53 Of The Grooviest Cars From The '60s & '70s
By | August 30, 2022
Janis Joplin’s 1964 Porsche 356 Is Worth More Than A Piece Of Your Heart (A Million Dollars)
Rock and roll and cars go hand in hand. Why do you think so many rock stars crash their cars or buy the craziest, most garish automobiles they can find? Whether you’re a lover of the British Invasion or you prefer the American shredders who followed, these stories of rock n roll cars will give you something to dream about all day.
Do you know the one about Keith Moon driving his Rolls-Royce into a pool? That totally happened - sort of. How about the time Grace Slick slammed her Aston Martin into a bridge going 80 mph? We’ve got enough pics of rock n roll cars and stars to keep you throwing up the horns all day. Now put the pedal to the metal and rock on!
The 1965 Porsche 356c Cabriolet owned by Janis Joplin has always been a far out piece of rock n roll history. After picking up the ride in 1968 Joplin had it hand painted with a mural that’s essentially the summer of love personified. When she passed away in 1970 at the age of 27 her brother and sister locked the car away in a garage and they actually covered the whole thing in primer, which is a shame.
However, in 1995 the car was restored to its former glory and donated to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame where it sat for two decades. In 2015 the Cabriolet sold at auction through Sotheby’s for $1.76 million, for which Joplin’s family told CNN they’d use to support social programs in the name of the singer.
The Lotus Esprit Submarine From 1977's The Spy Who Loved Me Was Lost In A Storage Shed
The Spy Who Loved Me is one of the wildest James Bond films that’s ever been released. Not only does it feature a future Beatle wife, but it has the Lotus Esprit, a must have for any spy worth their salt. These Esprits are big gets for collectors, and they rarely pop up for auction - and when they do they’re snatched up as quickly as possible.
The submarine version of the car was lost to time until a contractor found it under a bunch of blankets in a storage shed. In 2013 when the submarine version of the car came to the surface, Tesla founder Elon Musk snatched it up for £550,000.
Drive Like Starman David Bowie In His $216,000 Volvo Coupe
As eccentric as David Bowie was, he was nothing if not practical. After all, you don’t survive a diet of red peppers, recreational drugs and milk without being somewhat reasonable. Rather than drive a flashy Aston Martin or a Rolls-Royce like his fellow Brits, Bowie sped along the autobahn in a Volvo 262C. Bowie started driving the car in the early ‘80s and he used it regularly until 1998 when he finally sold it.
The car stayed in the possession of its second owner until it was sold by the Oldtimer Galerie Toffen, a Swedish auction house. The original service booklet and a copy of the first vehicle registration were sold with the car.
There Were Hundreds Of General Lees Made For The Dukes Of Hazzard, And They’re All Worth Something
Let’s say you’re making a long running show about a couple of brothers who get into all kinds of hijinks in their cool orange car, how many of those do you think you’d need to make? Four? Five? Try three hundred cars. That’s how many Dodge Chargers were turned into General Lees over the course of seven seasons of The Dukes of Hazzard.
The cars went through so much stress that at least 75 of them were basically junked out, and hundreds more were used to as parts to repair the remaining cars. By the time the show as canceled there were only 17 General Lees left and they were sold to private owners. One car, from the pilot episode, was restored and sold for $110,000.
Keith Moon Didn't Drive A Rolls-Royce Into A Swimming Pool In 1967, It Was A Lincoln Continental
The story of Keith Moon driving a Rolls-Royce into a swimming pool on his 21st birthday is one of the wildest stories of extravagant rock n roll behavior, but it’s taken on a life of its own since 1967. According to those in attendance - including Moon - the drummer’s birthday party got out of control when he started a food fight near the pool of a Flint, Michigan Holiday Inn.
After throwing a five tier cake at everyone Moon found the closest car - a Lincoln Continental - took off the parking break and let gravity do the rest. After the incident Moon recalled:
So there I was, sitting in the driver’s seat of a Lincoln Continental, underwater. And the water was pouring in – coming in through the bloody pedal holes in the floorboard, squirting in through the windows. In a startling moment of logic, I said: “Well, I can’t open the doors until the pressure is the same”. It’s amazing how I remembered those things from my physics class. So I’m sitting there, thinking about me situation, as the water creeps up to me nose. When there’s just enough air in the top of the car to take a gulp, I fill up me lungs, throw open the door and go rising to the top of the pool. So I went back to the party, streaming water.
