The most iconic automobile of the 1980s was, perhaps, the Ferrari Testarossa. The Italian word Testarossa translates to “redhead,” a nod to the color of the cylinder heads on the original, race-dominating Ferrari 250 TR of the late-1950s and early-1960s. Honoring that model’s heritage, Ferrari bestowed the nickname on the new coupe. Introduced the night before the opening of the 1984 Paris Motor Show at the famed Lido nightclub on the Champs Elysees, Ferrari’s dramatic Testarossa took the world by storm. The Testarossa is so much more than just a looker, and automotive writers heaped acclaim upon it as the car made the rounds to the various specialty magazines that put the Ferrari through its paces and reported their findings to anxious, Ferrari-loving aficionados.

Designed to replace the Berlinetta Boxer, Pininfarina’s designers took Ferrari’s mid-engined V-12 platform in an entirely different styling directly from previous Ferraris. Angular and aggressive, the Testarossa’s bodywork was a dramatic departure from the more curvaceous 512 BB and improved on the basic platform of its predecessor. Thanks to further power, the 4.9-liter, DOHC flat-12 coupe registered a top speed of 180-mph. Its flat-12 design features two banks of six horizontally-opposed cylinders and 48 valves and dry-sump oil system. Bosch's latest K-Jetronic fuel-injection improved power and drivability; with 390 horsepower available, the Testarossa was capable of sprinting to 60-mph in 5.4-seconds. The Ferrari has a five-speed manual gearbox in a rear-mounted transaxle, four-wheel independent suspension with unequal-length A-arms, coil springs and anti-roll bars and four-wheel hydraulic disc brakes.

This fabulous 1989 Testarossa has covered just 16,354 miles from new, and presents in very good original condition throughout. The car was sold new on March 6, 1989, by Ferrari of Houston to a customer in Mobile, Alabama, and had clearly led a cherished life. Included with the car is the original owner’s manual and service book in the original leather pouch, original jack in bag, a clean Carfax, and the car was treated to a major service including belts and complete valve job just under 2,000 miles ago. The traditional Rosso Corsa paint is in excellent order, as is the tan Connolly leather interior. Original carpets and dash are all in very good condition, and the only alteration from standard is the addition of a late-model Sony AM/FM cassette player with a 10-disc CD changer mounted in the trunk. This is a great, fully-sorted car, as well as a great investment in a classic 12-cylinder Ferrari.