THE POSTER CHILD FOR A GENERATION

About once every decade, a car is unveiled that shakes the foundations of automobile design to its core. These vehicles push automotive design to new heights and start trends that will endure for years to come. Not only are these cars applauded by the automotive industry but they also make an equally significant impact on fashion and pop culture.

For the 1960s, there was the Jaguar E-Type. The 1970s brought about the Lamborghini Countach. In the 1980s, there was the Ferrari Testarossa. Each was a marked disruption of the predominant styles of their time and helped lead the automotive world in a new direction.

Ferrari understood the stylistic impact that the Testarossa would have when they chose not to unveil the car for the first time to the public at the 1984 Paris Motor Show but instead to a select group of media and clients at the Lido nightclub on the Champs-Élysées, the night before the opening of the show. This was a venue known for its flash and otherworldly style; the Testarossa was much the same. Presenting the new Ferrari at a prestigious off-site location would only serve to elevate its importance.

Pininfarina’s design brought Ferrari into the future. The Testarossa was defined by sharp angles, most notably the long side-strakes that ran along the doors into the rear three-quarter panels and swept the observer’s eyes swiftly across the car. Devoid of chrome, all the Testarossa’s ornamentation was black, giving it a sinister appearance, helped in part by its particularly wide stance on the road. The design was simple and forward thinking yet elegant and menacing at the same time. Fueled by incredible performance, the Testarossa was a massive hit and was considered an instant collectible. It is, without a doubt, one of the most dramatic and striking Ferraris of all time.

Not only was the Testarossa made famous by its stunning looks but it also became a Hollywood celebrity in its own right. The Ferrari was a silver screen starlet alongside Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas in the hit television series Miami Vice, catapulting it into the limelight. Over the last 30 years, the Testarossa has appeared in a seemingly limitless number of movies, TV shows, songs, and music videos. From Rocky V to blockbuster films as recent as Wolf of Wall Street and Straight Outta Compton, the Testarossa has always been a status symbol for success and excess. It was the poster child for its generation and remains so to this day.

CHASSIS NUMBER 87139: A TIME-CAPSULE TESTAROSSA

The Testarossa presented here is unquestionably one of the finest examples of its kind in existence, if not the finest. It remains in the hands of its first and only owner, a lady who purchased the car new in 1991. In search of a Testarossa and inspired in part by the car’s appearance in Miami Vice, she ordered the car through Gentry Lane Ferrari in Toronto, Canada, and it was delivered to Performance Cars in St. Catherines, Ontario. Rather than hop in the car and drive it home, the Testarossa’s new owner directed to have it stored at Performance Cars.

The new owner always intended to drive and spend time with her car. However, as is often the case, her free time was very limited, and the car remained in storage as time quickly passed by. A few family members and close friends received rides around the block in the Ferrari shortly after it had been delivered, but it was always placed back in storage for safekeeping, later to be stored at Ferrari of Ontario until most recently.

Today, the original Nero paintwork remains flawless, and the matching Nero interior is in equally impeccable condition, reflecting the incredibly low mileage on the odometer, which shows only 296 kilometers from new. As it has remained in storage at facilities with particular knowledge and expertise with Ferraris, the car has always been appropriately maintained at regular intervals, ensuring that it remains ready to drive at a moment’s notice. Though, unfortunately, the original books and tools have been misplaced, several service receipts are included in the car’s file, documenting full services, including timing belt changes in December 1999 and February 2007, as well as a fluid change and rebuild of the front brake calipers in October 2014.

The embodiment of Italian style and a design that will be called revolutionary for the rest of time, the Testarossa’s importance to the history of Ferrari and automotive design as a whole cannot be understated. Presented here is perhaps the most original and unmolested Testarossa in existence. Offered from singular female ownership, in which it has been carefully preserved and maintained every day of its life, this sale represents a truly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to purchase a brand-new automotive icon—some 25 years after it was first introduced to the world.