That being said, some of the rockers in attendance claim that Moon never even got in the pool. I guess it depends on what you think makes the better story
Baby You Can Drive Paul McCartney's Aston Martin For A Cool $1.82 Mil
In the 1960s it was illegal for a member of rock band to drive a lame car, and you’d better believe that every member of The Beatles ripped through merry ol’ England in rides befitting their stature as proto rock gods. While John Lennon drove a psychedelic Rolls-Royce, McCartney’s taste leaned towards something more classic. Throughout his tenure in the Fab Four he owned a few different Aston Martins, but his 1964 DB5 is the one that’s worth all the marbles.
The car was built to his specifications and features a record player in the dashboard - which still works by the way. Before the sell the car was completely overhauled and restored to working order.
Grace Slick Crashed Her Aston Martin DB6 In A Street Race
Grace Slick is one tough chick, and in the 1960s and '70s she was a bit of a car fan. While Jefferson Airplane was recording Bark, their sixth album, in 1971 singer Grace Slick and guitarist Jorma Kaukonen worked off some of the cabin fever that sets in while you’re working in one confined space by driving around the streets of San Francisco. They each had incredibly cool cars - she says that she liked to take her Aston Martin DB6 out for a spin on Doyle Drive whenever she needed a break. That must have been a kick for Jefferson Airplane fans to see.
Marilyn Monroe's 1955 Black Ford Thunderbird Sold For Almost Half A Million Dollars
In 1955, before she married playwright Arthur Miller, Marilyn Monroe bought a black Ford Thunderbird. When the two joined in a union in 1956 she pulled up to the courthouse on June 28, 1956 in this very cool car. When Monroe tired of the car in 1962 she gave it as an 18th birthday gift to John Strasberg - the son of her acting coach Lee Strasberg.
A few months after Monroe gave the car as a gift she passed away. In 2018 the car sold for $490,000. The car’s in excellent condition, so if the car goes on sale again you should make sure to clear out your savings.
Muhammad Ali’s Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow Went On Auction For Close To $70,000
When Ali bought this Rolls-Royce he was treating himself for getting his boxing license reinstated after it was taken away following his refusal to take part in the Vietnam Draft. Ali owned multiple Royce’s throughout his life, and he drove this specific Silver Shadow for six years until selling it off.
After Ali ditched the car it jumped from the states to Europe where it finally found a home in the Netherlands. This car’s been completely restored and according to Bonham’s at the time it was the most expensive car that the company produced. Expected to go at around $70,000, this car is basically a steal.
Ringo Starr's Car In the 1960s Was Fit For A French Mobster And It's Worth A Quarter Of A Million Dollars
Out of all The Beatles, Ringo is definitely the most under appreciated so it makes sense that at the height of Beatlemania he drove a underrated little ride - the Facel Vega II, a a French 6.7--litre grand tourer that you don’t hear a lot about anymore. The car looks like something that a villain in a James Bond movie would drive, but in reality it’s just drummers
You don’t see a lot of these bad boys around anymore, and because it’s such a rare car you won’t be able to buy one without spending somewhere in the ballpark of £250,000.
"Cha Cha" Muldowney Wows On A Freezing Beach In The 1960s
Born Shirley Muldowney, the “First Lady of Drag Racing” is one of the first women who hopped into a car and start drag racing rather than standing by and holding a trophy. She started racing in the late ‘50s in upstate New York, and by the mid-‘60s she was on her way to being one of the most death defying racers on the circuit. Her killer career continued into the ‘70s, where she won three won NHRA Top Fuel Dragster world championships.
Muldowney says that she faced a lot of blowback from her competitors and the NHRA for being who just wanted to race, but in the end they came around. She noted, "NHRA fought me every inch of the way, but when they saw how a girl could fill the stands; they saw I was good for the sport."
Grace Kelly Died Driving A 1971 Rover P6 3500
Grace Kelly lead an illustrious life. First she appeared in a series of MGM films, specifically a pair of back to back Alfred Hitchcock movies - she especially shines as Lisa Fremont in Rear Window. However after heading the U.S. delegation at the Cannes Film Festival she caught the eye of Prince Rainier III in 1955.
The two married in 1956 and Kelly became Princess of Monaco, a true fairy tale life. In the 1980s Kelly was known for driving her Rover P6 around her new home of Monacao. It's definitely the kind of car that's fit for a queen... or princess.
