Back in 1975, when Queen’s Roger Taylor wrote I’m In Love With My Car for the Night At The Opera album – sample lyric: ‘Told my girl I’d have to forget her/rather buy me a new carburettor’ – he spoke for every rock star on the planet.
Ever since Chuck Berry’s No Particular Place To Go (‘Riding along in my automobile’), there’s been a special relationship between musicians and their motors – which explains why Windrush counts several household names amongst our long term car storage clients (although we’re not saying who!). Here are 10 legendary rock cars, chosen by our prestige car storage team.
Noel Gallagher – 1978 Rolls-Royce
The Oasis guv’nor demanded a chocolate brown roller from Creation label boss Alan McGee in the mid-’90s – then remembered he’d need a chauffeur, too, given that he hadn’t passed his test. It wasn’t the last classic that Noel would waste: he also paid £110k for a refitted 1967 Mark II Jag, forgot he’d ordered it and garaged the vehicle with 12 miles on the clock. Should have used Windrush prestige car storage…
Jay Kay – Ferrari 365 GT4 Berlinetta Boxer
Since entering the classics market as a teenager (“because I couldn’t get insurance on a modern car”), Jamiroquai’s cat in the hat has owned ’em all. Take a stroll through his garages since the ’90s and you’d find every stripe of automobile exotica, from the one-off LaFerrari hypercar with the world’s only green finish (“I wanted to make a statement”) to the love it/hate it Ferrari 330 GT Shooting Brake (“It’s not everyone’s cup of tea”) – and don’t forget the classic Cosmic Girl video that includes cameos from his Lambo SE30 and Ferrari F355/F40. Against stiff competition, then, it’s this stunner from the prancing horse that he considers “the best in the world”.
Dave Grohl – 1965 Ford Falcon Van
The millions might roll in, but the Foo Fighters leader still has a spiritual connection to the punk-rock van tours of his youth. Found in the Arizona Desert, where it was nursing three flat tyres, it fell to California bodyshop King T’s Kustoms to restore the Falcon to former glories. “We threw some gas in the carb and it fired up,” recalls builder Troy Honeycutt, “even though it’d been sitting for eight years.”
Jeff Beck – 1932 Ford Deuce Coupé
The story goes that when fellow Sixties guitar god Eric Clapton showed off his fleet of Ferraris, Beck was dismissive (“Anyone can buy those”). The Hi Ho Silver Lining man prefers to get his hands dirty, having built over 30 hot rods, and modding this vintage Ford in homage to 1973’s American Graffiti. “If I worried about my fingers,” he says, “I’d never pick up a pair of pliers.”
Pete Townshend – Mercedes 600 Pullman Limousine
The Who will always be notorious for the apocryphal tale of the Rolls-Royce and the swimming pool, but the band’s guitarist treated his Merc better, having saved for five years to buy it. With an ominous, faintly hearse-like vibe – and the dubious patronage of Saddam Hussein – it wasn’t entirely surprising when the production run wrapped up in 1981.
John Lennon – Rolls Royce Phantom V
It’s probably the most famous rock car of them all – thanks to a psychedelic paint job that was pure summer of love – but not necessarily the best-loved. Lennon loved to tell the story of the automobile purist who attacked the car with an umbrella as he drove through Piccadilly in 1967: “You swine! How dare you do that to a Rolls-Royce…?”
Nick Mason – 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO
Pink Floyd’s avuncular drummer made the most of his Dark Side Of The Moon royalties, becoming one of just 39 lucky owners of Ferrari’s ’62 GTO vintage. “I mean, it is a joyriding car,” he told The Telegraph. “But far better is to take it on some particular mission. So if there’s a good rally or something…”
Steven Tyler – Hennessey Venom GT Spyder
Aerosmith’s loose-lipped frontman was the first in the world to own the Venom, having spotted the model when it debuted at the 2011 Pebble Beach Concours D’Elegance (“I figured, I gotta have it”). To Tyler’s credit, he let the car go for just $800k at a charity auction in 2017.
Eric Clapton – Ferrari SP12 EC
The superstar bluesman laughs in the face of ‘off the shelf’. In 2012, Clapton commissioned Ferrari’s One Off Programme for a custom model that tipped its hat to the BB 512i – and paid a cool $4.75 million for the privilege.
Elvis Presley – De Tomaso Pantera
The King was losing his grip by 1974, and while his new Pantera was a stunner on first inspection, the model’s overheating and ignition issues played havoc with its new owner’s fragile mindset. One morning, after too many turns of the key, Elvis went full Basil Fawlty, discharging his revolver into the steering wheel.
At Windrush classic car storage, everyone gets the rock star treatment
You don’t have to be a rock star to benefit from Windrush long term car storage. With a range of packages to suit your budget, our prestige car storage in London and the Cotswolds lets every proud owner benefit from a service that’s simply the best in the business. From our famous 12-step induction process to the checkovers and maintenance programmes that keep your classic in peak condition, nobody else takes better care of your pride and joy.
Windrush’s team is ready to chat about our prestige car storage service. Get in touch on info@windrushcarstorage.co.uk and let’s find the car storage solution that works for you.
