Someone has made the mythical video game Out Run a reality to sell a very rare Ferrari Testarossa Spider

Thinking of a sports car from the 80s and not remembering the Ferrari Testarossa is impossible. The Italian model is an icon of that time and its excesses, as the movie 'The Wolf of Wallstreet' showed a few years ago.

Much earlier, Miami Vice contributed to its fame, but so did SEGA's popular racing video game 'Out Run' , which allowed a Ferrari Testarossa Spider to be driven at full speed in arcade machines.

Now, RM Shoteby's is putting up for auction one of the very few convertibles that were made of the Testarossa. The auction will take place next Saturday, November 5, but before selling it, the auction house has taken advantage of this unit to bring the video game Out Run to reality through a video.

The opportunity to re-release an icon of the 80s

At RM Shoteby's they had it clear. A Ferrari Testarossa Spider is not seen every day, not even those who are used to working with the best cars in history. Therefore, it was necessary to take advantage of the moment and do something different before auctioning one of the few convertible units that exist of this model.

The result is a video of just over a minute that will make those who lived through the 80s first-hand and had the opportunity to enjoy the Out Run video game in arcades fall in love . It's also a treat for lovers of the Testarossa, which shines on a road loaded with other gems, like a Honda NSX.

The unit used in the video will be auctioned on November 5 and RM Shoteby's estimates that it will fetch between £1.4m and £1.8m, the current exchange rate equivalent of £ 1.6m to £2.1m. euros. It is a very high figure, but it is also one of the most special Testarossa of the 7,177 units that have been manufactured since 1984.

Image courtesy of RM Shoteby's. Author: Vecchio

And is that Ferrari did not seriously produce any Testarossa Spider. Those from Maranello only made one official unit, the silver one with blue details and a blue hood made for Gianni Agnelli , the head of the Fiat Group at that time.

This very special car had the peculiarity of incorporating an exclusive Valeo transmission that allowed the car to be driven in manual mode, with a three-speed gearbox and its three pedals, or to use the transmission in automatic mode. It was done this way to adapt to a leg injury that Agnelli had been dragging for some time.

Its design was so successful that Ferrari could have marketed it perfectly, but it did not, although there was no shortage of customers willing to buy it. One of them was the Sultan of Brunei , who ordered seven units of this model from Pininfarina. And since almost everything is possible with money, the Italian coachbuilder made his wishes come true.

Image courtesy of RM Shoteby's. Author: Vecchio

In addition to the units of the Sultan of Brunei, Pininfarina manufactured a few other units of the Ferrari Testarossa Spider. The one that RM Shoteby's is now auctioning is one of them, specifically one manufactured in November 1989 with chassis number EFG092.

More than 30 years after seeing the light, this convertible Testarossa only accumulates 413 km on its odometer , although this very low mileage has an explanation. It is not registered and never has been because it was used for years as a show car.

Image courtesy of RM Shoteby's. Author: Vecchio

RM Shoteby's makes special emphasis on the fact that it does not have any registration in traffic and makes it clear that the buyer will have to take it into account if he wishes to use it on public roads because he must carry out the necessary procedures to register it for the first time, if it is possible in the place where they are going to use it.

Of course, its condition has nothing to envy to that of a new car. And not only because of the few kilometers it has traveled, but because of the restoration it has recently undergone.

Image courtesy of RM Shoteby's. Author: Vecchio

In 2021, it passed through the Pininfarina facilities so that the technicians from the Cambiamo factory returned functionality to the opening and closing mechanism of the canvas top, completely repainted the car and renewed the interior. The invoice amounted to 94,300 euros.

At the end of the same year, the Testarossa Spider was taken to Carrozzeria Zanasi, in Maranello, where its clutch , fuel pump and suspension were changed. The engine was also disassembled to clean it and change the components that were in poor condition due to the passage of time. All these works cost 83,170 euros.