Robert Plant’s '65 Aston Martin Costs A Whole Lotta Money, $1 Million To Be Exact
Would you expect a British rock icon to drive anything less than the most stylish car of the era? Plant picked up this ’65 Aston Martin DB5 in 1970 after Led Zeppelin turned the 12 bar blues into stadium rock bliss, but the singer barely had any time to drive it because of the band’s back breaking tour schedule. However he must have taken it out for a few spins - you don’t buy a car like this and leave it in the garage forever.
After selling off the car, it was kept in a “controlled” environment until Nicholas Mee & Co put it on the market in 2017. This classic British ride remains in pristine condition and it can be yours if you’ve got enough money to buy a stairway to heaven (that works out to about a million dollars).
John Lennon’s Phantom V - The Most Psychedelic Car You’ve Ever Seen Is Worth At Least $240,000
As is the case with a lot of custom cars and groundbreaking albums from the 1960s, calculating the cost of something is pretty tricky when the creators keep fiddling with it. John Lennon first rolled out in his groovy Phantom V with a Sgt. Pepper’s paint job in 1967. This wild looking treat for the eyes offended classic British sensibilities while ushering in a new era of freaky music and designs. If you were trying to capture John Lennon’s anti-establishment attitude in one piece of hardware, this car would be it.
Lennon’s Phantom became legit museum piece after Lennon’s death, and it’s been kept in immaculate shape. It’s routinely a part of Beatles retrospectives and it was included in Rolls-Royce’s “The Great Eight Phantoms” piece in 2017. No one knows exactly how much the car cost to construct, but Beatles Histories Steve Clifford thinks that the cost was somewhere around a quarter of a million dollars, although that price has now skyrocketed into the realm of “priceless.”
Mick Jagger Wrecked His 1966 Aston Martin DB6, But If He Didn't It Would Be Worth £1million
If you were a rock star and you weren’t driving an Aston Martin in 1966 then there was something wrong with you. That year Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger dropped $14,000 for an Aston Martin DB6 which he almost immediately crashed while driving through London. At the time the singer reportedly said, “I only bought the car three months ago. The damage is going to cost about £200.”
There’s no record of when Jagger decided to ditch the DB6 and move onto something with steel wheels, but if he’d held onto the car until 2017 he could have sold it for a cool £1million.
Hey Hey It’s The MonkeeMobile And It’s Almost Half A Million Dollars
They may have not been a “real” band, but The Monkees had some of the biggest hits of the late 1960s, and they had their own TV show. What other group of mop topped lads can say that? One of the coolest props from ABC’s The Monkees was their 1966 Pontiac GTO that they tooled around in for all of their misadventures.
The car is kind of impossible to drive - and has The Monkees logo emblazoned down the side - but its a cool piece of memorabilia for fans of the show. In 2008 the car sold for $396,000.
The Warhol M1 Is Priceless
What would you pay to drive a BMW personally painted by Andy Warhol? Well unless you’ve got all the money in the world you’re not going to be cruising around town in an M1 with his specific artistic flair any time soon. In 1977 Warhol was tasked with creating an “Art Car” for BMW and while many artists might see the car as a great piece of canvas, Warhol took no longer than 24 minutes to paint the car.
When the media arrived to the shop where Warhol was painting they’d already missed Warhol’s work. He asked “Should I paint another car?” A BMW’s owner answered, “"Over my dead body.” He probably wishes he’d let Warhol turn his car into the second priceless work of art that day.
Bob Dylan’s 1966 Motorcycle Crash That Might Not Have Happened
A funny thing happened to Bob Dylan in 1966, or maybe it didn’t. He claimed that while he was riding his Triumph Tiger 100 motorcycle near Woodstock, New York he suffered a major crash on a backroad. After the accident he discovered that he destroyed multiple vertebrae in his neck and that with care from a local medical staff he barely survived.
Here’s the thing, there are no medical records of Dylan ever being hospitalized or even an ambulance call to pick up the singer songwriter. Many people believe that the crash was fabricated in order to give Dylan some time away from the road, but no one’s ever been able to prove this theory.
Dylan wrote in his biography that while he did get in a wreck, he was happy to have a break from his busy schedule. He wrote: “I had been in a motorcycle accident and I'd been hurt, but I recovered. Truth was that I wanted to get out of the rat race."
Nick Mason From Pink Floyd’s Ferrari 250 GTO sold for £30m, Talk About Money
To say that Pink Floyd Drummer Nick Mason has an impressive car collection is an understatement. He has a warehouse stuffed with Ferraris, Aston Martins, and Bugattis, do you think it’s surrounded by a wall? His most acclaimed car is a Ferrari 250 GTO that he bought in 1977.
