MyStarCollectorCar

FIVE FAMOUS SINGERS’ CARS—WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Jerry Admin

If you are a famous singer, the dollars roll in like rain clouds in monsoon season.

The next stage is buying stuff—and classic iron is high on the list for celebrity shoppers.

Here are five examples.

Jerry Sutherland

Dean Martin was part of a long list of celebrities who really dug the limited-production Ghias. These were basically hand-built cars slung over a domestic Chrysler platform.

In Deano’s case, he bought a 1962 Ghia L 6.4 coupe. You could call this the definitive ‘Rat Pack’ car because his buddies Peter Lawford and Frank Sinatra also owned Ghias. The 6.4 was the liter displacement number for the big V-8, but it was also known as the 383 Chrysler big block.

Dean’s car was a Ghia demonstrator car for a few years until he bought it in 1967 and turned it over to George Barris for some light custom touches. Gary Morton (Lucille Ball’s husband) bought it in 1972—after that it went through a few auctions. Gooding-Christie’s Auction sold it in 2019 for 313,000 USD, but it peaked at a Sotheby’s auction in 2016 when it sold for $577,500.      

The second celebrity car is John Lennon’s 1965 Rolls-Royce Phantom V Touring Limousine. Lennon ordered this car in 1964 and asked for a black paint job. He became bored with the sedate paint job by 1967, so he went full psychedelic to channel his inner hippie.

This car has everything from a TV; to a cooler; to a record player—all high-tech 60s stuff. Lennon brought it to New York and lent it to his music buddies like the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and Elton John. There was a tax dispute, so the car ended up in the Smithsonian Museum—it was eventually sold for 2.2 million and now it sits in the Royal BC Museum lobby.

The third car is another psychedelic classsic–Janis Joplin’s 1964 Porsche 356C Cabriolet. These cars are desirable even without a celebrity connection.  

She found the 356C in Beverly Hills and paid 3500.00 for it, but Janis hated the Dolphin Grey paint. Joplin paid a roadie 500 bucks to turn the Porsche into a 4-wheel psychedelic statement.

The car was stolen at a concert but it was recovered quickly thanks to the wild paint. The Porsche ended up with Joplin’s brother and sister and sold at auction for 1.76 million in 2015—a decent return on a 3500-dollar car with a 500-dollar paint job.

The fourth car is the ZZ Top ‘Eliminator’ 1933 Ford Coupe. This classic street rod is almost more famous than the band thanks to its starring role in videos.

This small-block Chevy-powered beauty cost the equivalent of 250-300K in today’s money to build in 1983 and it’s still in the hands of ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons. That’s because ‘The Eliminator’ is a ZZ Top icon—it would be like McDonalds selling the rights to their Golden Arch logo. It’s at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.

The last car was owned by another Beatle. George Harrison was a James Bond fan, so he ordered a 1964 Aston-Martin DB5. The car was built in late 1964 and delivered to Harrison in January 1965.

The DB5 eventually went through an RM Auction in October 2007 for 220,000 GBP. It later sold for 485,000 USD in December 2011 to a Beatles fan from Texas. That was a great investment because a DB5–even without a Beatles connection, is an easy 7-figure sale in today’s market. George was a visionary.   

This list proves one thing–famous entertainers had great taste in cars.  

Jerry Sutherland

By: Jerry Sutherland

Jerry Sutherland is a veteran automotive writer with a primary focus on the collector car hobby. His work has been published in many outlets and publications, including the National Post, Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Ottawa Citizen, Montreal Gazette, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Regina Leader-Post,  Vancouver Sun and The Truth About Cars. He is also a regular contributor to Auto Roundup Publications.

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