The Legendary Ferrari Daytona From Miami Vice Wasn’t A Ferrari At All
“Miami Vice” will always be a neon beacon of the 1980s with its flashy pastel clothes, big-haired women, “In the Air Tonight” by Phil Collins blasting through analog speakers, and those fantastic cars driven by Don Johnson (James “Sonny” Crockett) and Philip Michael Thomas (Ricardo “Rico” Tubbs).
The MTV-style cop show set in Florida’s flashiest cityran from 1984 to 1990 on NBC. According toMotor Trend, during the first two seasons, it was not uncommon to see Crockett driving Tubbs around in a black 1972 Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Daytona Spyder, a car that practically every guy wanted to own. But there was one small problem — it wasn’t actually aFerrari.
At the time, the luxury Italian sports cars were not only costly, but the ‘72 Spyder was very rare. A more significant issue, and something that most people likely don’t realize, is that the North American division of Ferrari flatly refused to provide the show with any genuine Ferraris. It did the same for “Magnum P.I.,” which forced them to use a 308 GTS instead (viaVolo Cars).
That is where Al Mardekian and Tom McBurnie enter the picture.
Everyone could feel it in the air tonight
Al Mardekian was a “gray-market” importer of exotic cars who initially sold two replica Ferraris to the production company, costing $49,000 each. One was labeled “Car 4,” while the other, “Car 1,” became the stunt vehicle after the pilot episode.
So, if these two cars weren’t true Ferraris … what were they?
According toVolo Auto Museum, “Car 1” was a 1976 Corvette chassis, and “Car 4” was from a 1981Chevrolet CorvetteC3. Customized fiberglass body panels built by Tom McBurnie from specialty car manufacturer McBurnie Coachcraft were attached to make them look like a Daytona Spyder. Ironically, a real Spyder appeared in the pilot episode where Sonny read a newspaper in the car. The entire scene only lasted 10 seconds, and the vehicle remained motionless the whole time. Volo Auto Museum reported it’s known to be authentic based on the car’s features.
TheSpyder met its explosive endin Season 3 and never returned to the show, not because the producers wanted it to happen, but becauseFerrari sued Universal Studiosand Tom McBurnie for using a replica Spyder. Part of the settlement includedeliminating the car through a plotlinein the show.
This conciliatory act must have mended fences for the Italian car company, because it ultimately gave Universal two brand-new 1986 Ferrari Testarossas to use in the show. According toMotortrend, the rumor is that Enzo Ferrari himself was the one who wanted the new cars be gifted to the studio.