Most of Mason’s cars were built for racing, but the GTO is a bit of a showy car and to hear Mason say it he felt like a goof for buying one. Mason said:
When I paid £35,000 for the 250 GTO in 1977, I felt stupid to be spending so much — I didn’t think it would be worth £30m in 2016.
Doesn’t sound so stupid now does it?
ZZ Top’s Eliminator Is Not For Sale
The second act of ZZ Top’s career was jumpstarted by one car and one car alone - the Eliminator. This hot rod is a mix of vintage and modern. The body is a chopped 1933 Ford coupe with a dropped tube axle and ’39 Ford teardrop taillights. It’s got a Chevy V-8 and a Camaro Z-28 hydraulic cam, top all that off with suicide doors and custom paint job and you’ve got the ride that appeared in all of ZZ Top’s music videos throughout the 1980s.
The Eliminator has been in and out of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since the 1990s, but it’s more than likely if you pop into Cleveland, Ohio you can sneak a peak at this cherry red hot rod.
Linda Vaughn Looks Pretty Good While Changing A Tire In the 1960s
What’s that sound? No, it’s not rubber peeling away at the asphalt and it’s definitely not gears shifting. That’s jaws hitting the ground when Linda Vaughn walks across the track. Vaughn was best known as Miss Hurst Golden Shifter, a bodacious bombshell that drivers fell in love with over and over again at everything from NASCAR events to Indy shows and even Formula One programs.
As a Hurst girl she handed out trophies, posed with racers, and even rode around the track on a specially made car. Vaughn lived the racing life until the 1980s, which means that she really had to love it.
John Lennon Crashed An Austin Maxi Hatchback In 1969
It’s important to note that John Lennon didn’t get a driver’s license until 1965, until then he’d been humming rides off of his mates. While it’s never too late to learn how to drive, the most outspoken Beatle jut wasn’t suited to it. While on holiday in Scotland with Yoko and his young son Julian he quickly discovered why he shouldn’t be behind the wheel of a car.
On July 1, 1969 he was taking the family around the twisted, narrow roads of Scotland in an Austin Maxi hatchback when he drove the car into a ditch. Once they got to the hospital everyone was fine, but they were a little freaked out. Shortly afterwards Lennon gave up driving and even mounted the car on a pillar outside his home.
The Starsky And Hutch Grand Torino Sold For $40,000
If you were watching TV in the late 1970s then you definitely spent your nights watching Starsky and Hutch keep the streets of Bay City, California, safe. While Paul Michael Glaser (Starsky) and David Soul (Hutch) became household names, the true star of the show was their Ford Grand Torino that accompanied them throughout the series.
Because they did a ton of stunts on that show, the producers had to construct multiple models ranging from cars built in 1974 to 1976. Some of the cars were stunt models while others were your standard off the lot models. All of them were painted bright red and given a white “vector” stripe down the side. In 2014 one of the original Gran Torinos used in the show’s production sold for $40,000.
Elvis Looking Dapper With His 1960s “Gold Cadillac” Fleetwood Limousine
Of course Elvis had a gold plated limo. If anyone could pull it off it was the King of Rock n Roll. Elvis’ favorite Cadillac was the Series 75 Fleetwood limousine which he had covered with 24-karat gold plate highlights and trim along with 40 coats of paint, called “diamond dust pearl,” made from crushed diamonds and fish scales. When the man did something he did it all the way.
All of that customization cost Presely around $65,000 - which was nothing to sneeze at back in the day (it still isn’t). After the King’s death the limp was airlifted to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville and that’s where it’s staying.
You Can Play James Bond With The 1974 AMC Hornet If You've Got A Quarter Mil
James Bond movies have always featured gnarly stunts and cool cars, but 1974’s The Man With The Golden Gun featured a truly epic car stunt that changed the game forever. In the film, the red Hornet performs a barrel roll across an old wooden bridge to the other side. The stunt was styled by Jay Milligan who’d been performing in a travelling stunt show prior to the movie.
He was so comfortable with the stunt that he was actually brought to Thailand to perform the stunt for the film. The car was put on auction in 2017 with a starting price of $250,000.
Every Bluesmobile Was Destroyed Before The Film Was Released In 1980
The Bluesmobile, a 1974 Dodge Monaco sedan that’s supposedly a decommissioned Mount Prospect police car. During the film 13 different former police cars from the California Highway Patrol were used to speed the Brothers Blue across America. The production used so many cars because some of them had to put the pedal of the metal and some where meant to carry out the insane stunts in the film.
