I never got to see Miami Vice on television as it was deemed by the Singapore government to be too violent for the masses when it began airing in 1984. So it would only be nearly 10 years later when cable televison reached our shores that I got to see what the hype was all about. Fast cars, flashy temptations… the works!
The black Ferrari 365 GTS4 Daytona Spyder made a strong impression. It seemed more sophisticated than Magnum’s 308 GTB, with its too cool top down configuration. For this Tomica Premium rendition of the real Daytona Spyder, I picked an exotic pen: the BVLGARI Eccentric in hairline black finish. I thought the included lambskin sleeve mirrored the car’s interiors.
It would only be much later that I learned about how the real car only appeared in the pilot episode and was then ‘replaced’ with a replica for the rest of the season because of production worries over damaging the costly original. This really irked the heads at Ferrari, seeing a fake being paraded on air as the real deal. Eventually, after two seasons, La Scuderia managed to get the producers of the show to replace the replica Daytona(s)…
At the start of season 3, the fake Daytona was terminated with prejudice in a big explosion. To replace it, Ferrari supplied two brand new Testarossas in stark white… the better to stand out in nighttime shots.
To match this icon I had to pick another icon: the Lamy White Pen from 1982. This black and white design was supremely memorable to me and my brother when we bought one as teenagers. As I was looking for a suitable pairing, I was struck by how the black accents and concentric circles seemed to echo the design of the Testarossa.
So that’s it for this instalment, in tribute to my fascination for beautiful cars and equally beautiful writing instruments. Yes I am guilty of loving both!
nice