LONDON – As a driver on the glamorous, jet-setting Formula One circuit, naturally the Austrian Gerhard Berger drove some serious iron, even away from the track: A red Ferrari 512 M Testarossa.
So it was very likely with some dismay that he watched his car unexpectedly drive away with someone else behind the wheel.
The theft took place at the 1995 San Marino Grand Prix in Imola, Italy. Berger jumped into the path of the car, according to reports then, but had to leap out of the way as it zoomed off. He then gamely gave chase in a friend’s Volkswagen Golf, which went about as well as you would have expected it to. The Ferrari was gone.
Good news, however: The car has been recovered. And it took only 29 years.
The car’s whereabouts were unknown until earlier in 2024, when Ferrari contacted the Metropolitan Police in London about a suspicious vehicle being sold by a British broker.
Police determined the car had been sent to Japan shortly after being stolen and then brought to Britain in late 2023.
No arrests have been made. A second Ferrari stolen at the same grand prix from French driver Jean Alesi remains missing.
Why would this car in particular attract a thief or the people who hired them to steal it?
The Testarossa is one of Ferrari’s most famous makes, initially manufactured in 1984. The 512 M variant that Berger drove was made between 1994 and 1996; only 501 of them were produced. It was the final Testarossa.
Berger could not be reached for comment. He finished third at the 1995 San Marino GP, but he might not have the best memories of the week in Italy.
The theft was brazen not only in how it was carried out but also because of the target itself. As Dave North of New Jersey, a Ferrari expert and a member of the Ferrari Club of America, Empire State Region, noted: “It takes a lot of nerve to steal one. Everyone knows their Ferrari serial number.”
Stephan Markowski of New York, another Ferrari expert who has worked on the cars for years, has a theory as to the car’s enduring popularity.
“I happen to fall right in that perfect age of people who love the Testarossa,” he said. “Miami Vice was on TV, and the Testarossa was that iconic white Miami Vice car.
“It was so ’80s, but it held up remarkably well,” he said. “It’s amazing how well that car has aged.”
Berger was not the only famous person to choose the car. Baseball star Gary Sheffield pleaded no contest to a reckless driving charge in 1994 after being caught going more than 110mph (177kmh) on Interstate 4 in Florida in a Testarossa.
Michael Jordan picked up a ticket in 1989 when his Testarossa was going 90mph in a 60mph zone. Jean-Claude Duvalier, the former Haitian dictator, drove a red Testarossa while in exile on the French Riviera.
In 1988, not long after the Testarossa was launched, Enzo Ferrari, the company’s founder, died. That increased the car’s value for collectors even further, as it was one of the last cars directly associated with him.
Sold on it yet? Police said Berger’s car had a value of £350,000 ($596,000). Other 512 Ms were recently listed for sale online between US$500,000 and US$700,000 (S$672,000 and S$941,000). NYTIMES