If you were hoping to pick up your own Bluesmobile for your collection then you’re sorely out of luck. During production of the film they destroyed literally every one of the cars and set the record for the most amount of cars destroyed on film - which was only broken by Blues Brothers 2000.
Rod Stewart’s Lamborghini Miura Might Be Worth More Than A Million
Rod Stewart’s done it all. He fronted The Faces. He had a stellar solo career and he drove a Lamborghini Miura, a truly beautiful car. After the single “Maggie May” took off and became a major hit he celebrated by picking up a Lamborghini Miura, a V12-powered supercar. After picking up this Lambo, Stewart developed a habit of flipping his cars regularly and he upgraded to the Miura SV.
The car moved around for a while, but in 2014 the car was restored to its original glory and now Sotheby’s is putting the car on auction. They believe that the car is going to sell for $1.8 million.
Keith Richards’ 1966 Bentley Traveled Across The World And Sold For $1.2 Million
Keith Richards, the immortal and skeletal heartbeat of the Rolling Stones has always done things his way. He plays a guitar with five strings, he can’t get no satisfaction, and in the ‘60s he drove one of the biggest cars you could get. In ’66 he bought an S3 Bentley Continental Flying Spur that he named “Blue Lena” after jazz singer Lena Horne.
A year later he drove the car to Morocco with Anita Pallenberg and Brian Jones, and later the car was flown from England to France while the Stones were escaping British tax laws. The guitarist drove the the car for another decade before selling it to collector Lawrence Kayne who held onto the car until 2015 when it sold through Bonham’s auction house for $1.2 million.
John Bonham’s Model T. Ford From The Song Remains The Same Costs $323,600
Jonh Bonham, the God of Thunder himself, didn’t travel in a chariot pulled by valkyries. Instead, he chose to drive around in a Model T. Ford that was constructed in the early 1970s by Andy Brizio, the whole engine was rebuilt in 2006 - so the owner can drive it around if they’re just itching to diminish its value. After Bonham’s death from pulmonary aspiration in 1980 the car went into storage and at some point it was quietly sold to a collector who held onto it until recently.
In 2017 the car was put on auction with the UK’s version eBay for $323,600, which isn’t anything to sneeze at. But if you want to own a piece of rock history now you know exactly how many pennies you need to save.
Johnny Cash’s All Black ‘70s Era Rolls-Royce Sold For $88,000
He may have gone down in a burning ring of fire, but he did it in style. After hosting The Johnny Cash Show for three years Cash purchased a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow, painted all black to his specifications. What, do you think Cash was going to drive around in a cherry red Convertible? Initially the car cost around $25,000 but between the ‘70s and when the car went up for auction in 2014 that price ballooned significantly.
When it was rolled out on stage during the Barret-Jackson auction in Las Vegas the car ended up selling for $88,000 - a significant loss due to inflation so bully for whoever ended up with the Man in Black’s car.
Bob Marley’s Land Rover Isn’t For Sale
Bob Marley is most remembered as the man who took righteous anger and turned it into songs of peace that inspired people from across the world. When he wasn’t jammin’ Marley was driving around Jamaica in his 1976 Series 3 Land Rover, the British SUV that’s best suited to the island’s tough terrain. When he passed away in 1981 the Land Rover stood uncared for at 56 Hope Road for decades, over time a makeshift museum was built up around the car.
To celebrate Marley’s 70th birthday Sandals Resorts began working with the Marley estate to restore the truck to its original glory. The whole thing took two years to rebuild, and now you can see it if you’re ever down in Kingston Town.
Bruce Springsteen's 1960 Corvette Was Born To Be In A Museum
After Born To Run became a cultural touchstone Bruce Springsteen had money to burn so he bought what a lot of young men in his situation would buy - a 1960 Chevrolet Corvette. If you’re a longtime fan of The Boss then you’ve seen pictures of this hot rod on different album covers, and it’s heavily featured in Springsteen’s songbook, Songs.
Rather than sell the car at auction, Springsteen loaned it to a museum in Philadelphia where it became a major piece of the National Constitution Center’s Bruce Springsteen exhibition - From Asbury Park to the Promised Land: The Life and Music of Bruce Springsteen. The car has since been put into storage.
