Racing, they say, improves the breed. And when the breed is Italian exotica, one wonders exactly what constitutes an improvement.
Back in the seventies, one of the main contenders on the Italian supercar podium weas Lamborghini, whose Countach (which translates in Piedmontese somewhat stronger than "blimey") - with its other-worldly, so-ugly-it's-beautiful bodywork and its insane impracticality - bestrode the bullring, and many a teenager's bedroom wall, like a minotaur. The other was the Prancing Horse of Ferrari, whose achingly-beautiful-but-rather-conventional Berlinetta Boxer was equally well received. Of course, being more conventional than the Lamborghini, the Ferrari had the advantage of usability - which the Lambo lacked.
But it wasn't flawless, by any means. In both the Lambo and the Ferrari, the driver was likely to end up parboiled on a long journey, albeit for slightly different reasons. In the Countach, for instance, the cabin was so cramped, the opening for the window so minimal, the air-conditioning so non-existent and the 4 litre V12 such a radiator of heat that a certain amount of cookery was inevitable. The Boxer's problem was that the radiator for the engine was up front, which meant that as the engine itself was mid-mounted, the hoses carrying the superheated water would have to traverse the cabin. Given that passing them over the car or along the sides was more-or-less impossible, they would necessarily have to go beneath the cabin and, as any schuleboy no, heat rises. So, for all its beauty the Boxer was a car you could either travel in sans clothing, or for short journeys only which, given that Ferraris are meant to be driven, didn't sound like a good deal.
Added to which, the poster-boy appeal wasn't universal for the Boxer come the eighties and, 'though the cars were selling reasonably well, something needed to be done about the clamour of exasperated and dry-roasted customers knocking on the door of the offices of Don Enzo. The answer that flashed through the mind of the Powers That Be (Ferrari having been taken over by the Agnelli family's FIAT Automobili SpA by this time) was to evoke the spirit of the racers of the fifties and sixties, with their red cam-covers; the Testa-Rossa (red-head) was born.
Its name was typically Italian, for not only did the Testarossa sport red cam-covers on its mid-mounted flat-twelve engine, but the name itself conjured up a spicier idea - which was further suggested by Pininfarina's voluptuous design. Then again, for Italy's manufacturers (Pininfarina also designed the frumpy Austin A40 and matronly Austin Cambridge/Morris Oxford from the '60s), the female curves were always very much in evidence. Even so, the design was not universally popular - especially given the car's difference from the model it replaced. Of course, many of the styling cues were still there - the flicked back rear quarterlights, for instance - but that radiator grille on the back was too shocking for some. And the side strakes, which looked as if someone had scraped the clay model for the car with a comb, were details a which took a bit of getting used to, even though the effects were a huge relief to those who liked their Ferrari pleasures as Armani intended, and over a longer distance than the end of the driveway.
For yes, the problems that had plagued the Boxer's occupants - the vague feeling of being boiled in one's own sweat - were now largely a thing of the past, thanks to the car's radiator being near the engine, amidships. And what was created was a car that was usable - a driver's car, with good all-round visibility, a good driving position and no propensity for knocking your ears together via your navel every time you start the engine.
All in all, there were three versions of the Testarossa. The first saw the light of day in eighty-four, going on sale a year later; it was replaced by the similar looking 512 TR in ninety-one, which was itself superceded by the 550M (for Modificale) - which looked nothing like the previous two incarnations - three years later. The last Testarossa left the factory in ninety-eight.