1968 Ferrari Testarossa Spider
-
Ferrari Testarossa Spider
-
Year:1968
-
Make:
-
Model:
-
Price:750000
-
car segment:
-
body style:
In 1984, Ferrari wowed the sports car industry with the Testarossa, a mid-engined, V-12-powered model developed to replace the aging Berlinetta Boxer. Created to fix the faults of its predecessor, which included a cabin that got increasingly hot from the plumbing that ran between the front-mounted radiator and the mid-mounted engine, and a lack of luggage space, the Testarossa became famous for its side strakes and ultra-wide rear track. In just a few years, it became an iconic figure of 1980’s pop culture, especially after staring in the third season of Miami Vice.
Like its forerunner, the Testarossa was conceived as a coupe only, with all the 7,177 units leaving the Maranello factory with a metal top. Except for one Testarossa Spider that was built in 1986.
Although Maranello never intended to produce a drop-top version, it made an exception for Gianni Agnelli, the man who at the time was the main honcho at Fiat, which had purchased Ferrari in 1969.
Nearly three decades have passed since Agnelli received his unique Testarossa, and the sports car is off to find a new home at the Artcurial Retromobile Sale in February 2016. Until the Spider goes under the hammer, let’s have a closer look at the only factory-built Testarossa in existence.
Continue reading to learn more about the 1968 Ferrari Testarossa Spider.
Note: Images credit Artcurial.
Latest Ferrari Testarossa news and reviews:
This Sweet-Looking 1990 Ferrari Testarossa Is Getting Auctioned For A Ridiculously Low-Price!
The Ferrari Testarossa needs no introduction. It is a classic Ferrari that commands attention even today. Ferrari built around 10,000 examples of the Testarossa in its 12-year life cycle that lasted from 1984 to 1996. If you are a fan of the car and have always wanted to own one, well, here’s your chance to do so.
A 1990 example has come up for sale on CollectingCars and it can be yours if you act fast. The highest bid for this Testarossa at the time of writing this article is $63,000.
This Downsized Electric Ferrari Testa Rossa J Will Get Your ’Testa-sterone’ Buzzing!
The 250 Testa Rossa is one of the most iconic models to have rolled out of Ferrari’s factory. This racing car was in production for four years, between 1957 and 1961. In fact, a 1957 250 Testa Rossa sold for $16.4 million back in 2011! Now, even if you have the money, it’ll be very tough to find an example today. So, what’s the next best option? A replica.
U.K.-based Little Car Company has teamed up with Ferrari to build a replica of the 250 Testa Rossa that will cost you a fraction of the real model. But, there’s a catch. This is a three-quarter scale model and comes with an electric powertrain. Care to buy?
Can this Tesla-powered Ferrari 308 beat the iconic Testarossa?
A drag race between two Ferraris is always a treat, especially when they are both classic. Although CarWow mainly deals in the latest car manufacturers have to offer, they do occasionally do things purely for the fun of it. Such is the case with this video, in which a Ferrari 308 GTS and a Ferrari Testarossa throw down on the track. Essentially, this race is “Magnum PI” versus “Miami Vice,” and normally this race would be an easy win for the Testarossa, but one of these cars is hiding a dirty (also clean) secret.
Ferrari Testarossa Explained - How it Was an Amazing 23-Year-Long Mistake
The Testarossa is one of the most beloved Ferrari models and that’s because of the way it looks. The increasingly wider rear fenders, the big strakes on the doors, and the cleanly cut front fascia gave it a unique look among the wedge-shaped cars of the era.
Its appearance in the Miami Vice TV series also contributed to its fame. However, the Testarossa wasn’t the car most enthusiasts thought it was. It was more of an experimental vehicle born out of customer complaints about its predecessor. It was a mistake that Ferrari promptly corrected by returning to front-engined V-12 cars in the 1990s, but it was an amazing car. The latest video from ISSIMI explains just that.
