The Ferrari Testarossa is regarded as one of the most iconic cars of the 1980’s. But as popular as the two-door Berlinetta was, Ferrari actually made just one convertible version. That model was specially created as a gift by Ferrari for the late Gianni Agnelli, the head of Fiat at the time. There are a handful of other drop-top Testarossas in existence today, but all of them are custom-built, including this black beauty that was built specifically for Michael Jackson’s now iconic 1987 Pepsi commercial.

If you’re going to own a custom-built Ferrari Testarossa Convertible, I can’t think of another one that you should own more than this particular example. The provenance of this creation is unlike any other custom Testarossa Convertible. Jackson may not have owned it at any point in his life, but he did use it in the famous four-part Pepsi commercial that saw MJ try to escape a horde of screaming fans. The Testarossa Convertible doesn’t get a lot of screen time, but it did make an impression, especially when Jackson uses it to escape the mass hysteria that was chasing him.

Outside of its appearance in the Pepsi ads, the black Testarossa Convertible also has a unique history of its own. According to its lineage, it was built by a custom tuning company in California at a cost of $40,000. Remember, this was in the 1980’s, a time when $40,000 was almost half of what an actual Testarossa cost — it was priced from $94,000 — when it was introduced around the same time.

So the car itself wasn’t cheap to build, but if you have $799,900 lying around today, you can buy it and make it a part of your personal collection. For that amount, you get one of the most unique custom-built Ferrari Testarossa convertible units in history. It does have 17,000 miles on its odometer so it’s been used quite heavily in the course of its 31-year life. Still, when’s the next time you’ll get to see a Testarossa convertible that has Michael Jackson’s provenance attached to it.

The answer? Never. This is the only one that has it.

References

Ferrari Testarossa

Read our full review on the 1968 Ferrari Testarossa.