You’ve probably seen the movie Ferrari versus Ford a few years ago about Enzo Ferrari, Henry Ford II, Carrol Shelby, and the 24 hours of Le Mans. As flicks go, it was decent show. Ford GTs are cool and so are Ferraris, made even more so by their stint in the police show a few years ago where a Ferrari Testarossa shared top billing with the two actors who played the good guys. That show had one of the greatest intro scenes ever:
I didn’t know why that show and the Miami Vice sound track was playing in my mind repeatedly for the last day or so, and then it hit me: Joe Gresh posted an old passport photo on Facebook. Take a look and tell me what you think:
Gresh is a Jeep man, though, through and through. Like me, I think he’d have a hard time even getting into a Ferrari. Hence the title of this blog.
A bit about the Ferraris on Miami Vice. It’s shades of Long Way Around all over again, you know, when those two dilettantes who call themselves adventure riders wanted to borrow a couple of KTMs and do a show about going around the world on motorcycles. KTM wouldn’t cough up the bikes, so BMW stepped in with their GS ADV bikes, and Starbuck’s parking lots haven’t been the same since.
Something similar happened on Miami Vice. Its producer asked Ferrari to give them two Testarossas and the answer was no. So they had two kit cars made up using Corvettes as the base car and Enzo went nuts. He sued the kit car company, but in the end, he coughed up the two real Ferraris so Don Johnson could be authentic. Not as authentic as Joe Gresh in a Jeep, but more than he would have been otherwise.
One more thing about Miami Vice: A lot of big name actors got their start on that show. Take a look:
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I always loved the intro to the show, especially at the 48-49 second mark. Check it out. No we did not have Ferraris in the NBPD, the closest was a Pontiac Fierro. I did get a chance to drive a Ferrari Testarossa down Easton Ave.
The CHP had Mustangs or Camaros for a while (maybe both). I think Ford or Chevy used it in their advertising (“this car chases Porsches for a living…”).
Who’s that ugly guy to the right of Gresh’s passport photo? Someone should have “tuned up” the casting director on Miami Vice. They missed the best candidate!
John Donson or something. I forget.