You Have to Check Out This Ferrari Testarossa Restomod
Ferrari built around 10,000 examples of the Testarossa from 1984 to 1996 and that makes it one of the most popular mass-produced products from the Italian brand. The moniker paid homage to the 1957 World Sportscar Championship winner, the 250 Testa Rossa sports racing car. Also, ‘Testarossa’ in Italian translates to ‘red head’ and the car came with red-painted cam covers. The car might be many decades old, but there’s no denying it still looks charming.
So, to balance this out and create a perfect mix of new tech and timeless looks, a Swiss aftermarket company, Officine Fioravanti, is undertaking a restomod operation that gives the car a heavy performance boost.
Custom-Built Ferrari Testarossa Convertible Has A History With The King of Pop
The Ferrari Testarossa is regarded as one of the most iconic cars of the 1980’s. But as popular as the two-door Berlinetta was, Ferrari actually made just one convertible version. That model was specially created as a gift by Ferrari for the late Gianni Agnelli, the head of Fiat at the time. There are a handful of other drop-top Testarossas in existence today, but all of them are custom-built, including this black beauty that was built specifically for Michael Jackson’s now iconic 1987 Pepsi commercial.
Ferrari Loses Its Rights On Testarossa Name
The Ferrari Testarossa is arguably one of the most popular Ferrari models of all time. From a personal standpoint, it’s the model that first introduced me to the Prancing Horse and it’s the same model that occupied real estate space in my bedroom wall. It’s for that reason why I’m sharing this news with a heavy heart. As synonymous as the “Testarossa” name is to Ferrari, that won’t be the case moving forward after the Italian automaker lost the rights to the name. Picking up the famed name is a German toy company that builds bicycles, remote-controlled toys, and apparently, the occasional electric shaver or two.
The legal battle between Ferrari and Autec AG ultimately sided on the latter after a Dusseldorf court decided that the Prancing Horse hasn’t used the “Testarossa” name enough over the past 20 years to prevent the German toy maker to use it for its own purpose. Ferrari did argue that it continues maintenance work on the car and that should be enough for the company to keep the rights to the name. The German court didn’t it see it that way, though, so unless Ferrari appeals to a higher court in Germany (called the Oberlandesgericht) it’s looking like we’re going to need to come to terms with the realization that the Testarossa name won’t be used on a Ferrari in the foreseeable future.
Continue after the jump to read the full story.
1989 Ferrari Testarossa Convertible
In the mid-‘80s, Ferrari introduced the Testarossa, a two-door berlinetta created as a replacement for the Berlinetta Boxer 512i. The name was a nod to the Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa race car that ran in the World Sportscar Championship in the late ‘50s, but the new model was anything but old school. Occupying the top of the Prancing Horse model lineup, the new Testarossa was subsequently well received amongst critics and the buying public. Not only was it popularized by the show Miami Vice, but several prominent celebrities owned one, and eventually, the Testarossa became a well known symbol of ‘80s culture. Considering the popularity, you’d expect Ferrari to be eager to produce a drop-top version of the 12-cylinder sports car, but not so – only one “official” Testarossa convertible was ever produced, forcing custom builders to make their own roofless variants after the fact. This car is one of those rare custom Testarossa convertibles.
At its heart, the car you see here is a 1989 model. It’s nearly identical in every single way to the Testarossas that rolled out from Maranello and into Ferrari dealerships nearly three decades ago, save the infinitely expanded headroom.
This Testarossa convertible is on offer from Paris Prestige Cars, a French dealer of high-end sports cars, and it’s a rare convertible example of one of Ferrari’s most popular models.
Continue reading to learn more about this Ferrari Testarossa Convertible.
Ask anybody who grew up in the 80’s and 90’s what their dream car was back then, and a majority will likely say the Ferrari Testarossa. I grew up in that era and I’m not ashamed to admit that I’d have the same answer. Back then, posters of the Testarossa dominated the walls in my bedroom and I can even remember asking my parents to buy all the magazines that featured it in their respective covers. That’s how much I adored the Testarossa and to this day, whenever I see one, I still get that same dreamy look that I had when I was a child.
