With the Testarossa, Ferrari said goodbye to the seductive curves of its predecessor. This new flagship had angular styling, distinctive fins at cooling vents and an aggressive wedge shape. And it would become one of Maranello's best-selling supercars, thanks in part to an iconic TV series ...
Text: Gerben Bijpost Photography: Keno Zache ©2023 Courtesy of RM Sotheby's
If there has been one TV series that the Ferrari glamour burned into the retinas of many a viewer, it was the one with Ricardo Tubbs and Sonny Crockett as the world's best-dressed villain catchers in a pastel-coloured world. Although Tom Selleck in his mustachioed lead role also made a nice contribution. In the 1980s, there were two TV series you didn't want to miss a week (binge-watching had yet to be invented): Magnum P.I. and Miami Vice. Not only because the protagonists were so cool, but also because they had cars under their asses that you could only look at with envy. Chasing crooks in a Ferrari, who wouldn't want that.
Fake Ferrari
In the first two seasons of Miami Vice, Don Johnson aka Sonny Crockett still drove a black Ferrari Daytona Spyder 365 GTS. Tough, but connoisseurs must have seen it: this was not a real thoroughbred from Italy, but merely a replica. Indeed, Ferrari North America had turned down the Miami Vice producer's request for authentic Ferraris. As they had already done to Magnum, PI, forcing that production to purchase 308 GTSs. So the 'Ferraris' used in the first two seasons of Miami Vice were actually Corvettes fitted with fibreglass body panels to make them look like a Ferrari Daytona Spyder from the early 1970s.
Time for a real Ferrari Testarossa
At some point, Ferrari must have started scratching behind its ears. After all, the series was a mega-success and perhaps the manufacturer was afraid that soon everyone would want to drive around in a replica, instead of opting for the real thing. And so Ferrari filed a lawsuit forcing the builder of the replicas to stop producing and selling its fakes. At the same time, Miami Vice accepted Ferrari's offer of two free 1986 Testarossas on condition that the replicas were destroyed.
The introduction
This resulted in a scene in the second episode of the third season in which Sonny Crockett complains to his chief Lieutenant Castillo about driving vehicles that did not fit his cover as a high-roller drug dealer. Castillo then replies in his trademark soft voice: "He's behind."
There, to his delight, Crockett finds a new white Ferrari Testarossa. What Crockett does not know -because it took place in the real world and not in his fictional one- is that the Testarossas donated by Ferrari North America were originally metallic black, but were painted white for the series. Several reasons were given for this. There were whispers that Don Johnson might have driven damage on the set, so one of the cars needed a new coat of paint. But more plausible sounds the explanation that producer Michael Mann felt that a white paint job would make the Testarossa look even better in the various night scenes. With that, he had a point. And it certainly didn't hurt this car's iconic status.
Sister car
The Testarossas used in Miami Vice still exist and are treasured by collectors today. The one you see on these pages never had the pleasure of appearing in this TV series, but it is a full-blooded brother of those famous ones. There is even a chance that this car was once transported to the US on the same container ship as Crockett's Testarossa, as it dates from the same year, namely early 1986. Its full name is Ferrari Testarossa 'Monospecchio'.
Indeed, the earliest examples of these Ferraris are easily recognised by their characteristic A-pillar-mounted driver's mirror, which protrudes conspicuously beyond the silhouette of the car. Hence the addition 'Monospecchio', or single-mirror. What's more, it gives this example its original black colour, which makes it more original than any car Crockett ever drove. So if at the time you watched the men from Miami Vice with envy and thought that your driving skills would surpass Crockett's many times over, grab your chance now, because this first-generation Testarossa with chassis number 63349 is currently for sale. Get in, tear away with it and, above all, make yourself heard: "Freeze! Miami Vice!"
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