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Daytona in the Air Tonight

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As a child of the ‘80s, most of my favorite television shows featured amazing cars. KITT from Knight Rider, the General Lee from the Dukes of Hazard, Magnum’s Ferrari 308 GTB on Magnum P.I., and Sonny Crockett’s Testarossa on Miami Vice. The one car that always got my heart pumping the hardest was also from Miami Vice - Crockett’s original black Ferrari Daytona Spyder from the first and second seasons.

I have always been a purist about red Ferrari's. If I ever own one, it will be a BB 306 simply because it a perfect combination of Daytona and Testarossa, but it’s predecessor is probably my favorite Ferrari, and perhaps my favorite car, of all time. It is definitely the only Ferrari I would ever own in black.

For years, I couldn’t remember why the drum entrance from Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight” gave me goosebumps. Then, sometime after college in the early 2000s when TV shows started popping up on DVD, my first purchases were MacGyver and Miami Vice. I popped in the the Miami Vice pilot with Crockett and Tubbs cruising through Miami at night on the hunt for murderous drug runners, and BAM, Collins hammers down the toms in a perfect display of Spector’s wall of sound with the Daytona surging forward in perfect sync. Goosebumps. A light-bulb moment that brought back every bit of passion I ever had for cars and music.

I was honestly relieved to find out that the car used in every episode after the original pilot was actually a Corvette kit car that was converted by Tom McBurnie after Ferrari complained about the unauthorized use of their vehicle on the show. That was the car that got blown up with the Stinger missile near the end of season two, well after the Italian automaker saw the boon of using product placement in such a popular show. That’s actually how Crockett ends up with the Testarossa in later episodes; Ferrari insisted that they use a proper vehicle and donated the cars.

There is so much more to say about the Ferrari Daytona and just what makes it so great, but I’m saving that for next week, so be sure to check back next Monday for the second act of one of the greatest Ferrari's of all.

-Trey Fennell




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