Perfectly suited to the decade in which it was born, the brawny Testarossa was both ostentatious and resolutely unapologetic—a big, brash supercar whose 4.9-litre flat-12 and near 2-metre width were as much a statement for the people who bought it as for Ferrari itself.

It would have a lasting impact not just on the public psyche, but also on future generations of Prancing Horse-badged sports cars.

For many, the combination of rakish wedge styling and naturally aspirated flat-12 was a marriage made in heaven, and the view from Maranello for many years was ‘if it isn’t broken, don’t try to fix it’.

As a result, subsequent iterations of the model featured only small changes largely limited to ergonomics and styling.

It wasn’t until 1991 and the arrived of the 512 TR that a more significant departure was made.

The styling of the famous Testarossa still remained in both scope and scale, but the harsher lines of the Pininfarina design had been smoothed over for the new model.

Softer a...