This video created by XCar films perfectly captures the emotions I had back when I was a kid. The mere mention of the Ferrari Testarossa would immediately put my imagination into overdrive. In my head, I owned one and drove it everywhere. Suffice to say, the Testarossa is the one car that had the biggest influence in me being so passionate about this industry.
A quarter of a century may have passed, but my love and admiration for that supercar will never go away. Yep, the boy you see in this video was me some 25 odd years ago, right down to the Ferrari sheets and the Testarossa poster taped on my wall.
In 1984, Ferrari wowed the sports car industry with the Testarossa, a mid-engined, V-12-powered model developed to replace the aging Berlinetta Boxer. Created to fix the faults of its predecessor, which included a cabin that got increasingly hot from the plumbing that ran between the front-mounted radiator and the mid-mounted engine, and a lack of luggage space, the Testarossa became famous for its side strakes and ultra-wide rear track. In just a few years, it became an iconic figure of 1980’s pop culture, especially after staring in the third season of Miami Vice.
Like its forerunner, the Testarossa was conceived as a coupe only, with all the 7,177 units leaving the Maranello factory with a metal top. Except for one Testarossa Spider that was built in 1986.
Although Maranello never intended to produce a drop-top version, it made an exception for Gianni Agnelli, the man who at the time was the main honcho at Fiat, which had purchased Ferrari in 1969.
Nearly three decades have passed since Agnelli received his unique Testarossa, and the sports car is off to find a new home at the Artcurial Retromobile Sale in February 2016. Until the Spider goes under the hammer, let’s have a closer look at the only factory-built Testarossa in existence.
Continue reading to learn more about the 1968 Ferrari Testarossa Spider.
Note: Images credit Artcurial.
Development of the Ferrari Testarossa is said to have begun in the early 1980s, when Maranello set out to create a sports car that would fix the faults of the Berlinetta Boxer. Issues included a cabin that got increasingly hot from the plumbing that ran between the front-mounted radiator and the mid-mounted engine and a lack of luggage space. In 1982, Pininfarina was commissioned to design a 12-cylinder Ferrari with side-mounted radiators, GT-level luggage space, and improved comfort.
The finished product arrived two years later as the Testarossa, a car that quickly became an icon of 1980s retro culture.
Mostly known for its side strakes and ultra-wide rear track, the car made numerous appearances in pop culture, most notably in the third season of Miami Vice and Sega’s arcade game OutRun. Much like the Lamborghini Countach and the Porsche 959, the Testarossa spawned posters that adorned childhood walls well into the 1990s.
Produced until 1991, the two-door berlinetta paid tribute to the infamous Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa, a race car that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1958, 1960, and 1961. Testa Rossa, which literally means "red head" in Italian, refers to the red-painted cam covers of the 12-cylinder engine.
Updated into the 512 TR in 1992 and the F512 M in 1994, the Testarossa was the last to use Ferrari’s flat-12 engine and the brand’s last mass-produced, mid-engined, 12-cylinder sports car. Since then, Maranello built only three limited-production, mid-engined supercars using V-12 powerplants: the F50, Enzo, and the LaFerrari.
Continue reading to learn more about the 1984 Ferrari Testarossa.
Though it has been quite a long time, I sometimes wonder whether there are people at Ferrari who still have complicated feelings about the show Miami Vice. On the one hand, it was good publicity for a Testarossa to appear on such a massively popular show, and the 1984-1991 Ferrari Testarossa was indeed a huge sales success, selling in unprecedented numbers for a flagship 12-cylinder model. But on the other hand, it probably also contributed to the car as being seen as silly and dated before it otherwise would have. Although there is always the chance that that was just the side strakes.
