Reply to "Maimi Vice Testarossa to be auctioned in Monterey"

With credit to Wiki:

Ferrari filed a lawsuit demanding McBurnie and four others to stop producing and selling Ferrari replicas.[1] Miami Vice producers, on the other hand, wanted no legal troubles, and accepted Ferrari's offer of two free 1986 Testarossas on the condition that the replicas be demolished.[6] Carl Roberts offered to build two new Daytonas for the 1987 season (third season of Miami Vice).[6] When Roberts learned that the Daytona was out, he proposed a trade.[6] He would build Miami Vice a Testarossa stunt car in return for the doomed Daytona.[6] Carl's original plan was to remove the Daytona skin from the Corvette and replace it with Testarossa body pieces, but this resulted in poor results and led Roberts to devise another plan.[5][6]


The Ferrari Testarossa used in the episode, Freefall.
Roberts searched and found a 1972 De Tomaso Pantera, which was perfectly suited for the Testarossa body pieces.[5][6] The Pantera was rigidly modified to withstand the duties of filming.[5] It was raised 1.5 inches for additional ground clearance,[6] 2.5 inch wall-thick square tubing was used to prevent potential roof buckling and added a reinforcing railing that doubles as a skid plate,[6] an auxiliary braking system designed to assist drivers in controlled spins, the master cylinder was repositioned in the brake line to enable it to feed the rear wheels enabling the driver to lock the aft end on command,

If you google search Miami Vice Pantera, the wikipedia reference pops right up with a much longer write up.

Doug M