Are the great days of the Ferrari Testarossa yet to come?
02/02/2023
Unveiled at the 1984 Paris Motor Show, the Ferrari Testarossa immediately made it onto the photo posters in boys' bedrooms around the world. It certainly helped that Sonny Crocket drove an early white Testarossa in the television series Miami Vice.
The 292 km/h super sports car cost DM 222,300 or CHF 180,000 at the time. In 1986, the single high-mounted exterior mirror disappeared, followed shortly afterwards by the aluminum wheels mounted on a screw, and finally the folding headlights. The repeatedly improved Testarossa (and in the end simply called the 512M mid-engined sports car) was built until 1996 and almost 10,000 units were sold, often in red paintwork.
So it was and is not really rare, which may also explain the temporary (2015-2019) slump in prices on the classic car market. However, valuations have now picked up again and good examples almost always fetch six figures, rare paintwork and model variants even significantly higher. Low mileages are also rewarded.
Individual vehicles have already been sold at auction for over EUR 200,000 (as of 2022/23), meaning they have significantly exceeded their original price. The chart above shows an excerpt (without 512 M) from the Zwischengas auction database.
The Ferrari Testarossa is an icon; with its special flanks and flat, wide rear, it stands out from the majority of sports cars of its time. The Testarossa is also reasonably easy to drive in everyday traffic. And it is a "poster car" that once impressed the generation of buyers who are now increasingly appearing at auctions and on the private market, even as a new car.
P.S. The five black representatives of the Testarossa series pictured above will be auctioned by RM/Sotheby's at this year's Villa d'Este auction in May 2023 "without a reserve price".
_RM.jpg)
