Why Austin Butler Cannot Drive the Iconic Black Ferrari in Miami Vice '85
New videos from the set of Miami Vice ‘85 reveal Austin Butler’s Sonny Crockett and Michael B. Jordan”s Ricardo Tubbs driving in a white Ferrari Testarossa, the wrong car for the period of the TV series that director Joseph Konsinski’s film is retelling. And there’s likely a legal reason for that.
New videos from the set of Miami Vice '85 reveal Sonny Crockett and Michael B. Jordan's Ricardo Tubbs driving in a white Ferrari Testarossa instead of the iconic black Ferrari Daytona Spyder. This choice may be due to legal reasons. In the original 1980s TV series, Crockett's car was a black 1972 Ferrari Daytona Spyder before it was destroyed in Season 3.
The show's cars were actually loaned to him by the Miami-Dade Police Department, but they were replaced with a white 1986 Ferrari Testarossa in the second episode of Season 3. The original Daytona Spyder was a replica built on a Corvette C3 chassis because Ferrari North America would not provide an authentic model. Ferrari had a legal dispute with the show and the replica builder, McBurnie Coachcraft, over trademark infringement and brand dilution.
To resolve this, Ferrari donated two authentic Testarossas to the production, but only if the fake Daytona Spyder was destroyed on television. Universal has decided to avoid another legal issue by using the white Testarossa instead of the Daytona Spyder, even though it goes against the show's canon. The film is currently filming in New York and New Jersey but will move to Miami once hurricane season ends. Miami Vice '85 will be released in theaters, including IMAX, on May 19, 2028.
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