Coachbuilding house Niels van Roij Design continues progress on its open-top Testarossa commission, giving an even closer look at what the finished product will be. An update was posted to their Facebook Page HERE.
We’ve covered this open-top Testarossa before HERE, and even more recently were reminded that a similar conversion was offered by Ernst Berg Systems (EBS) back in 1985. How this “targa” style conversion differs remains to be seen.
Earlier drawings revealed by the firm appeared to show more of a hinged “Superamerica” style roof. These more recent images seem to show a split roof – not a T-top, but similarly cut.
Whatever the case, the project is nearing completion, and based on other work we’ve seen by Niels van Roij Design, we’re eager to see the final product.
Admittedly, we watch Netherlands-based Niels van Roij Design with great interest. While no, they’re not a factory tailor nor a remastering firm like so many you’ll find on this site, they perhaps are even more unique.
They’re a coach builder. They use the terms and we’d agree. In the spirit of pre-war coach builders from whom you’d commission your custom bodied Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Horch, Bugatti, Packard or the like, clients can and do commission highly specialized cars from Neils van Roij, and his firm delivers. In this case, the car was a modern Rolls-Royce Silver Spectre, though built as a shooting brake.
What’s a “shooting brake”? Much like the “station wagon” term comes from the day of horses pulling carriages. Whereas you’d take your station wagon with bed for storage to the train station, you’d take your shooting brake built for carrying guns and equipment to go out shooting. It’s all very logical of course, just like shooting brakes and station wagons with their long roofs enabling you to carry more luggage, gear, guns, hunting hounds, or whatever you may need.
This isn’t a reveal of the Silver Spectre Shooting Brake. The car has made its rounds on media platforms, though Neils van Roij design’s post this week on social media is still worth taking note of. As it turns out, this very special car has a notable new owner – famed racing driver Dario Franchitti.
According to the post, the car was recently listed with Joe Jacari, which is how Franchitti came to own it.
Typically in our series of Remasters, we tend to focus on firms performing limited series production of similar cars built to a largely similar formula. This allows these companies to perfect the car for the most part, which is where clients come in to commission a specification tailored to their desires. With Niels van Roij Design, the idea of bespoke goes quite a bit further for a truly bespoke result.
In this case, that result is a 1987 Ferrari Testarossa whose owner wants more of an open-top motoring experience. Sure, that owner could seek out one of the rare Testarossa Spyders out there. While Ferrari and Pininfarina may have produced one or two here or there, Straman converted Spyders and the like do exist out there somewhere. However, this client wanted something a bit more unique, an idea that’s more Targa and perhaps more structurally rigid… perhaps. And, while they could go the route of a lift-out Targa style roof like the Ferrari 308/328 GTS, it appears the quirky hinged glass application of the 575 Superamerica has been identified as an even more luxurious design befitting the V12-powered Testarossa.
Okay, they likely won’t call it Superamerica. Ferrari, the same company that allegedly gave Pininfarina fits when James Glickenhaus commissioned a neo P4 body conversion for his Enzo, probably would have issues. Still… it’s a rad idea and we’re watching it with great interest.
Niels van Roij has a project page on their own website where they’ve been sharing photos of the Testarossa job so far, and that can be found HERE. They’ve also been sharing images on social media, and recently shared the sketches also seen in this story that depict this “Superamerica” style top design (again, that label is our assessment and not their use).
This particular job was reportedly commissioned by a British expat who currently resides in Andorra.
Niels van Roij Design has been performing coach built transformations for a long time. Remember that Tesla Model S station wagon that popped up a few years back? That was van Roij. So too was a Ferrari 575 Maranello-based shooting brake “bread van” inspired by a similarly configured Ferrari 250 GTO back in the day.
