Thank goodness Ferrari isn’t British then, as the “Ferrari Ginger” doesn’t have nearly the same ring to it…I’ve gotten quite adept over the years at spotting cars out of the corner of my eye while sitting at a light, snapping my hand down, grabbing the phone, pulling it up, turning it on and snapping off a couple of shots while barely aiming it between the other cars in the way, all before my wife often even has an inkling as to what is going on. And so it was a few days ago on a hot summer morning as I spotted a great example of every 1980’s schoolboy’s fantasy car turning left in front of me.
The above shot is my first one, of course the Ferrari somehow gets lost between the two other coincidentally red cars framing it but still manages to look exciting and different from everything else. The lead shot is a crop of my second shot, seen in full below.
Released in 1984, the Testarossa (resurrecting the 1950’s Testa Rossa’s name) was released sporting the red cylinder heads that gave both their name. The Testarossa basically replaced the Berlinetta Boxer in the lineup and with its flat-12 engine that produced 385hp and 354lb-ft of torque went to the top of the supercar charts as back in 1984 these were astounding numbers. Of course the car’s calling cards didn’t stop at the engine, those side strakes were instantly the talk of the automotive world and the rear end (‘dat ass) was wider than anything else in recent memory.  Two years after introduction, anyone who hadn’t seen it so far became familiar with it when “Miami Vice” got a white one starting with the 1986 season. Only in Miami would a white Testarossa somehow work.
I can’t pin down the exact year of this red one, but the 1986-on US-market CHMSL is visible recessed into the engine cover, during the 1988 model year is when they received 5-lug wheels as opposed to the knockoffs, and by 1992 the black bits around the bottom became body color. So I’ll call it an ’89 unless someone else knows something I don’t (always possible).
With around 10,000 built (if including the renamed and somewhat re-engineered 512TR and F512M versions from 1992-1996) it still ranks as one of Ferrari’s highest production models. Perhaps seen as a little gauche by the mid 2000’s, they’ve been making a comeback over the last few years as a marvelous example of 1980’s excess and exuberance. While I’m not a Ferrari connoisseur per se, I certainly tend to take notice every time I see one and especially these. Might as well end this one with a little clip of Sonny Crockett and his little white car wheeling around Miami to Phil Collins’ best song.
Related Reading:
Curbside Classic: Ferrari Testarossa – The Thrill Is Gone, For Now by Paul Niedermeyer
The owner of the boat shop I worked at from 86-89, bought a brand new one of these, a 88. It was delivered to said boat shop from the dealer (Ron Tonkin G T). Paige drove it the 15 miles to home that afternoon. Didn’t park it in the garage because he had to use the head real bad. 10mins later goes back out to it, and it’s engulfed in flames and it burned to the ground. Yes the same day it was delivered. Having to use the bathroom that bad saved his garage! Ferrari made it right and replaced it of course.
His wasn’t the first though it may have been the soonest!
It’s Nash Bridges with long hair! LOL Kidding aside thanks for posting, one of my favorite shows. Killer soundtrack, star studded guest stars. Collins himself was one, as was Willie Nelson, and even Ted Nugent, among many others. And Don Johnson is a hard core boater in real life, and did all the driving of the killer Scarab. I remember he once said on the Tonight Show besides the money, the women, driving the boat was the funnest part of the job 🙂
It’s always a treat when I see one of these (which obviously isn’t too often).
Definitely every 1980’s schoolboy’s fantasy, but I wonder if kids today view Ferraris in the same light? I do occasionally see newer Ferraris around here, and my kids ask what they are (because how many cars of that shape do you see around at all?) — but they don’t have much actual interest in them. I was surprised recently when a kid in our neighborhood mentioned that he loved Lamborghinis, as most kids seem to be more interested in trucks. I know my own kids would choose a GMC Sierra over a Ferrari any day. I just wonder how prevalent that mindset is among kids, and whether cars like Ferraris are cruising towards an aging demographic like Harley-Davidson.
Oh, well, doesn’t matter much; I still love these Testarossas.
I think millennials are the last generation who still held Ferrari as a benchmark in supercars. We all drooled over the F40, Testarossa(and 512 TR)F355 and F360, and it kinda ended with the Enzo. When kids talk about supercars now I hear McLaren thrown around the most(which, in fairness, we started too drift that direction too with the far superior F1).