Whatever Ferrari’s feelings on the matter, one of the two actual Testarossas from Miami Vice is going up for auction after sitting in storage since 1989. It was only removed from storage earlier this year, and was worked on extensively to bring it back to showroom quality, all of which was certified by Ferrari Classiche. Most of this work was mechanical, making sure all of the moving parts still worked as they were supposed to after sitting for so long. It was otherwise pretty close to new as it was, having just 16,124 miles on it.
Continue reading for the full story.
Supercars aren’t typically the best vehicles for long trips through the desert, no matter what the Porsche 959’s rally successes might have led you to believe. But even if they aren’t ideally suited to the situation, there are some that really can handle the trip. This video is an extra long episode of Harry’s Garage wherein Harry Metcalfe takes his 1987 Ferrari Testarossa on a trip across Morocco to the Sahara. This is actually a repeat of the trip taken by Richard Bremnar of Car magazine in 1995 in a Ferrari 512 M, the final evolution of the Testarossa.
It’s an interesting idea, and it turns out that there are both some advantages to taking such an old car. Chief among these is that the Testarossa doesn’t use the kind of low profile tires that essentially all supercars use today, and that makes it much better on bumpy surfaces. Of course, a 28-year-old Italian car is going to have reliability issues in the best of environments, and this one is no exception. But on the whole, it holds up pretty well.
An entire decade of excess, the 1980s have remained in history as a period of extravagance, whether you’re talking about clothing, hairstyling, cocaine use or white supercars with plenty of vents and 12-cylinder engines. Despite some probably arguing that the Lamborghini Countach in LP5000QV or 25th Anniversary guise would be more fit as the "definitive supercar of the 1980s," it is the Ferrari Testarossa that many as the supercar that defined the decade.
With an emblematic appearance in the third season of Miami Vice, the Italian redhead is now synonymous with the culture of the 1980s, being the sports car of choice for what was probably the first generation of self-absorbed yuppies and highly-successful crack dealers. Not that the footage above would ever admit that, of course, as it depicts the personal views of arguably the best-known Ferrari mechanic in the UK: John Pogson.
A mechanic by trade and a Ferrari fan and petrol head by chance, Pogson is known for not only repairing a hefty amount of F40s and other emblematic Ferraris from the old-school era, but also racing plenty of Maranello’s machinery on Europe’s circuits to great success. The video above is all about Pogson’s infatuation with the Testarossa though, and it is worth being watched even only for the aural exhaust sounds of Ferrari’s last flat-twelve engine in a production car. With a total displacement of 4.9 liters and 380 horsepower in the U.S. variant, the engine from the Testarossa helped the car hit 60 mph in a little over five seconds, while its top speed stood at 180 mph. Not exactly a ground-breaking performance, even for the time, but the model was in many ways a grand tourer.
When it comes to classic American crime drama TV series, Miami Vice is arguably the most iconic show of the 1980s. The series drew heavily upon 1980s new wave of culture and music and it is recognized as one of the most influential television shows of all time. To gearheads, Miami Vice is particularly important for the large number of notable cars used on the set. Throughout the five seasons produced by NBC, the show featured Lamborghinis, Maseratis, Porsches, Corvettes and a host of muscle cars.
However, there’s a particular automobile that drew a lot of attention in Miami. I’m talking about the white Ferrari Testarossa that made constant appearances in the series, beginning with the third season. The Miami Vice Testarossa’s story is as interesting as the supercar itself. Ferrari donated two brand new 1986 model year Testarossa as replacements for the 1972 Ferrari Daytona Spyder 365 GTS/4 kit replica based on a Chevrolet Corvette C3 chassis that the Italians had removed from the show following a lawsuit. From then on, the white Testarossa became one of Miami Vice’s main characters during the third season.
