations of the mid-engined, open-cockpit 250 P racing prototype and enclosed them in Berlinetta bodywork designed by Pininfarina and hand-finished by coachbuilder Scaglietti. An outright win against racing prototypes at the 1965 24 Hours of Le Mans underlined the astounding capability of this road-legal racecar.
Number 13 of only 32 examples ever produced, the Best of the Best Award winner was delivered new to British distributor Maranello Concessionaires in October 1964. Race wins followed at Brands Hatch, Snetterton and Silverstone between 1965 and 1967 and it contested the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1966 and the 1968 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Renowned collector Chris Cox purchased chassis number 6053 in 2018, later treating it to a comprehensive restoration at Ferrari Classiche in 2021. Resplendent in Rosso Cina paint over Bleu Cloth upholstery, still equipped with the 3.3-litre V12 and transaxle with which it contested Le Mans, this noted 250 LM won Best in Show at the Cavallino Classic Concorso d’Eleganza in 2024.
Number 13 of just 32 examples, chassis number 6053 raced at Le Mans and Daytona
That win paved the way for invitation to the Peninsula Classics Best of the Best Award, where a distinguished panel of judges – Jean Todt, Ralph Lauren and Jay Leno among them – declared chassis number 6053 Best of the Best.
“The winning 1964 Ferrari 250 LM is much more than just a stunning vehicle,” said Christian Philippsen, co-founder of The Peninsula Classics Best of the Best Award. “This is one of Ferrari’s most revolutionary models, with a rich competitive history and incredible provenance. We are thrilled to honour a motorsport legend of this calibre as this year’s Best of the Best.”