Ferrari has done itself no favors commercializing the same with swag, which is the same thing Harley Davidson overdoes too. Styling hasn’t helped either, people can harp all day long about the technical details of having the side mirrors scientifically deflect air Into the rear intake ducts carefully sculpted to simultaneously provide additional downforce, but that has never been Ferrari’s game on street cars, all that matters is if they look good or not, and Pininfarina hasn’t delivered. Partly I think because the Formula 1 sequel lines painted them into a corner that any other direction would be a regression from. Some would even argue the Testarossa did the same.
IIRC Ferrari gave (loaned?) the Testarossa because the previous Daytona was a knockoff and He felt insulted and insisted on letting them use a real Ferrari.
Yes it was on loan to the studio, the original car was a modified C3 Corvette. And there was Gina Calabrese’s 72 Mercury Cougar convertible, And Tubbs 63? I think Cadillac. Some cool cars and boats on that show.
The Testarossa was real for the beauty shots but stunts were done with a Pantera with a Testarossa body kit, which is much more obvious on modern screens than the old CRTs
Great catch, and shots of a classic. The bodyside air intake vanes were so audacious and cool. A big part of this design’s character.
I don’t think it made any of the Miami Vice soundtrack albums, but ‘Voices’ was featured in a memorable episode from 1984, and remains a favourite song from the series.
Sorry. I was always a Countach boy
The only Ferrari I’ve driven was this one as a kid. It was 20 years later when I finally saw one in the flesh and parked. From the rear it appeared three times wider than in height. Close inspection of the side strakes I noticed one or two vertical posts from top to bottom as reinforcement. The posts were painted black and you could barely see them from five feet away let alone while moving. It was a very clever solution to its beautiful design signature.
Despite this being an 80s car in its release the Testarossa was kind of the definitive supercar through a good chunk of the 90s, along with the Lamborghini Diablo. Seeing one instantly takes me back to childhood playing Super Nintendo or N64, most notably the Cruisin’ USA arcade game. Is it my favorite Ferrari? Hell no. I tend to err on the side that Pininfarina’s designers were on way too much cocaine when they designed this thing, but it’s one hell of a time capsule, and a remarkable blend of insanely exotic and oddly conventional – a Countach makes the Testrossa look utterly invisible next to it, yet in isolation it looks like a spaceship.
I think the name Testarossa is silly just in reference to the heads. It’s a color, the engine is basically the same as that used in the 512BB but this gets christened with this ridiculous name because they changed the Valve covers from black to red? The Valve covers on a flat engine buried in a mid engine compartment that nobody but the owner’s mechanic will see? And for that matter, the valve covers are red, not the heads. I know it’s semantics but according to my translator it should be called Coperchiovalvolarossa.
There’s a guy who works near me in Columbia Maryland that drives his to work on a semi-regular basis. He even brings it out on rainy days. It’s no garage queen. He has the right attitude: “Cars are meant to be driven”….. damn it… pictures were too large… let’s try again below…
Rear View…
Front View…
The silver hides the dirt…I built a scale model of one back in the day and painted it Silver as well, I didn’t think about that until you posted these pictures.
Good for him, they are still generally modern cars, a little water or dust isn’t going to hurt anything, it’s good to drive them and actually enjoy them beyond just lifting the car cover every couple of months to take a peek.
I have a neighbor who leaves his parked on the street.
No, no, no, with its stonkingly honking schnoz, its very prominent 1950’s central heating intake ducts and dime-store blackout treatments, this shoulder-padded ’80’s shouty wasn’t on THIS schoolboys bedroom wall – though for context, it is entirely possible there was something like a Morris Minor wagon there.
Not my cuppa vino rosso, these, and I don’t reckon time has advanced their ranking.
By the by, if it was the Ferrari Ginger in the UK, in Australia it would be the Fazza Bloodnut. Mate.
Fazza Bluey?
Hehe! Now that IS old.
In the mid-80’s I was working with a guy from Vimercate, near Milan, and he was coming back from Italy on business, and asked me what he could bring me…jokingly, I said “a Ferrari” and this is what he brought me, a model, in red of course…it is the only model I still have despite building many models when I was a kid, but since we moved pretty often, they were dumped as a casualty of the cleanup that inevitably happens before one moves. I wasn’t living with my parents for their last (and final) move 40 years ago, so what was left over in my room prior to the move was pretty much discarded (since I wasn’t to have a room in their new home).
He brought my office mate something called “grapa” which I guess is a liquor made from the remaining pressings from making wine…fitted his personality as he’s more into alcohol than I am.