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Car Tales: Making A Mann Of You, Ferrari Testarossa

Michael Mann is one of America’s greatest film directors:
Heat, starring Robert de Niro and Al Pacino; The Last of the Mohicans; Ali; and Public Enemies are just some of his very varied palate of movies.
1990 Ferrari Testarossa for sale
And on Christmas Day his talent ties up with that of the greatest of Italian car manufacturers, Enzo Ferrari, for the opening of Mann’s new film Ferrari.

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Ferrari is not a full biopic. Rather it concentrates on a three-month period in 1957 of the life of Enzo Ferrari, himself a former racing driver, played in the film by Adam Driver.

Set in Modena in mid-Italy, with scrupulous attention to period detail, this is a pivotal time in Enzo Ferrari’s existence: his 24-year-old son Dino has died from muscular dystrophy; he is having a long-term affair, estranging him from his wife, played by Penelope Cruz; and his car construction firm is under financial threat from Maserati, another Italian motoring giant. Enzo’s response to Ferrari’s potential impecuniousness? To sell sports-cars that are the final word in precision engineering to very rich people. It is an idea that will save Ferrari.
Ferrari movie
And to promote this idea Enzo Ferrari is set on entering his team into the Mille Miglia, that deadly thousand-mile endurance race across Italy.

The film saw Mann go the extra mile to shoot the race scenes: the Ferraris and Maseratis were built especially for the production, capable of speeds of around 140mph. At one point a rare Ferrari owned by Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason was employed.

Michael Mann had had a script for the Ferrari film since the early 1990s, when Brock Yates published Enzo Ferrari: The Man, The Cars, The Races, the true-life account that would become the basis of the script.
Although a little birdie has told me this car has just been sold, until almost this minute Beverly Hills Car Club has had on the market a pristine ultra low-mileage 1990 Ferrari Testarossa featured with merely 6,921 miles on the odometer and finished in the iconic factory color Rosso Corsa complemented with a gorgeous Tan interior.
This Pininfarina-designed sports car is equipped with a 5-speed manual transmission, fuel-injected 12-cylinder engine, four-wheel disc brakes, quad exhaust outlets, Veglia instruments, Pininfarina badges, a black rear grille with matching color rocker panels, a gated shifter, retractable headlights, Carello front fog lights, side marker lights, side strakes, front spoiler, MOMO steering wheel, Goodyear tires, and 16″ 5-spoke alloy wheels. With only 6,921 miles on the odometer, this 1990 Ferrari Testarossa is practically brand new!

Personally I’ve always loved Ferrari Testarossas, a car whose every attribute seems to suggest that it should really be called a Ferrari Testosterone, an unquestionably masculine car that looks even sexier when driven by a woman.

The Ferrari Testarossa is something of an underrated gem: it has such an attractive design. If you want a seriously dramatic-looking and driving classic Ferrari supercar that you can be reasonably confident won’t bite you back with horrendous surprise bills, the Testarossa is that car.

1990 Ferrari Testarossa interior
In the second half of the 1980s the Testarossa was virtually a character in the fabulous third series of the TV show Miami Vice, again directed by the great Michael Mann, and currently available on Amazon Prime. The plot of the influential series involved a pair of undercover cops, played by Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas.

To personify flashy 1980s’ Miami, the Johnson character drove a Ferrari Testarossa, often at very high speeds. The iconic TV show played an integral part in the success of Ferrari’s mid-engined supercar.

Including revised variations, almost 10,000 cars in total were produced, making it one of the most mass-produced Ferrari models. Premiered at the 1984 Paris Auto Show, the Testarossa was a two-door coupe with a rear-mounted, five-speed manual transmission which added to the drama of driving this exotic Italian vehicle, a stunning piece of Italian ingenuity with great agility thanks to its aerodynamic shape.

The car’s rear mid-engine design – with the engine between the axles but behind the cabin – kept the center of gravity in the middle of the car, increasing stability and improving the car’s terrific cornering ability.

The Ferrari Testarossa had a 4.9 liter longitudinally-mounted, 180-degree flat-12 engine.
It managed to hit 0-60 in 5.2 seconds while top speed was rated at 180 MPH, insane figures even by today’s standards let alone the 1980s.
1990 Ferrari Testarossa engine
And to find out the origins of the Testarossa – how this fabulous car was arrived at and made its way onto our streets – then on December 25 look no further than a trip to your local movie theater.

And the opening of Ferrari.
Happy Holidays!
-Alex Manos, Owner
Alex Manos Classic Ferrari Buyer

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