Jimi Hendrix's 1960s Corvettes Are Lost To Time
If you have dreams of taking on cross town traffic in one of Jimi Hendrix’s late ;60s Corvettes you’re going to be waiting a long time. During his short tenure as a living legend, Hendrix purchased two Corvette Coups and both of them wound up totaled. The first, was supposedly smashed to bits after a Cream show in September 1968 near Benedict Canyon in Los Angeles. However amateur sleuths believe that the date on this is incorrect because Cream didn’t even play near Los Angeles until October. But then again, why is time?
The guitar god bought a replacement ‘Vette shortly afterwards, but after his death in 1970 the car was sold off to cover some of his debts. While it’s likely that the car’s still driving around somewhere, it hasn’t been tracked down yet.
John Bonham And Tonu Iommi Crashed A Maserati Into A Fountain In The 1970s
This story comes from Tony Iommi, Black Sabbath’s guitarist and the inventor of the heavy metal riff. When Sabbath was first getting started he kicked around with Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham all the time, and that they spent a lot of time getting drunk and terrorizing the town with their psychotic driving.
Iommi said:
I used to go out quite a bit with John. We used to go to clubs and I would go to his house and have a party and he was quite a wild character, I might say. It was good fun, unless we went out and he was driving. Because he used to get really drunk, and drive back and them days, the police weren't so hot, you know… I remember once case where he'd just bought a new car, like a Maserati, and we were driving up the wrong way up this road and I said, 'We're going the wrong way He went, 'It's alright,' cause in England with the islands that you go around to go into different lanes, and he goes straight over the island and we got stuck on this island, on the top and ripped out the bottom of this new car that he'd got. So 'oh no.' We had to get out, get a cab and he left it there.
No One Knows What Happened To Jim Morrison's "Blue Lady"
Jim Morrison was an American classic. Wild and free, unencumbered by what anyone thought of him. It makes sense that he drove a 1968 Shelby GT500 that he named “The Blue Lady.” The car is most well known for appearing in the extended trailer for Morrison’s HWY: An American Pastoral, but if you lived in Los Angeles in the late 1960s you probably saw Morrison causing havoc in the Mustang at all hours of the night.
No one knows what happened the “Lue Lady” following the fall of 1969, but there are three possibilities for what happened. Either Morrison crashed the car, walked to his favorite watering hole and it was towed away, or he left it in an extended parking lot at LAX for too long on tour and it was towed and sold at public auction. Some of Morrison’s friends believe the car was totaled in another event and sold for scrap.
The Trans-Am From Smokey And The Bandit Had To Be Rebuilt
Over a dozen Pontaic Trans-Ams went into the making of 1977’s Smokey and the Bandit, and unfortunately none of them were salvaged and if any of them survived then no one’s talking about it. The only Trans-Am that survived had to be completely refitted in order to match the looks of the original. One the car was updated, cleaned, and fixed it went on eBay in 2015, however it received zero bids.
Even though the car didn’t sell, it’s become a bit of a tourist attraction by Universal Pictures. So seek out the Trans-Am and live out your dreams as a beer running bandit.
Eric Clapton’s 1964 Ferrari 250 Lusso Is Worth Millions
God himself, Eric Clapton, has a massive car collection, and he loves Ferraris almost as much as he loves a Fender Strats. One of the brightest stars of his car collection is his 1964 Ferrari 250 Lusso - a car of which only 350 were produced. Even if this car weren’t in immaculate shape, which it is, it would still be worth a mint.
Clapton hasn’t sold this car, likely because it’s so rare, but one belonging to Steve McQueen sold for $2.3 million at auction in 2009 so if he did want to make some space he’d make a pretty penny.
Vince Neil’s Pantera Put An End The Career Of Hanois Rocks In 1984
The Ford De Tomaso Pantera is a beast. This bad boy is made for one thing only, driving fast. Unfortunately that’s exactly what Vince Neil was doing on December 8, 1984 when he and Hanois Rocks drummer Razzle (Nicholas Dingley) peeled out for a liquor store run. They’d been drinking like fish while celebrating the first U.S. tour for the Finnish hair metal band and Neil got behind the wheel of his car and lost control while driving through West Hollywood.
Neil’s 1972 Ford Pantera was destroyed in the crash that claimed Razzle’s life and rather than try to salvage the hot rod, it was junked.
George Harrison Had A Real Ferrari Addiction
Some stars get addicted to guitars, some like nose candy, but George Harrison (the best Beatle depending on who you’re asking) was really into Ferraris. He got his start with cars by buying an Aston DB5 like his bass playing buddy Paul McCartney, but shortly after that he he stopped trying to drive like James Bond and snagged a 1965 Ferrari 275 GTB for £5,700. If you’re wondering that car is worth about £750,000 today.
