…to run a Ferrari Testarossa in London every day, but it helps – as does the car being a later variant, re-coloured in Nocciola
Words James Elliott Photography Paul Harmer
ooks can be deceptive. Was there ever a more flamboyant and extrovert Ferrari than the Testarossa to look at, yet was there ever a more docile and practical 12-cylinder Ferrari supercar to live with? Perhaps that was its problem. Pininfarina’s sweeping lines, the triangular shape, side strakes, fins, louvres, a metal cage over the tail-lights, pop-up headlights: it is extravagance and swagger in metal, pure bravado; braggadocio, even. Then there is the 12-cylinder engine, officially a 180º V12 (we shall just call it a flat-12 from here on), promising Donner und Blitzen but deemed to deliver Dancer and Prancer. And for years, most people – especially in the UK, for which this car was signally not designed – thought that a bad thing.
They were wrong, of course. They just didn’t understand. They can’t be blamed, the Testarossa was easily misunderstood, especially in compact Britain where driving opportunities are compressed and pure continent-crossing GTs are alien fare. This Ferrari looked every inch the supercar, its performance stats were those of a supercar, but in its soul it simply wasn’t one. It wasn’t sufficiently highly strung. It had air-con.
Introduced to replace the 512BB in 1984, the Testarossa was longer, wider and lighter (yet at 1506kg it was considerably heftier than its period rivals, barring the brutalist Aston Martin Vantage), but soldiered on until 1991 when the 512 tag (first the 512TR, then the F512 M) was reintroduced for its later incarnations. It was powered by the same fuel-injected quad-cam 4943cc 12-cylinder as the preceding 512 but with four valves per cylinder, offering 50bhp more (at 390bhp) and over 180mph. Its evolution was principally defined by wing-mirrors and wheel-bolts, the purest monospecchio monodado having only one of each until twin mirrors arrived in 1988, a year after the F40-esque spinners had given quarter to a more traditional five-bolt pattern.
As well as design tweaks and bigger wheels (16in and 18in), the changes brought in for the 512 in 1991 included a lowered engine and transaxle, improved diff’ and injection, plus a higher compression ratio. The 1994-96 run-out 512 M (Modificata) lost the pop-ups, but gained NACA ducts and split-rims for maximum menace.
The Testarossa was far from cheap at £60k-plus new, but achieved sales of almost 10,000 cars. Today they are covered by a broad pric
