Rock ’n’ Roll Garages: Famous Musicians with Incredible Classic Car Collections

Music and cars have always made a natural pairing. Both can be loud, expensive and capable of encouraging otherwise sensible people to spend an alarming amount of money chasing something that makes them feel good.

Perhaps that explains why so many musicians have become serious car collectors.

We are not simply talking about celebrities buying whatever supercar happens to be fashionable. Some have spent decades hunting down historically important Ferraris, pre-war Bentleys, obscure racing cars and beautifully preserved classics. Others have gone a stage further, restoring, modifying and even racing them.

From a Pink Floyd drummer with one of the most celebrated Ferraris ever made to a Metallica frontman obsessed with hand-built customs, these musicians have garages almost as interesting as their back catalogues.

Nick Mason – Pink Floyd

There are celebrity car collectors, and then there is Nick Mason.

The Pink Floyd drummer has been immersed in historic motoring for decades, building a collection known as Ten Tenths that includes some extraordinary competition machinery. More importantly, many of his cars have actually been driven as their makers intended rather than spending their lives hidden beneath covers.

The headline act is his Ferrari 250 GTO. Mason bought the car in 1978, when it was already a 16-year-old ex-racing Ferrari but had yet to acquire the almost mythical status the model enjoys today. Only 36 examples of the 250 GTO were built between 1962 and 1964. His particular car competed at Le Mans and has remained in his ownership ever since.

It hasn’t merely been treated as an investment, either. The GTO continued appearing in motorsport for decades and was still being raced until 2014. It has even performed rather less glamorous duties, including shopping trips and the school run.

Another long-standing member of Mason’s collection is a Jaguar D-type, which he bought in 1976. Remarkably original today, the Jaguar has covered around 40,000 miles and has occasionally returned to competition at events such as the Goodwood Revival.

For Mason, classic cars appear to be objects to experience rather than simply possess. When your garage contains machinery with genuine motorsport history, that makes a considerable difference.

Jay Kay – Jamiroquai

Few musicians have made their enthusiasm for cars quite as visible as Jamiroquai frontman Jay Kay.

Cars have appeared in the band’s videos, become part of its visual identity and followed Kay throughout his career. His tastes have also been unusually broad. Ferraris and Lamborghinis might attract most of the attention, but his ownership history has included everything from classic Mercedes-Benz models and BMWs to American muscle cars.

One particularly special car was a 1955 Maserati A6G/54 Frua Berlinetta. The car had originally appeared at the 1955 Paris motor show and later became part of Kay’s collection before being offered by Gooding & Company in 2012.

He’s also owned a Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7, one of the defining performance cars of the 1970s. Kay’s example later appeared in Jamiroquai’s White Knuckle Ride music video before being offered for sale.

Then there are the cars most people associate with him: Ferraris, Lamborghinis and the spectacular machinery that appeared in the Cosmic Girl video.

What makes Kay interesting as a collector is that his garage has never seemed static. Cars have arrived, been enjoyed and subsequently moved on. In 2018, for example, seven vehicles from his collection were offered together, including an E30 BMW M3 Johnny Cecotto edition, BMW 850CSi, Mercedes-Benz 300SL and a 1967 Ford Mustang fastback.

It feels less like a museum and more like a constantly changing playlist.

Eric Clapton – Ferrari devotee

Eric Clapton’s automotive tastes are particularly closely linked with one manufacturer: Ferrari.

His relationship with the Italian marque stretches back decades, with the guitarist developing a particular affection for the Ferrari 512 BB. In fact, Ferrari says Clapton owned three examples of the Boxer during his years as an owner.

That obsession eventually resulted in something considerably more unusual.

Ferrari created the one-off SP12 EC specifically for Clapton through its bespoke One-Off Programme. Although based around the much newer 458 Italia, its styling was influenced by the 512 BB that he admired so much.

That makes Clapton’s motoring story slightly different from the conventional image of a classic-car collector. Rather than simply accumulating old Ferraris, his attachment to one particular period of the company’s history ultimately inspired Ferrari to reinterpret it in a completely new car.

Few enthusiasts can say their favourite classic directly influenced a factory-built one-off.

James Hetfield – Metallica

You might expect the frontman of Metallica to own something a little more rebellious than a standard luxury saloon.

James Hetfield does not disappoint.

His fascination lies largely with American hot rods and heavily customised pre- and post-war cars. Rather than chasing completely original examples, Hetfield has worked with builders and designers to turn older machinery into dramatic pieces of automotive sculpture.

His collection has included the 1937 Lincoln Zephyr-based Voodoo Priest, 1936 Auburn Slow Burn, 1934 Packard Aquarius, 1936 Ford Iron Fist, 1953 Buick Skylark Skyscraper and the radically reworked 1948 Jaguar known as Black Pearl.

Hetfield told the Petersen Automotive Museum that he sees cars and music in similar terms: both offer a means of expression. That philosophy is fairly obvious when looking at the results. These are not subtle restorations intended to reproduce exactly what rolled from a factory 80 years ago.

They’re interpretations.

In 2019, Hetfield donated ten of his custom cars to the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, allowing the collection to remain together rather than being dispersed among private buyers.

For anyone who sees classic-car culture as being about creativity as much as preservation, his collection makes a convincing argument.

Brian Johnson – AC/DC

Brian Johnson doesn’t simply collect old cars. He races them.

The AC/DC singer has spent years competing in historic motorsport, and his collection has included everything from an early Bentley to dedicated competition machinery.

One of the highlights is his 1965 Lola T70 Mk1. Johnson’s car is chassis number 15, the last Mk1 produced, and originally raced with a Ford V8. Rather than consigning it permanently to a static display, Johnson has driven the Lola in historic competition.

His garage has also included a 1928 Bentley, Rolls-Royce Phantom and a selection of racing cars. Top Gear described him as having raced vintage machinery for around two decades when it joined him for a Daytona outing.

Johnson represents another branch of collecting entirely: the enthusiast who wants to know what an old racing car feels like at speed.

Considering some historic competition cars now change hands for extraordinary sums, taking one onto a circuit requires rather more commitment than occasionally starting it in the garage.

When cars become more than a celebrity purchase

The most interesting thing about these collections isn’t their value. It is what they reveal about different approaches to the classic-car world.

Nick Mason preserves significant racing machinery but still believes it should be experienced. Brian Johnson takes historic cars back onto circuits. Jay Kay’s collection has continually evolved as different cars capture his attention. James Hetfield effectively uses old machinery as raw material for something new, while Eric Clapton’s attachment to a particular Ferrari became strong enough to inspire an entirely new one.

That is what separates a genuine enthusiast’s garage from a collection assembled simply because somebody can afford it.

The musicians may have earned their fortunes through albums, tours, packed stadiums and band merchandise, but when the garage door opens, many of them appear to suffer from exactly the same condition as every other petrolhead: there is always another car they’d quite like to own.