When Miami Vice first aired, viewers could hardly believe the number of expensive automobiles involved in the making of the show. Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson) roared around in a black Ferrari Daytona Spyder, whilst his partner, Ricardo Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas) cruised about town in a classic 60s Cadillac Coupe DeVille Convertible. In fact, by the third season, Sonny had successfully offloaded his Daytona and could be seen piloting a drop-dead-gorgeous Ferrari Testarossa!

Photo: Universal Television

Renting those as prop vehicles is a lot of money for a television production company to fork out, let alone one (in its first season anyway) facing the possibility of getting axed at any moment, if it didn’t prove popular with audiences.

Of course, like much in TV & Film land, not everything is always as it first appears. Point of fact, that awesome looking Ferrari Daytona was actually nothing more than a replica built on an old Corvette platform, and the Testarossa was a cleverly concealed De Tomaso Pantera.

Oh, the Cadillac was real enough, but then again, we seldom saw that being driven at anywhere near the pace of the Daytona and Testarossa. And although a very nice car, you could have, and still can, purchase several of them for what those Ferraris are worth.
Ah, but that’s the beauty of TV and Film production because, with a little bit of imagination and some careful control of the camera angles, the camera can indeed lie!

I know this only too well as I have in the past rented out some of my own vehicles for TV & Film production. In fact, I still do on occasion (mostly British vehicles and old Land Rovers in particular), and it’s often surprised me what they’ve ended up becoming.

One became the Pope-Mobile in a film where somebody shot at the poor guy, and another old Land Rover left me only to return as a fully decked out Pilipino taxi complete with baubles & beads hanging above the screen and a sign declaring that the driver had a “single daughter”. I still have the vehicle if anyone wishes to truly stand out in the crowd, or if they need a little assistance in finding an eligible husband for their eldest daughter!

Photo: Universal Television