Sonny Crockett's Ferrari Testarossa From "Miami Vice" Goes to Auction

According to TV legend, it was Enzo Ferrari himself who pushed one of his cars into the television limelight. Two seasons after it began, Ferrari sued NBC, saying the network had gone too far by building replica Ferrari Daytonas on the bones of old Corvettes. To end the suit, the producers gladly took Ferrari's donation of two new 1986 Testarossas for Sonny Crockett's wheels, along with instructions to blow up the replica. The Testarossa, painted an appropriate shade of white under the direction of Michael Mann, became as much a linchpin of the '80s style fostered by the show as blazers with T-shirts and a three-day stubble.

This car, one of two used in the show, will go under the hammer this Aug. 13-15 at Mecum Auctions' big sale in Monterey, Calif. With 16,124 miles and all the appropriate service records necessary to sell a 29-year-old Ferrari, the Testarossa looks to be in fabulous shape (it even still has a Radio Shack-era car phone, albeit somewhat faded.) The prices of the flat-12 powered Testarossas have been rising, but perhaps not quite as high as the owner of the Miami Vice car would like; last year, he listed this prize on eBay for $1.75 million with no apparent takers. Maybe there'll be more people wanting to crank up the Phil Collins and go for a drive in California next month.