Jay Leno Drives A 1959 Ferrari 250 Testarossa Replica Car

I’ve said many times that Jay Leno absolutely has the coolest “job” in the world (there’s no way you can call what he does work, but it does pay the bills) and once again he’s reminding us just how true that is. This time, he’s getting to take a spin in a 1959 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa tribute, one of the coolest race cars of all time. As always, Jay manages to make something amazing even better by telling the car’s story as only he can.

The car is owned by Peter Giacobbi, who had been slated for a visit from Jay a while back, but the car was actually involved in a traffic accident – you know, because why not take out a super-rare Ferrari and cruise around in it – right before the scheduled interview. The front end of the car was heavily damaged and it’s not like you can just call up Ferrari and order a new fender for this car.

The car, which was built around an actual proof of concept from a failed attempt to win Ferrari’s business by a company in Los Angeles, was built basically piece by piece by Peter as he was able to find and purchase the parts. It is not an original, and he doesn’t pretend that it is. However, the car is all Ferrari, top to bottom, except for the chassis itself, which was built as closely to the original design as possible.

Leno and Giacobbi spend several minutes just discussing how much effort went into finding the most accurate parts, down to the screws that hold the windshield in place in the open cockpit body. The engine is a 4.4-liter V12, which is actually from the early 60’s and is a bit larger displacement, which always makes for a good time when you drop the hammer, which Jay does when he takes the car for a spin.

Check out the full episode of Jay Leno’s Garage below and tell us what you think about the effort that went into this build.