How to verify original TR color? Does it matter to collectors?

Aside from physical evidence the only "proof" on the car is the paint label on the front hood (LH side). Those are being reproduced so not a guarantee or originality. The original window sticker (if a US car) would tell but no other factory documentation sold with the car does (maybe a dealer invoice or other non-factory documentation). Inspect the car carefully and you should be able to tell. If the usual spots (behind trim and weatherstrip) don't give a clue you could remove some of the satin black "blackout" paint sprayed in the engine compartment, under the hoods, etc. to see the color of the base coat. Also, a Ferrari dealer should be able to look up the VIN in their database and tell you (if you can convince them to, not being the owner).

A lot of buyers are cautious of a re-paint (especially after an accident) and feel that affects value, others not so much. If you could prove it was a color change without any damage you might reduce buyer reluctance. IMO there weren't many TRs color-changed. Sure, there were a ton of red ones but black is not too hard to find.

Is the black solid or metallic?

Contact Carbon McCoy "134282" (on this board), he maintains a pretty thorough database that might have more details.

 

Out of the 580 cars I have in the registry black was the second most common color.

Here are the numbers.

381 Red 65% approximate for the registry
71 Black 12.5%
34 White 6%
31 Yellow 5.3%
16 Blue 2.8%
15 Silver 2.6%
6 Prugna 0.9%
5 Gray 0.9%
1 Gold 0.2%
1 Green 0.2%

 

Look behind the dash or under the carpets, very very few people would take a color change that far.

So behind dash is a good place to see original paint.

 

Welcome to Red Headed is our Testarossa Bible .... look THERE !

 

Welcome to the Old 12s club! I've owned mine for almost 20 years. You'll be thrilled 😎


Sent via itty bitty electrons

 

Hi,

If the carpets happen to be black also, this car is potentially a "triple black" which - in Europe at least - is a rare color combination (therefore desirable I think).

Does the original color matter? For myself it does, simply because the color(s) is the result of a careful decision by the buyer at the time of ordering the car. And this decision is important in the identity of the car. But of course this is a personal opinion.

I bought a 400i Rosso Corsa, and grey leather inside (no black leather at all), grey carpet. Kind of odd. There was a bit of corrosion at the top of the windscreen, so I decided to go ahead and have it redone completely from the bare metal, hoping to find traces of another color in the process (blue perhaps). No traces of blue, only red. OK. A couple of years after I eventually got a "Vehicle Production Data" from Classiche for this car (of course I am kicking myself for not having started with this step).

Original color on the document is "Grigio Scuro Metallizzato Italver", interior "Pelle Grigio VM3393 Incluso Cruscotto Parti Normalemente Nere". So this is a "triple grey" car, this sounds less odd than the red/grey combo. This car is now due for yet another bare metal operation to obtain its true original color.