Why Austin Butler Cannot Drive the Iconic Black Ferrari in Miami Vice '85

New videos from the set of Miami Vice ‘85 reveal Austin Butler’s Sonny Crockett and Michael B. Jordan's Ricardo Tubbs driving a white Ferrari Testarossa, the wrong car for the period of the TV series that director Joseph Kosinski’s film is retelling. And there’s likely a legal reason for that.

In the first two seasons of the 1980s TV series, Don Johnson’s detective Sonny Crockett drove a black 1972 Ferrari Daytona Spyder convertible before it was blown up by a Stinger missile in the Season 3 premiere. (Cue the gaping Crockett meme.)

In the show’s canon, Crockett’s cars were seized assets from criminals and loaned to him by the Miami-Dade Police Department as part of his undercover identity. The department supplied Crockett with a white 1986 Ferrari Testarossa in the second episode of Season 3.

🚨| Austin Butler and Michael B. Jordan back on the streets of Brooklyn filming ‘Miami Vice ‘85’ 🎬🌴

Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs, the city is yours 😎🔥 https://t.co/AWnbL6W400

— Miami Vice ‘85 Crave (@MiamiViceCrave) November 8, 2026

The Daytona Spyder seen on the show, however, was a replica built on a Corvette C3 chassis since Ferrari North America refused to provide the show with an authentic model. Ferrari launched a legal battle against the show and the replica builder, McBurnie Coachcraft, citing trademark infringement and brand dilution.

“They eventually settled the dispute, winning broad legal protections for their trademarks and even the ‘shape and profile’ of the car,” recapped by @CinemaIsLife on X. “As a part of the settlement they donated two authentic Testarossas (their new flagship car) to the production—but only on the condition that the fake Daytona be dramatically blown up on national television.”

It would appear then that Universal is simply avoiding another legal headache by jettisoning the Daytona Spyder from Miami Vice ‘85 and going with the white Testarossa even though it violates canon.

Miami Vice ‘85 has been filming in New York and New Jersey but will shift production to Miami once hurricane season is over. The film opens in theaters, including IMAX, on May 19, 2028.