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Jay Leno has been a car buff all his life and has cashed a lot of his success on television into the most amazing collection of cars. Photo Gallery
Jay Leno is most likely the most famous car collector in the world.
Lindsay Fox has lots of special stuff in Australia, and Jay 'Jamiroquai' Kay and Rowan 'Mr Bean' Atkinson collect fast cars in Britain, but Leno is special. The NBC talk-show legend in the USA has been a car buff all his life and has cashed a lot of his success on television into the most amazing collection of cars. His personal fleet is just plain awesome, and that's without counting the one-off specials built for him by GM.
Every evening he collects something from his garage - actually a series of aircraft hangers - and takes it on the run home before an early-morning commute to Burbank in Los Angeles for taping of his television show. It's a daily ritual that includes all sorts of cars, right up to an aircraft-engined racer that once ran on the Bonneville salt flats.
Right now there is a battle at NBC over Leno's future, after his move from the high-rating Tonight Show into his own program backfired and left a conflict with his replacement Conan O'Brien that could eventually see Leno back where he started.
But that is just background fuzz when I sit down to watch a taping of the Leno Show after a thumping good run up the 405 freeway in the latest Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG. It's the sort of muscular sedan that fits right in Los Angeles, with plenty of luxury and the sort of explosive V8 power you need for on-ramps and narrow gaps in traffic.
The Leno set is heavily car themed, right down to a band backdrop at one end with a giant mural of a 1950s American dashboard. I'm not sure on the car and even one of Leno's assistants, Justin — son of multiple Le Mans winner Derek — Bell cannot provide the answer, but it looks great.
As taping begins on show number 81 it takes Leno less than two minutes to work a car reference into the show. Something about the Toyota Prius ... The 60-minute show passes in a blur and I'm soon back in the E63, but I cannot stop myself from wondering what Leno is taking home. A McLaren F1? An all-American Corvette? Perhaps a classic Duesenberg?
Next time I'm in LA I'm determined to find the answer. And to discover just how deep Leno's passion runs.
