"Thomas Donohue" (tomonomics)
10/07/2020 at 10:36 • Filed to: None
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"Thomas Donohue" (tomonomics)
10/07/2020 at 10:36 • Filed to: None | 3
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I never knew about the 512 M, the last run of the Testarossa (though they dropped the TR designation, so technically it’s just a ‘512 Modificata’).
!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
Only 500 made, and just 75 came to the US as 1995 model year cars.
Front styling was obviously carried over to the 550 Maranello.
Edit: Why is lead picture so small, Kinja???? Hope fu lly fixed now.
Anyway, now I know!
Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire
> Thomas Donohue
10/07/2020 at 10:42 |
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Supposedly the best to drive, but gotdamn is it a hot mess to look at.
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Thomas Donohue
> Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire
10/07/2020 at 10:46 |
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Yeah, perhaps if I knew it existed before the 550 M it would have already occupied a place in my brain, but instead it looks like a mash-up render.
I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker
> Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire
10/07/2020 at 10:47 |
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IMO all old Ferraris are. Wedge cars are ugly.
Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever
> Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire
10/07/2020 at 12:31 |
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Yeah it’s as if they just phoned it in by tacking on 90s lights onto the 80s body.
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Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever
> Thomas Donohue
10/07/2020 at 12:34 |
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My understanding of what happened to the F512M:
It was supposed to be the best TR, but the platform was already ancient. By the 1990s the TR looked obsolete and the F355 overshadowed the M’s entire production span. So at the time demand was probably poor and Ferrari did not produce a lot.
FWIW, the F355 had 380 hp in a lighter, cheaper, better-looking package, compared to the F512M’s 434 hp, 600 lb. weight penalty and inferior 5-speed gearing. So the poor old TR had no specs to sell on—it only had its boxy 80s looks to sell in the curvy 90s.
The RHD version is even more rare.
dieseldub
> Thomas Donohue
10/07/2020 at 15:25 |
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That was always a little goofy, yeah...
I think the 512TR was the best-looking of the 3 (original Testarossa, 512TR and 512M) variants of the same basic car. And it handled better and had more power than the original Testarossa.
Pretty sure the M was just a restyled 512TR for the most part... and not necessarily in the best way. Just an odd attempt to modernize the looks of a very aged car at that point.
The 550M, on the other hand, I always liked.. a lot. And not long after the 512M, the F50 came out as a proper 12 cylinder halo car with some F1 tech. Brutal to drive, I hear, but it does indeed handle like a race car and is very minimalist.
I do think Ferrari moving the engine back up front for their big GTs was not a bad idea. Keep that layout for a more usable cruiser. Keep the mid-engine stuff for the cars more geared towards track performance.