Keith Moon - Ferrari Dino 246. Dette er naturligvis, hvad alle Keith Moons biler endte med at ligne, men bizart nok, var det ikke Keith selv som krøllede hans Ferrari Dino sammen. Bare et par uger efter han købte den lånte han den ud til et par motorcyklister fra hans lokale pub The Golden Grove i Chertsey. Han tilbød dem at tage en tur, som altså endte i grøften.

Cars of the Rockstars

Søren Navntoft
Article

Money strong musicians and expensive cars go together like record players and vinyl. On some occasions these grand cars perfectly reflect their owner’s personality, yet in others they seem a slightly odd pairing…

Freddie Mercury – Studebaker Champion. Freddie deserves due applause for staging the photograph perfectly.
George Harrison – Aston Martin DB5. The most reserved of The Beatles was obsessed with speed making his choice of the elegant DB5 somewhat perfect.
Janis Joplin – Porsche 365. Together in a unison of psychedelic sixties flower-power happiness. One can’t blame her for poor taste though, as it was her roadie, Dave Roberts, who is reputed to have painted her 356 in a theme he called “The History of the Universe” – though one could perhaps just as well have called it a “Jimi Hendrix Overdose of Vomit”. Shortly after the car was decorated by Roberts, it was stolen, then found again, and after Joplin’s death it was returned to its original Dolphin grey by her brother .
Jeff Beck – Ford Deuce Coupé. Jeff Beck was an avid collector of vehicles. His favourite was the classic Deuce Coupé and a 1932 Ford Roadster. He also owned a 1932 Ford Coupé which he had built as an exact copy of the one used in the famous movie “American Graffiti”. He had apparently lost an auction for the actual car, and thus proceeded to build an exact replica instead. It’s claimed that he still owns a 1963 split window Corvette Stingray, which he bought during the heyday of  The Yardbirds.
Miles Davis – Lamborghini Miura. In 1972, Miles had serious crash in his first Miura in which he broke both his ankles and was hospitalised for a lengthy period. As soon as he was back on his feet again, he went straight out and bought a new Miura.
Johnny Cash – Cadillac (’49 – ’70). This Frankenstein monster of a Cadillac was built to promote Johnny Cash’s song “One Piece at a Time.”
Bryan Ferry – Messerschmitt KR200. A quirky duo.
Dave Clark – Jaguar E-Type. The E-typen was – as can clearly be seen on the following pictures of this article – de rigueur among the most trendsetting stars of the sixties hit lists.
Elvis Presley – Cadillac Eldorado Seville. The choice of car doesn’t surprise us the slightest, but we’re dying to know what the Officer is writing the King a ticket for.
Sonny and Cher – His and her Mustang. The Mustangs were customised by none other than self-proclaimed king of customised cars, George Barris.
Bruce Springsteen – Chevrolet Corvette. Bought shortly after the huge success and massive sales of the Born to Run album in 1975. Both iconically American!
Keith Moon – Ferrari Dino 246. This is of course how all of Keith Moon’s cars eventually ended up looking. But bizarrely, it wasn’t Keith who crumbled his Dino. Just a couple of weeks after buying it, he lent the keys to a couple of motorcyclists from his local pub The Golden Grove, and they promptly embedded it into a ditch.
Morrissey – Fiat 850. No doubt Mozza could have afforded better than this somewhat secondhand Fiat…
Bill Wyman – Citroen SM. Both former bass player Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts from The Rolling Stones bought a Citroën SM. While Watts never drove himself but merely collected cars, Wyman enjoyed the futuristic feel of the elegant SM.
Dolly Parton – Cadillac De Villa. While one is the very definition of curvaceous and the other pretty square-cut, they seem to suit each other perfectly nonetheless.
Elton John – Jaguar E-Type. Yet another musician opts for the E-type, though Elton is famous for his vast collection of (mostly British) cars.
Alan Whitehead – Jaguar E-Type. A 22-year-old Alan Whitehead, drummer in Marmalade, seen here with his E-Type 2 + 2 in 1967.
Ginger Baker – Jensen FF. Ginger Baker, drummer in the rockband Cream, here receives the keys to his brand new Jensen FF in 1969. The Jensen FF was of course launched as the world’s first production car with four-wheel drive and ABS brakes as early as 1966.
Keith Moon – AC 428. Yes, another one of Keith Moon’s stunning cars. Hedonist and drummer in The Who shows off his AC 428, his hotrod and not least his famous hovercraft.
Suzi Quatro – Austin Ruby hotrod. A funny choice for an American bass playing female rockstar.
Tony Iommi – Jaguar E-Type. A relatively restrained choice for a founding member of heavy metal band Black Sabbath.
Marky Ramone – 1965 Chrysler Imperial. Perhaps the perfect tour car for The Ramones?

