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The cars in Miami Vice mainly involve the Ferrari Daytona Spider and the Ferrari Testarossa, but also include other automobiles driven by the characters on the show. Currently one Daytona (Car #4) is in a private collection and the other (Car #1) is on display at the Volo Auto Museum, the Ferrari Testarossa stunt car resides in Kingsport, Tennessee and is owned by Carl Roberts of Carl Roberts Motor Group.
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Daytona Spider
During the first two seasons and two episodes from the third season, Detective Sonny Crockett drove a black 1972 Ferrari Daytona Spyder 365 GTS/4 replica with a Florida license plate ZAQ178. Ferrari North America had turned down the request by Miami Vice for authentic Ferraris (they did the same with Magnum P.I., forcing that production to purchase 308 GTSs). Although Tom McBurnie is credited with planting the Daytona Spyder in the mind of the public, it was actually Al Mardekian, an importer of gray-market exoticars, who sold Miami Vice the two look-alike Ferraris for $49,000 each. In total two Corvette Daytona replicas were used for the show, car 4 and then car 1 after the pilot which acted as the stunt car. McBurnie was hired to build the bodies for the Corvette-chassised cars. It was blown to pieces on the show with a hand-held Stinger missile launcher during an illegal arms deal.
The "Ferraris" used in the first two seasons were actually re-bodied Corvettes based on a 1976 Corvette (car 1) and a 1981 (car 4) Chevrolet Corvette C3 chassis that had been modified with fiberglass body panels by specialty car manufacturer McBurnie Coachcraft to resemble an early-1970s Ferrari Daytona Spider. The first appearance of the Daytona in the pilot episode is actually a real Ferrari owned by Dr. Roger Sherman of Coconut Grove, Florida. All moving scenes were done on the back of a flatbed truck under the supervision of TIDE Ferrari Racing crew member / model Kimberly Denson of Ft. Lauderdale, Fl. It can be clearly identified as a real Daytona (American version) by the door handles, side markers, windshield rake, sun visors, width variation and side vent windows.
Testarossa
Ferrari filed a lawsuit demanding McBurnie and four others to stop producing and selling Ferrari replicas. 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. Carl Roberts offered to build two new Daytonas for the 1987 season (third season of Miami Vice). When Roberts learned that the Daytona was out, he proposed a trade. He would build Miami Vice a Testarossa stunt car in return for the doomed Daytona. 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.
Roberts searched and found a 1972 De Tomaso Pantera, which was perfectly suited for the Testarossa body pieces. The Pantera was rigidly modified to withstand the duties of filming. It was raised 1.5 inches for additional ground clearance, 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, 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, and the auxiliary master cylinder utilizes the original master cylinder's reservoir and is installed in series with the outlet of the original master cylinder port leading to the rear wheels. When the stock brake is applied, fluid passes freely through the stunt master cylinder inlet port and compensating port and out the exhaust port to the rear wheels. When the stunt brake is applied, the piston in the master cylinder blocks off the compensating port to the exhaust port and pressurizes the rear brake system, cutting off the original brake master cylinder besides the compensating port in the stunt brake. BF Goodrich TA's were added for enhanced stick, as were Tilton brake calipers. The improved traction required installation of a hydraulic in-line brake power booster lifted from a Volvo P-1800. It operates on engine vacuum to aid in breaking loose the pavement-hugging TA's. To further enhance the growl of the vehicle, Robert's team installed a NOS port-injected nitrous system, which was later replaced with a plate-type configuration. He also replaced the carburetor replacing the stock with a Predator which reduces fuel lag. A Modine all-aluminum four-core radiator was used to guard against Miami's hot weather, and liquid Auto-Meter gauges to monitor the temperature.
In the second episode of the third season, Crockett complained to Lt. Castillo about driving vehicles that did not fit his cover as a high roller drug dealer; that he was going around "looking like Li'l Abner", to which Castillo told him "It's out back." Sonny was delighted to find his new white 1986 Ferrari Testarossa, Florida license plate AIF00M. The original Testarossas donated by Ferrari North America were black metallic but were then painted white. The Testarossa briefly appears in black in the season 3 episode El Viejo, which was originally intended to be the season opener, but was then switched with When Irish Eyes Are Crying because it was thought that the season needed to start with a "bang", i.e. the fake Daytona being blown up. Different reasons were given at the time as to why the cars were repainted in white, ranging from a driving mishap by Don Johnson on the set that resulted in one of the cars requiring a new coat of paint, to Michael Mann thinking that unlike the Daytona, the black exterior paint did not make the Testarossa look good enough in night scenes. One of the two main Testarossa's used in filming now resides on display at The Fort Lauderdale Swap Shop. The Swap Shop's owner purchased the car from NBC for $750,000.00 and has reportedly turned down $1,000,000.00 offers for it. The other White Ferrari Testarossa is owned by Peter Lima, of Real Muscle Car Boutique also located in Miami, Florida and was recently put up for auction for 1.75 million through eBay in December 2014 after gaining a lot of buzz from the media.
Other characters
Ricardo Tubbs drove a 1964 Cadillac Coupe de Ville Convertible. Stan Switek drove a turquoise 1961 Ford Thunderbird. Gina Calabrese drove an 1971 Mercury Cougar XR-7 convertible. When Stan and Larry were undercover, they drove a Dodge Ram Van. Crockett's ex-wife drove a 1983 Ford LTD Country Squire.
Notable cars
Other notable vehicles that appeared in Miami Vice (other than a Ferrari), that were driven by villains, police officers, and other characters on the show included, brands such as Lamborghini, AMG Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Maserati, Lotus, DeLorean, Porsche, and Corvettes. American muscle cars, such as the GTO, Trans Am, Mustang, Chevrolet Camaro, and a Plymouth Barracuda also made appearances.