It’s been a little more than 25 years since the show was canceled and one of the two original Ferrari Testarossas used by Universal Studios is now up for sale on eBay. The Italian supercar has only 16,000 miles on its odo, and comes with full documentation and service history. The Testarossa is also documented by Ferrari North America, and, not surprising, it’s being offered at a massive "Buy It Now" price of $1.75 million. Granted, that’s a lot of dough for a car that fetches less than $300,000 in tip-top shape and, although this example was featured in a popular TV show, I have my doubts the seller will manage to sell it for $1.75 million.
Either way, we’ll be back to report on the outcome so make sure you keep it locked here at TopSpeed.
Click past the jump to read more about the Ferrari Testarossa.
The Testarossa is arguably one of the most iconic Ferraris of the past 30 years. It certainly made an impact on an impressionable four-year old who once thought that owning a Testarossa was the closest thing to living a full life. 30 years later, the Testarossa’s legacy lives on in the latest episode of Harry Metcalfe’s ‘Harry’s Garage’ web series.
In it, Metcalfe takes us, the viewers, on a private tour of a 1987 Testarossa he says he bought earlier this year. Over the next 22 minutes, Metcalfe dons his metaphorical tour guide hat and proceeds to give us a private tour of the classic 80’s supercar, stopping every so often to point out specific details about the Testarossa that allowed it to become one of the most iconic supercars in history.
Toward the end of the video, Metcalfe takes the Testarossa out on the road and the all-too familiar roar of the super car’s 5.0-liter, horizontally opposed, 12-cylinder engine kicks in, unleashing the guttural screams of 390 horses and 490 pound-feet of torque pounding the asphalt like only the Testarossa could do.
I have, over the past, been prone to exaggerated musings, but I’m not overstating things when I tell you that this episode of Harry’s Garage is worth your 22 minutes and change.
You might even end up watching it more than once like I did. There’s no shame in admitting as much when you’re talking about the almighty Testarossa.
RM Auctions is one of the biggest auto auction houses in the world. It’s been home to some of the biggest auction buys in recent memory, including a 1957 Ferrari 625 TRC Scaglietti Spider that sold for $6.4 million back in 2012. For 2014, RM Auctions is set to open shop in London where a number of classic exotics will be up for bid to the highest bidder.
EVO managed to get a guided tour of RM Auctions’ storage facility where Harry Metcalfe joined the team to talk shop about some of the cars that are expected to get a lot of attention at the sale.
As expected, the facility contains some of the rarest and most beautiful metal, carbon fiber and aluminum in the world. EVO and Metcalfe zeroed in on a few of them, including a rare 1986 Ferrari Testarossa and a 1990 Lamborghini Countach. These two cars are widely considered as the "poster exotics" of the 1980s, and seeing them in the same auction is a real blast back to the decade of teased hair and leather pants for myself.
The guided tour also included short discussions about the 1993 Jaguar XJ220, the 1959 Facel Vega HK500 Coupe, and the 1973 Alpine-Renault A110 1300 V85.
There are many more cars that EVO and Metcalfe discuss in this 32-minute episode. I won’t run the risk of spoiling all the models, as having an authority like Metcalfe give you a little history lesson about them trumps my ramblings about them here.
Another day, another Ferrari 250 sets a sales record. This latest record-setting Ferrari is a 250 Testa Rossa, and it changed hands for what the Daily Mail is reporting as £24,000,000 — that equates to about $39 million.
At that price, it exceeds the previous record of £22.5 million set in 2012 by a 250 GTO, and it triples the price paid for a 1957 Testa Rossa in 2009. That 2009 sale was also a record.
What separates this Testa Rossa from its brethren to demand such a price? Pedigree, fame and its immaculate condition all came together to make this a very valuable car.
The car itself is Chassis 0704, and it is actually a prototype that was created before the limited run of “normal” 250 Testa Rossas. F1 World Champion Phil Hill helped to pilot this exact car to race wins in the in the 1,000 km (683.5-mile) Buenos Aires and 12 Hour Sebring races. It has contested many other races, including two entrances into the 24 Hours of Le Mans. That gives this particular car one of the best racing heritages of any Ferrari still in existence in the private market.
