New set videos from Miami Vice ’85 show Austin Butler’s Sonny Crockett and Michael B. Jordan’s Ricardo Tubbs in a white Ferrari Testarossa, not the black Daytona Spyder from the original show’s first two seasons. IGN reports that a decades-old Ferrari legal fight is the probable reason.
The film is set in 1985 and, per its logline, draws on the pilot and first season, so the Daytona would be the obvious pick. In the series, Don Johnson’s Crockett drove a black 1972 Daytona Spyder convertible until a Stinger missile destroyed it in the Season 3 premiere. IGN notes that in the show’s story, Crockett’s cars were assets seized from criminals and loaned to him by the Miami-Dade Police Department. The department then supplied a white 1986 Testarossa in the second episode of Season 3.
The set footage, shared on X by a fan account, shows the pair filming in Brooklyn.
The trouble with the Daytona is that it was never a Ferrari. IGN says the car on screen was a replica built by McBurnie Coachcraft on a Corvette C3 chassis, because Ferrari North America declined to supply a real one. Ferrari then sued the show and the replica builder for trademark infringement and brand dilution. Cinemablend reports that the settlement ended the replica’s run and that Ferrari handed the production two new 1986 Testarossas. Those cars arrived in black, and director Michael Mann had them repainted white so they stood out in night scenes.
IGN quotes a recap from the X account @CinemaIsLife that says Ferrari won broad protection for its trademarks and for the “shape and profile” of the car. The same post says the Testarossas came with a condition: the fake Daytona had to be blown up on television. That account comes from a social post, and IGN presents the link to the film as its own reading. On that reading, Universal is avoiding another legal headache by dropping the Daytona and using the white Testarossa, even though it breaks with the show’s canon. Universal hasn’t commented.
For fans, the swap changes the look of the film’s most recognisable prop. The Testarossa is arguably the car most people associate with the series anyway, but it arrives earlier in the story than it did on TV.
Where filming and release stand
According to IGN, the production has been shooting in New York and New Jersey and will move to Miami once hurricane season ends. The film opens in theatres, including IMAX, on May 19, 2028, after the studio pushed it back from 2027. For more on the build-up, see our look at the first images of Butler and Jordan as Crockett and Tubbs and the news that John Leguizamo plays the villain.
Is the black Daytona Spyder completely out of Miami Vice ’85?
Nothing official says so. The set videos show a white Testarossa, and IGN’s reasoning is that Universal wants to avoid a repeat of the Ferrari dispute. Universal hasn’t confirmed any car choices.
Was Sonny Crockett’s original Ferrari real?
No. According to IGN, the black Daytona Spyder in the first two seasons was a McBurnie Coachcraft replica built on a Corvette C3 chassis, and Ferrari sued over it.
When can I watch Miami Vice ’85?
IGN lists a theatrical release, including IMAX, on May 19, 2028. We haven’t seen a UAE release date yet.
