Celebrity Cars Under The Hammer

An insight into many stars in their various firmaments can be captured by the cars that they own. One only has to look at television and the fictional roles created that are then given a very specific car to drive in. It becomes an extension of who they are, telling you by extension, a lot about their character. Take Columbo, Magnum PI, Morse or Simon Cowell (ok, he’s not fictional, but he may as well be) all of them are almost defined by their rides.

So it is with many celebs, driving the car you might expect them to drive, which comes to light when they go to sell. Often by slapping the ‘previously owned by’ sticker across the windscreen, this in turn can also increase the car’s value, sometimes substantially.

Boxer Prince Naseem Hamed recently sold his Porsche Boxster- what else? Ditto Sir Alan Sugar and his just auctioned Rolls Royce Phantom. Celeb entrepreneur Peter Jones cast loose his pre-loved Bentley Arnage and Christiano Ronaldo his Porsche 911 Turbo. Kevin Keegan sold his Range Rover, Alan Shearer his BMW X5, Jensen Button his Bugatti Veyron, Amir Khan a Range Rover Sport. No real surprises there then.

But who would’ve put Cheryl Cole in an Audi R8? I had her down perhaps for a Mini Cooper S or a Range Rover Vogue… my bad.

Purchased brand new in 1971 by singer Rod Stewart, a rare, blue, two-door 171mph Lamborghini Miura P400S went up for sale a few weeks ago for a cool £900K. The fastest road car of its kind at the time, Rod sold it back in 1976. Having just undergone a £100K restoration, it is one of only 338 produced between 1968 and 1971. The Miura garnered worldwide appeal oddly enough, when it went over the cliff in the opening sequence of movie classic The Italian Job in 1969.

Another car up for sale that is perhaps even bigger than its owner is KITT, of Knightrider fame.

The original four vehicles used in the show are already privately owned, but a replica made by a female fan of the original show recently went under the hammer. Gifted by her to David Hasselhoff back in the Eighties, The Hoff has at last decided to make room in his garage for something presumably a little more contemporary.

Based on a Pontiac Trans Am, it’s rammed with LED’s and even has recordings of digitized KITT one-liners that can be replayed at the touch of a button. It of course also has the throbbing red sensor light in the grill. KITT was expected to get anywhere between 30 to 50 grand, but sold for an impressive $152K.

As a celeb, advertising the fact that you were the previous owner can be a cold, hard lesson in how people see you and whether you have any real caché. A car previously owned by, say Steve McQueen or James Dean is a sure fire hit, easily pulling down million+, as is a car sold by David Beckham, albeit at vastly reduced star wattage, it’ll add a zero to the cost. But something previously owned by a faded football star or yesterday’s reality TV show, might just prove embarrassing.