Saturday, February 20, 2010

Cheap Supercars - Ferrari Testarossa

Today I was browsing Ebay, looking at some of my favorite cars, when I stumbled across a handful of Ferrari Testarossas and saw this fact:

THE BUY IT NOW PRICE ON A MID-1980s TESTAROSSA IS $50k!

Fifty grand. For less than the price of a new Porsche Boxster or even a Corvette, you can buy the ultimate 1980s supercar. Sonny Crockett could afford to buy his undercover car on his cop's salary, providing he was still living rent free on his boat.

If I had $60 grand to spend on a car, and could chose between a new BMW M3, Jaguar XF, or Kia Rio, I'd take the Kia and use the leftover money for the Testarossa. I'd gladly drive the Kia every day for the rest of my driving life, if I had a Ferrari lurking in my garage for occasional weekend use.

My other favorite Ferrari, the 1968-74 365GTB Daytona, sells for six times the market price of a Testarossa. I don't get it. The Testarossa is twice the car. It's faster, handles better, and is equally iconic.

In college, I worked for Mario's Italian restaurant. One quiet Sunday, a customer showed up in a red Testarossa. To a non-car person, a Daytona or many of today's Ferrari's might have only received a second glance. The Testarossa was like a UFO that landed at a strip mall in suburban Kansas. And in an instant, it transformed a quiet, warm Sunday in June into a rare moment.

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