02 Jun 09
Ferrari Daytona Spider
The Miami Vice Daytona Spyder
First, let's clear one thing up - the cars used in this Eighties American cop series were, in fact, replicas made from Corvette chassis. Yup, Don Johnson was driving fakes.
Apparently two cars were used for filming, but some reports suggest there were three. Underneath the black bodywork were 1980 Corvettes but they did use real Ferrari hardware inside. They were built by speciality car builder Tom McBurnie of Thunder Ranch in California. At one point they were confiscated by the Federal Police, until the show producers bought the cars back off the government.
By the start of the third season the car was attracting a lot of attention and that irked Ferrari executives who felt this was a PR timebomb waiting to go off. They didn't want the backlash when the television audience eventually found out that the show cars were replicas. As a result Ferrari North America offered to provide two bona-fide Ferraris for Miami Vice, and they chose their flagship model, the 12-cylinder muscle machine, the Testarossa.
That left the 'Daytonas' out of work.
According to some sources the cars were left for dead and there was no record of their whereabouts.
One eventually turned up on display at the StarCars museum in Tennessee, another ended up in the hands of car enthusiast Jeff Souter in Texas. Souter's restored car eventually ended up for sale at American car trader Volo Auto Museum with an asking price of between $140,000-$190,000.
We are not sure whether these two cars are one and the same because the dates of their appearances are somewhat sketchy but we do know that a Daytona replica with the number place MI VICE appear up for auction at Coys in Essen, Germany, last month, with an estimated asking price of between €33,000-€37,000
This car, formerly owned by former Miami Vice cameraman Jordan Klein Jr, came with a full MoT, a letter of authenticity, memorabilia including a photo signed by Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas and a 'fascinating' history file. 4Car contacted Coys to speak to the new owner but was declined.
