March 8, 2009Stunt Double: Faux Ferraris are Big Business

Did you know that it’s possible to make a Toytoa MR2 (pictured above - bottom) look like Ferrari 360 Spider (pictured above - top)? Did you know that a Pontiac Fiero can be morphed into a Ferrari F355?  Evidently there is a pretty widespread counterfeit Ferrari culture; and the knock-offs are convincing.  

Just last year, Italian police busted a network of auto-body shops throughout Italy that was trading phony Ferraris for about 20,000 euros (approximately $30,000) per auto (read about it in the WSJ, here).  

More recently, three faux Ferraris turned up at the Top Gear Live show in Australia that took place last month.  The Italian impostors were presented on stage to do risky burnout and drifting stunts (see video below).  Even the show’s director, James Cregeen, was taken by surprise when it came to light that the cars were fakes.  According to coverage of the scandal published on www.drive.com.au, Cregeen explained “I got pretty close to them and they certainly looked like the real thing.”  Rumor has it that Ferrari (the real one) is, not surprisingly, pretty pissed about the incident.  Read more about the Top Gear / Faux Ferrari scandal here.