Even with such a long racing heritage, the car is completely original and unmolested. It has all the battle scars of wheel-to-wheel action, but it has very little actual damage to any of the body panels, and the interior looks incredible for a 57-year-old car.
The new owner of the car has not been released, but if you want more info and images of this incredible machine head over to the Daily Mail for the original story.
Click past the jump to read more about the 1957 Ferrari Testa Rossa.
For any Ferrari enthusiast out there, the most amazing car ever launched by the company is no doubt the Testarossa - a car that stole the heart of many of us especially when it appeared in the "Miami Vice" movie.
Petrolicious has prepared an awesome tribute video to the Testarossa that proves the supercar deserves even more respect than you probably have imagined. Yes, we do know many of you consider the Lamborghini Countach to be a better “supercar,” but we are pretty sure you are going to change your mind after watching this video – or maybe at least accept the Testarossa a worthy adversary.
The car featured in this video belongs to vintage car collector, Joe Ventura, a man lucky enough to live daily with this beautiful redhead next to him.
This also makes us wonder is Ferrari would ever consider bringing the Testarossa back. What a joyous day that would be.
The RM Auctions’ 25th anniversary Sports & Classics of Monterey auction in August will feature some of the most exclusive cars in the world. One of them will be a Scaglietti-designed ‘Pontoon Fender’ 250 Testa Rossa. With only 21 units produced, the 250 Testa Rossa was produced from 1957 to 1958.
This car in particular was delivered new to Brazilian Jean-Louis Lacerda Soares and was raced for several seasons in South America under the Esquardari Largatixa banner where it recorded a number of successful finishes. For the past 14 years it has been campaigned extensively in its yellow and green Brazilian racing colors, recording numerous wins and podium finishes at the world’s most prestigious historic racing events.
Although no one knows exactly much money it will be auctioned for, we have to remind you that in 2009 a 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa was sold for a record $12 million. That sounds promising.
Thankfully, we’re not the ones on the receiving end of this fine. It’s being reported that a Swiss motorist – and a rich one at that – has been fined a staggering $290,000 for a series of traffic violations stemming from driving his Ferrari Testarossa at over 137 km/h through the roads of a small Swiss village.
According to the court that made the ruling to slap the fine on the man, "the accused ignored elementary traffic rules with a powerful vehicle out of a pure desire for speed."
Fortunately, according to reports, the man has more than enough money to pay for the fine, but still, at $290,000, that’s still a pretty hefty sum to pay for a few parking tickets.
This 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa became the most expensive car ever sold at auction this past weekend, fetching even more than the record setting 1961 California Spyder that sold at Ferrari’s Legenda E Passione for almost $11 Million about this time last year. The 250 “red head” was produced from 1957 to 1958 and the Italian automaker produced the vehicle in limited numbers, 22 to be exact. When this black and red Ferrari crossed the R&M auction block wearing the numbers 124, the final bid stood at 9,020,000 Euro (about $12 Million).
According to the Managing Director of R&M Auctions Europe, Max Girardo, “the legendary 250 Testa Rossa was one of the most exciting motor cars ever to be presented in auction history." This particular prancing horse has the longest documented racing history of any Italian stallion and was driven by classic racing drivers like the American Formula One Champion Phil Hill, Englishman Peter Collins and even the 1961 German Sportsman of the Year, Wolfgang von Trips.
The 1956 Ferrari 500 Testarossa was limited to only 20 units. One of this extra limited editions Ferrari is for sale on eBay at a price of $5 millions.
This well known Testa Rossa has undergone a complete restoration to the highest standards. It comes complete with racing photographic history going back to its winning race at Laguna Seca in 1957.
The 500 Testarossa is powered by a 2.0 liters 4 cylinders engine mated by a 4 Speed Manual Transmission.