In 2011 his Ferrari 365 GTC went on sale for $600,000 at the cheapest. He drove the car from ’69 to the mid ‘70s and supposedly he inspired Eric Clapton to start collecting the same kind of car.
Brian Jones Drove A Rolls-Royce Until He Died
England is a small country, and because of that all of that the British Invasion bands of the 1960s knew each other. The Stones and The Beatles were especially close in spite of their perceived disdain for one another. in fact, the two bands were so close that Brian Jones, the founding member of the Rolling Stones, bought his Rolls Royce Silver Cloud from George Harrison of The Beatles.
Jones continued to buy these cars and and according to his biographers the hangers on in Jones’ sphere of friends continued borrowing his cars up until the day he died in 1969.
Bill Wyman Doesn't Draw Attention To Himself With His Car
Bill Wyman, the genius bass player of The Rolling Stones collected cars just like the rest of his bandmates, but he eschewed the Aston Martins and Rolls-Royces of his bandmates and instead drove the MGB, a British sports car that he bought for £1,000 - which is wild for a two door coupe in any era. Did we mention that he’s a member of The Rolling Stones and that he’s a bajillionaire?
This guy has so much money and he chooses to tool around in a car that - even with inflation - is worth £15,000. Can someone tell Bill that there are more cars out there?
The Car from Bullitt Disappeared For A While, But It Made A Comeback
Bullitt, the epic Steve McQueen movie that made everyone want to buy a Ford Mustang, featured a green Mustang GT 390 that raced into cinematic glory in one of the greatest chase scenes in film history. After the film wrapped the car disappeared from sight, but it didn’t drop off the face of the Earth. Instead, the Kiernan clan bought the car in 1974 after it popped up in Road & Track magazine.
From ’74 until the mid ‘80s the family used it every day, but then they got rid of it and that was that. The car vanished into obscurity but it reappeared in 2018 at the Detroit Auto Show with a fresh paint job.
Joe Strummer's 1963 Thunderbird Sold For $30,700
In 1987 Joe Strummer finally splurged with his Clash money and bought a 1963 Chalfont Blue Ford Thunderbird for $4,200. Supposedly Strummer drove the car to the studio every day while recording Earthquake Weather. After he passed, the car went to the Beverly Hills Car Club where it was kept in perfect condition until it went on sale in 2014.
That year, the car was put on auction through eBay where it the starting bid was $22,000 but was later sold for $30,700. That's not a bad chunk of change for a car that had to be a bit of a beater when Strummer bought it.
The Two Lane Blacktop Chevy Was Sold For $145,000 And The GTO Has Been Squirreled Away In Alaska
If you watched Two Lane Blacktop in 1970, the film that featured Dennis Wilson and James Taylor as drag racers with nothing to lose then you remember the car they drove - a 1955 Chevy that was like nothing else. It looked like death warmed over and had a dual quad big block engine with tunnel ram under a glass fibre front tilting hood.
The car was shown at multiple car shows, and in 2015 it was sold at auction for $145,000. The orange GTO that appeared in the film, racing the ’55 Chevy was sold at an earlier auction and it’s been hidden up in Alaska since the sale.
The Royal Family Loves The Reliant Scimitar GTE
When you think of the Royal Family you probably don’t assume that they’d drive a semi-affordable, obscure British car. Prince Anne drove a model from 1971, and so did Prince Philip and Prince Andrew. No one knows why so many members of the Royal Family drove different models of this car, the only thing that makes sense is that word of mouth traveled and they couldn’t stop buying.
Over the years, Anne has owned at least eight Scimitars since 1970. Should we all be driving Scimitars, or is this just a Royal thing?
Audrey Hepburn And The Autobianchi Bianchina From How To Steal A Million In 1965
These mini cars may not technically be “rock and roll” but holy cow are they cool. Chances are if you saw Hepburn in How to Steal a Million then you wondered “what is that little car?” The tiny car that turns heads has shades of Mini, but it’s actually an Autobianchi Bianchina, an Italian car based on the Fiat 500.
The cars were in production from 1957 to 1970 which makes them a very hot ticket. These cars can go anywhere from 10 - 40 thousand dollars. There are plenty of different versions, just make sure you find the right one for you.
Two Of Roger Daltry's Cars Are Expected To Bring In Half A Million Dollars At Auction
What’s a young man flush with cash and rock and roll bravado supposed to do? If he’s Roger Daltry from The Who he drops a wild amount of cash on a 1966 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III Sports Saloon. But The Who weren’t just a flash in the pan, these mods on a mission continued rocking into the ‘70s and that’s when Daltry’s proclivities changed.
