If 20 or 30 years ago supercars were considered very demanding to drive, imagine how a heavily tuned one stacks up.
Back in the ‘80s and early ‘90s, supercars like the Countach, Diablo or the F40 were crude, basic, raw and very, very fast. Drivers would have to rely more on their courage and skills instead of electronics but that didn’t stop German tuner Koenig Specials to infuse even more testosterone into these exotics.
Founded in 1977, Koenig specialized in modding European luxury cars after the company’s founder, Willy König, was dissatisfied with his 365 GT4 BB’s performance credentials and took it apart in order to improve it. The end result was special enough to impress the Ferrari community, which quickly turned to him for additional upgrades.
This is exactly how this 1988 Testarossa came to be. Its first owner took it to Koenig where it received the dramatic bodywork, anti-roll bars, a widened wheel-track and serious engine tuning, increasing the flat-twelve’s power output to an outstanding 800 HP.
If that wasn’t enough, the vehicle’s second owner took it back to Koenig to further enhance its looks by taking styling cues from the Ferrari 512M on both ends of the car, plus an F40-like rear wing. These kind of modifications, performed on other prancing horses, allegedly angered Enzo Ferrari so much he ordered Koenig, via legal notice, to remove all Prancing Horse badges as the vehicles were no longer deemed as a proper Ferraris.
This Testarossa is now offered for sale at Silverstone Auctions. If the highest bidder wants to outdo most modern hypercars, he will find the info that Koenig offered a 1000 HP twin-turbo kit, too. So, who knows, maybe it’ll make yet another visit for a last upgrade.
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