Dear ViaRETRO readers, please do continue the list in the comments section below. There are of course multiple other stunning cars which have famously been owned by various rockstars…

Source: Rock Stars Cars

 

Previous Visual Sunday: Captivating Air Intakes
Next A Worldly Potpourri at the NEC Classic Motor Show
Avatar photo
Søren Navntoft
All cars are lovable. Especially if they are Italian or French. I prefer them kept original, displaying as few modifications as possible. Sherry, a good cup of coffee and the sound of Miles Davis sums up the good life. My keeper is a 1969 Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV – but I can't keep from continuously flirting with French connections such as DS, 2CV and R4.

Related Posts

6 Responses

  1. @Søren Navntoft, great subject, and great photos! Couple of extra ones to add to your list – Rod Stewart has owned a whole bunch of high-end cars, probably most famously, a Lamborghini Miura, which was sold just a couple of years ago (not by him, I should add – he ran it in the 1970’s).
    Of current rock/pop stars, Jay Kay of Jamiroquai is probably the best known petrolhead, having amassed a collection of about 50 cars over the years. It seems even his garage was getting too small, and some of his collection – including a 1989 Johnny Cecotto BMW M3 for £85,000 – was sold just the other week at the NEC show by Silverstone Auctions.
    For incongruity, allow me to repost a photo from one of my articles on the NEC show – The Move collecting their Vanden Plas 1300; note the number plate!

  2. Some more Beatles’ cars to add to George Harrison’s DB5 – John Lennon had his originally black Rolls Royce Phantom V painted in “psychedelic” colours in 1967, Ringo Starr ran a 1964 Facel Vega II, and Lennon’s songwriting partner Paul McCartney drove a Lamborghini 400GT. At the other extreme to Lennon’s psychedelic Rolls, Harrison had an equally colourful 1966 Mini, a car which I saw at the Windsor Castle Concours of Elegance a couple of years ago – here it is:-

  3. Some excellent pictures there, with some very obvious rockstar / cool car combinations, but also some fairly obscure combinations.
    @tony-wawryk, you’re right – we shouldn’t forget Jay Kay’s excellent taste for classic cars! Equally, we shouldn’t forget Eric Clapton’s or Chris Rea’s for that matter, as they too have owned some fabulous cars.
    But as an 02 enthusiast, needless to say, I simply must share a picture of Bob Marley with his chosen ride…

  4. @anders-bilidt ha, yes indeed – I had forgotten about Bob Marley; I recall many years ago, in an interview he gave to one of the music magazines, that when asked about his preference for BMW’s, he said (and I paraphrase) ” the car speaks to me – BMW, Bob Marley and the Wailers”.

  5. Dame Cleo Laine the undisputed Queen of British Jazz had a Bond Equipe! Bought new in 1969, she even had it on stage with her in 2004 at her Christmas concerts with her virtuoso Saxophonist husband Sir John (in 2006) Dankworth. Here’s a picture to prove it. I helped restore it and get it on stage. And fix the bit of wood to the floor to stop it rolling off into the first row with her on the bonnet as it came out of the back curtains in a cloud of smoke! (Not from the Bond, btw!).

  6. @bob-buckby, now there’s a car I didn’t expect to see on this list. Love the fact that Dame Cleo Laine even took it on stage as recently as 2004 – very cool story… :-)

Comments are closed.