Ralph Lauren
I appreciate the fact that a man who is very famous and very wealthy for creating extremely stylish clothing also appreciates fine motorcars. But my goodness has he got expensive taste. In the world of vintage cars, Mr Lauren is the envy of every pipe-smoking, silver-haired billionaire the world over. He owns one of only two surviving 57SC Bugatti Atlantique Coupes. Ettore Bugatti’s handmade swooping beauty is an icon bar none, and recently sold on auction for a tasty €3.4 million.
Facing what must be a terrible decision every morning, Lauren also has two McLaren F1’s to choose from, including a special Le Mans version of which only five were ever made. Interestingly, the McLaren F1 is the only road car in history which had to be detuned for Le Mans. His 1930 Mercedes pictured above is possibly one of the most beautiful vehicles ever made. All this sits amongst a practically pricess 1930s Bentley Blower, a 1938 Alfa Romeo 8C and two 1950s Ferraris. And these are just the cars he tells people about.
Lauren recently opened up his garage to the Discovery Channel, and the documentary Speed, Style and Beauty: The Ralph Lauren Car Collection, will air soon on local TV.
Jerry Seinfeld
The fact that one of the funniest men in the world is obsessed with the products of the world’s most obsessive German car company is laughable in itself. I doubt anybody who has ever worked for Porsche has ever watched a minute of Seinfeld. But they certainly know about him; at last count he owned 46 Porsches.
So fanatical is the dry-voiced comic that he got into a scrap with some of his New York neighbours about the construction of a $1.4million garage in the middle of the city. He needs the space: he owns 10 Boxsters, all in different colours. He owns a legendary 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder, the exact same model that James Dean died in. It’s even the same colour.
The centre piece of his collection is a Porsche 959, one of only 337 ever built. At the time, nothing on earth was faster. The car remains extremely collectible, and is reportedly astonishing to drive, but Seinfeld can’t drive it legally on US roads. Porsche refused to donate the required four units the US state test to destruction to prove roadworthiness. The model is therefore classified “non-street legal”, banned from driving on US roads and imported under an exhibition license.
Jay Leno
The Great Chin of Broadcasting is an avid car nut, and his collection is well-documented. Obviously not content with just purchasing insanely expensive supercars, Leno approached GM to build a once of car, dubbed the EcoJet. There’s not much “eco” about it, the custom helicopter turbine engine produces over 650hp, but it runs on bio-diesel.
It looks like a taxi from The Jetsons but goes like the clappers; turbines put out an enormous amount of power from the moment you get moving. Stunning. I can’t imagine it sounds very good though. I’ve never been passed over by a helicopter and thought, “Hmmm, I’d love my car to sound like that.”
And lastly, the Sultan of Brunei
That’s General Haji Sir Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah GCB GCMG, to you buddy. Anyway, this oil-loon’s car collection is of course widely-renowned, and has been the subject of playground and pub arguments for years. In an effort to set the record straight, and report on something you might not know about what is without a doubt the world’s most enormous private car collection.
At last count the Sultan was guarding 3670 cars. The entire collection is overseen by one man, and probably about 500 car washers. Obviously every expensive and rare and drool-worthy car you can think of is contained in the enormous, humidity controlled hangar built especially for the collection, but hiding amongst the hundreds of Mercedes Benz’s (he has a particular fancy for them) are six very, very rare Ferraris.
The Sultan is the only person on earth for whom Ferrari will build station wagons. He owns six. Ferrari. Station Wagons.
Because that’s how he rolls.
