When I envision a Ferrari Testarossa, I envision a convertible. I blame Yu Suzuki’s 1986 driving game Out Run for this. See, Ferrari never officially built roof-less Testarossas, though a lone example was commissioned by former Fiat CEO Gianni Agnelli. Later on, some independent firms performed their own unofficial conversions — one such being design house Pininfarina, which was of course responsible for the Testarossa’s fetching looks in the first place.
One of Pininfarina’s “Special Production” Testarossa Spiders is going up for auction in London this weekend, which means some lucky new owner will have the opportunity to fulfill their Out Run fantasies in a way very few ever have.
RM Sotheby’s is predicting this Ferrari Testarossa Pininfarina Spider will sell for between $1.6 million and just over $2 million. This particular car was one of seven built for that maven of the most opulent 20th century motoring, the Sultan of Brunei. It’s never been registered for the road — criminal but, unfortunately, totally unsurprising. I suppose that if I had seven of these, I’d probably only relegate one for road duty anyway.
About $175,000 has been poured into restoring this rare Testarossa. Pininfarina itself addressed the problems with the roof mechanism, detailed the interior and repainted the body, while a Maranello-based Ferrari specialist took care of the mechanicals. The latter job resulted in the installation of a new fuel pump and clutch, along with a full engine and suspension service.
Because there’s only ever been one official Testarossa Spider, coachbuilders independently settled on their own designs for panels they replaced, like the engine cover. Pininfarina’s cover for this Spider has two columns of vents, leading to one extra-wide vent closest to the rear edge of the car. The folding top is also exposed, resting immediately behind the driver and passenger.
Compare that to Agnelli’s official Spider, which features a less-stylized engine cover featuring many thin, horizontal slats, but with the addition of a body-color panel to protect the soft top — creating a sleeker profile.
In Out Run, the Testarossa Spider shares the stock engine cover but deletes the pillars for the hardtop — the best look, if you ask me. For what it’s worth, Ferrari’s official, never-built design for an Enzo Ferrari convertible exists solely in OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast.