In 1970 he picked up an Aston Martin V8 Volante - it’s never too late to drive like James Bond. In 2018 both of those cars were sent to auction and are expected to bring in half a million dollars together.
John Entwistle Commissioned His Own Rolls-Royce In 1980, And It's Worth $57,006
When you’ve spent the better part of your life playing for rock royalty like The Who you can write your own ticket, and that goes for calling up Rolls-Royce and having them make a special car for you and your dogs. In 1980 bassist John Entwistle had the company build a custom Silver Shadow that could fit both him and his Irish wolfhounds.
After he passed away in 2002 the car sold to a member of the Scottish gentry, who then sold it to a new owner. In 2013 the car sold for $57,006 during an auction with Bonhams. An auctioneer with the company said, “There was never an official factory-bodied estate version of the Shadow, but that did not deter those wealthy enough from commissioning their own.”
Robert Plant Crashed A Rental Car in Greece In 1975
It may not be a flashy car like one of the many Rolls-Royces being discussed here, but it’s still pretty rock and roll none the less. While vacationing with his family in Rhodes, Greece in 1975 Plant nearly ended his life due to a bit of bad luck. While driving with his wife, Maureen, and their kids Plant lost control of the car and it flew off the road.
While his kids were okay - they only got bumps and bruises - Plant broke an ankle and an elbow, which took two years to heal. The band wasn’t able to finish their dates for Physical Graffiti, and Plant would never again be the carefree soul he was before the accident.
Marc Bolan Died In An Austin Mini In 1977
Marc Bolan from T. Rex never wanted to learn how to drive. Not only did he feel it was a waste of time, but he felt that he would die in some kind of automobile accident. This crash put an end to one of rock’s truly great success stories. While driving home after a night out on Sept. 16, 1977, Bolan was riding shotgun in a purple Austin Mini. His friend lost control of thecae on a bridge and sent Bolan all the way into the back of the car where he died on impact.
One of Bolan’s friends, Vicky Aram, said in 2012:
I can still in my mind see, so clearly, a purple car which looked like a little beetle. It was upright and it was smoking and there was a tiny glimmer of light from the moon, the night was so still. I said, ‘We've got to get them out – this car might blow up.’ I took my mother's rug from the back of my car and put it on the ground. Some of the fans are comforted by the fact he was laid on a nice lady's rug. I don't think Richard thought Marc was dead, but I knew he was.
Keith Moon Accidentally Ran Over His Chauffeur In 1970
Keith Moon was a true rock and roll mess, but this accident is one of the sadder moments of his career - and he wasn’t even trying to act wild. On Jan. 4, 1970 Moon and some of his friends were out at a pub when they ran afoul of some local skinheads. The skins felt that Moon was flaunting his wealth so they started harassing Moon and his friends.
As Moon and his entourage tried to leave they were accosted by the skins and when Moon’s chauffeur got out to confront the men Moon tried to drive to safety. He didn’t know that the chauffeur was under the car and he ended up dragging the man down the road. The injuries killed him later that night.
Janis Joplin's Ode To Mercedes Benz From 1970
While she drove a psychedelic Porsche, Janis Joplin sang about Mercedes Benz. While hanging out at a dive bar in New York on August 8, 1970, Joplin started writing the lyrics to her song “Mercedes Benz.” The song is a meditation on capitalism, and it’s mostly improvised and she recorded the track three days.
Joplin was never one to shy away from a brand, she loved her Southern Comfort after all, and at time this tracks feels like she’s putting out her intention to get her a Porche and a Mercedes. After all, what’s wrong with that?
James Dean And The Curse Of His Deadly Porsche
James Dean was rock and roll before rock and roll was truly a thing. His deeply intense acting style made his few film appearances pop with an intensity that’s yet to be matched, and his sudden death while driving his Porsche 550 Spyder was a shock to everyone. After showing the car to Alec Guinnes (Obi-Wan Kenobi), the actor told Dean, “If you get in that car, you will be found dead in it by this time next week,” and he was.
Everyone else who came in contact with the car ran into a spot of bad luck. The guy who customized the car bought the wreckage following Dean’s death and it fell off a trailer and crushed a mechanic’s leg. Cars holding parts of Dean’s car set on fire, and even exhibitions that have shown the car have featured injuries and unexplainable fires.
