If you’ve ever been lucky enough to see an old car that’s been subject to a world-class, concours winning restoration, you’ll know that in many cases the cars come out of the shop in better shape than they were in when they came out of the factory.
Pro restorers can bring anything back from the dead if you’ve got enough money, but the resuscitation jobs we really like are the ones carried out by enthusiastic amateurs. Guys who love cars so much they take the bite first, then worry later if it’s more than they can chew. Guys who learn on the job and rebuild cars as a way of getting to own something they might not afford to be able to own otherwise.
If you’re a regular watcher of this kind of content on YouTube, you’ll have come across the likes of Matt Armstrong and Tavarish, who have brought wrecked McLarens, Porsche and BMW M cars back to life, and you might even have seen this Ferrari Testarossa before on another channel. It garnered some attention three years back when some guys in Puerto Rico bought it from its original owner, who had left it to sit outside for 16 or 17 years.
Related: Niels van Roij Design Is Coachbuilding A Ferrari Testarossa Targa
Unlike Armstrong, who rips through his renovations in a matter of weeks, Leonardo Junel, a serial Ferrari fixer, it seems, has taken a more leisurely approach to getting the 1988 Testarossa back on the road. There have been a few video updates to the story since he rescued the 15,000-mile (24,000 km) supercar, but now recently a timelapse video appeared on the channel showing the full rebuild.
There are apparently still a few things to finish off, and the result probably isn’t going to win any Pebble Beach awards or Ferrari any time soon, but the fact that it was saved by a couple of guys who look to have done all the work without access to a proper workshop makes it all the more special in our book.