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The Jay Leno Car Collection has to be the world's most famous private automotive collection. There are multiple reasons why. Jay Leno's garage contains a car collection that spans multiple decades and segments. It's one of the best car collections in the world, and he regularly opens it up for charity. A car enthusiast can win a guided garage tour by the man himself, for example.
There are vintage and classic cars, race cars, American muscle cars, ridiculously expensive cars, and a daily driver or two. This vast collection spans the world's entire automotive history, but the best thing is that he doesn't hide them away from car enthusiasts. He regularly takes most of the vehicles in his car collection out for a drive. It's not unusual to see Jay Leno drive his McLaren F1 around LA or take his Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing to the local cars & coffee.
Here's everything you've ever wanted to know about Jay Leno's car collection.
How Jay Leno’s Car Collection Started
To understand Jay Leno's collection, we first need to look at the history of Jay Leno. We'll stick to a highly abridged version. Leno spent his years at college doing stand-up comedy when he was noticed by America's longtime talk show host, Johnny Carson. Jay Leno stood in for Carson a few times, and in 1992, the latter announced his retirement.
Jay Leno was named the new host of The Tonight Show, which shot him to international fame. That's also where most of his net worth comes from. He hosted the beloved show from 1992 to 2009 and again from 2010 to 2014.
Jay Leno is not the kind of man to sit around and do nothing, so in 2014, he started hosting Jay Leno's Garage. The series was canceled in January 2013 after seven seasons on CNBC, but it maintains a permanent home on Jay Leno's YouTube channel.
Earlier, we mentioned Leno's net worth. While Jay is most famous for being a comedian and talk show host, he's also an actor, producer, screenwriter, and voice actor. Jay Leno's net worth is estimated to be in the region of $450 million.
It's fairly apparent that he's a car guy, so he spends his money on some of the finest automobiles ever made.
How much is Jay Leno's car collection worth? It's impossible to say. In 2021, the duPont Registry estimated that his car collection was worth over $53 million. But rare and valuable cars tend to get more valuable over time. The McLaren F1 cost $815,000 when new, but these days, it's a $12 million-$20 million car. Only 106 were built between 1992 and 1996, and Leno owns a 1994 McLaren F1.
That's just one car in his vast garage, so we're guessing $53 million is on the low side.
Cool Facts About Jay Leno’s Garage
The most asked question is how many cars does Jay Leno have. There isn't an exact figure, but it's estimated that Jay Leno owns around 180 vehicles and 160 motorcycles.
According to the Automotive Hall of Fame, his first car was a 1934 Ford pickup truck that he purchased when he was 16. The truck was traded for a Datsun 1600. After moving to the West Coast, he treated himself to his first luxury car, a 1955 Buick Roadmaster.
This Roadmaster would be the beginning of his rise to becoming one of the most prominent car collectors. It's still part of his collection. Jay Leno has a reputation for not selling his cars, but we know of at least one vehicle the car collector got rid of. It was a Tesla Model S P90D, and he didn't get rid of the car because he didn't like it. He only sold it to make room for a Tesla Model S Plaid, which is his daily car. In fact, Leno is a big fan of electric vehicles and bought in on the concept long before it became cool.
In 2011, he became one of the few to buy a Chevrolet Volt. General Motors was way ahead of the curve with this car, and Leno ran it for a year and used less than half a tank of gas. After that came the two Teslas.
The second most asked question is which is Jay Leno's favorite car. We'd have a hard time choosing just one, but according to Leno, it's his 1972 Mercedes-Benz 600 Kompressor. We thought it would have been the 1994 McLaren F1 for sure.
The third question is how much Leno pays for car insurance. Jay Leno's Garage has made several videos with Hagerty, so he likely has a deal worked out with them. That deal is private, but Jerry Insurance crunched the numbers, and it estimates that Jay Leno's cars cost roughly $1.1 million per year to insure.
Obviously, you can't keep a 300-plus motorcycle and car collection near your house, so he keeps them all in his Big Dog Garage near the Hollywood Burbank Airport.
Now that you know the basics, it's time to move on to the cars. We don't have space to list every car, so we settled on a list of our 10 favorites. It wasn't easy whittling this extensive collection down to just 10 vehicles.
1. 1994 McLaren F1
Yes, it's an obvious choice, but the McLaren F1 will always be part of a discussion of the greatest car ever made. All auto enthusiasts dream of driving an F1 at least once, but chances are slim.
As we mentioned earlier, only 106 were made, and it's an angry, naturally aspirated V12 rear-wheel-drive vehicle. The BMW-built S70/2 V12 was never used in any other cars, and its figures are impressive to this day. It produces 618 horsepower and 479 lb-ft of torque.
The F1 will always have a place in history, having set the world record for the fastest production car with a spectacular 240.1 mph. Then there's the impressive Le Mans victory. The list goes on and on.
Jay Leno owns one of 25 units built in 1994. It's a rather elegant example, finished in black with a subtle red line down the flanks.
He did not purchase it new, however. The first owner was a Dutch racing driver, who sold it to Leno for $80,000. The car's value today is estimated to be $12 million, which is on the low side for an F1.
Why? Because Leno drives it like the car gods intended. It's one of the most high-mileage examples out there, but still one of the most expensive cars in his collection.
2. Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing
The 300SL Gullwing coupe is a motorsport and design icon. After WWII, Mercedes-Benz decided to go racing again in 1952. It built the Mercedes-Benz W194, and it was an extremely successful endurance racer. The secret to the racing car's success was its lightweight aluminum chassis, which, combined with wide sills, made it impossible to equip the vehicle with regular doors, and that's how Gullwing doors were born.
The Germans were not planning on building a road-legal version, but its official US-based importer convinced Merc it would be a good idea. The result was the 300SL Gullwing coupe; roughly 1,400 were built, and 80% of those were sold in the USA.
Jay Leno's model is unique. It was a barn find but in the desert. Leno paid to restore everything underneath, but he kept the red exterior with the number 263 as abused as he found it.
If you're a regular viewer of Jay Leno's Garage, you'll know he loves a car with a story. And if you look at the body of this car, it definitely has a story to tell.
3. 1963 Chrysler Turbine Car
Like the Gullwing above, the Chrysler Turbine also has a connection to WWII. Chrysler started researching turbine engines for planes in the 1930s, but nothing came of it. Following the war, the company had all of this proprietary technology and nothing to do with it, so it decided to see if a turbine could power a car. It could, and Chrysler built 55.
Powering a car with a turbine engine is not as silly as it sounds. A turbine engine lasts longer than a combustion engine and has fewer moving parts. But you need pretty expensive parts to make such an engine, so the Chrysler Turbine was canned in 1964.
Apparently, only two operational models are left in private hands, and Jay Leno owns one. Even cooler is that he's not afraid to take it out for a blast.
4. 1925 E-20 Doble
Leno owns a host of steam-powered vehicles, one of which put him in the hospital late last year. If you look at his love for EVs, the turbine car above, and his collection of steam cars, it's quite evident that he's interested in all means of propulsion. If only more so-called enthusiasts were as open-minded…
We settled on the E-20 Doble for two reasons. Leno is on record stating that it's the best steam car ever made, and it has a remarkable history.
First, the reason why it's the best ever made. The Doble's steam engine produces 150 hp, roughly what a Nissan Sentra's naturally aspirated 2.0-liter four-pot produces these days. The torque figure is more impressive, however. It has 1,000 lb-ft available from rest, which is on par with Leno's Plaid.
This particular example was formerly owned by Howard Hughes, another forward-thinking American.
All of the above makes the Doble one of the most impressive cars in Jay Leno's collection.
5. 1967 Lamborghini Miura P400
The Lamborghini Miura is widely regarded as the world's first supercar, though Jay Leno disagrees. He believes that the accolade belongs to the 300SL Gullwing mentioned earlier.
It was an expensive car when it was new, but nowadays, it's a piece of unobtainium. You won't find Lamborghini's first mid-engine V12 supercar for less than a million.
So, how much did Jay Leno pay for this fine example? Nothing. Zilch. Nada. A grand total of zero bucks.
This particular example was a gift from a father to a son. The son blew the engine, and the dad just gave it to Leno.
Leno had it restored, and he's often spotted driving it around. This has to count as one of the best car deals ever made.
6. 1970 Mazda Cosmo 110S
Here's yet another example of Leno's love of engineering. The Cosmo was the first production Mazda equipped with a rotary engine. Without this car, there would be no RX-7. Mercedes also played around with the Wankel engine for a bit (first invented in 1924), but it will always be synonymous with Mazda.
The 110S was equipped with a two-rotor engine displacing less than one liter. Yet, it produced 110 hp, which is where the name comes from. The later Series II model, which Leno owns, had a slightly more powerful 128 hp version of the motor.
Leno's Cosmo is believed to be the only model in the USA, but it's not stock. Instead of sticking with the original engine, Leno replaced it with the 12A twin-rotor from the first-generation Mazda RX-7.
7. Ford GT
Take your pick. Leno owns both the 2005 original and the carbon fiber-bodied 2018 successor.
Both cars are tastefully finished. The older model is red with white stripes, while the EcoBoost V6-powered model is black with orange stripes.
We dig the 2005 Ford GT because it was built as a Ferrari killer, meant to go up against the 360. Ford overshot a bit and famously equipped the car with a supercharged V8 borrowed from a truck. Even though this engine had somewhat agricultural roots, it produced 550 hp and 500 lb-ft of torque. It annihilated the 360, which had a naturally aspirated flat-plane V8 that only produced 395 hp. The GT even beat the 360's successor, the F430.
The 2018 Ford GT beat Ferrari on and off the track. It secured a class victory at Le Mans and gave the Ferrari 488 a spanking on the road.
As you might know, Leno doesn't own a single Ferrari. He doesn't like the way the brand treats its customers and the hoops you have to jump through to get your hands on a limited-production model, which brings us to our next car on the list.
8. 2005 Porsche Carrera GT
Along with the McLaren F1, this is another car in Jay Leno's collection that's arguably the most excellent car ever made. By now, the story of this car is well-known. The 5.7-liter V10 was initially developed for motorsport, but the regulations changed. Instead of canning the engine, Porsche used it for its Noughties halo model.
The GT is a gnarly car that doesn't suffer fools. It's equipped with a six-speed manual gearbox and very few electronic nannies.
Along the same lines, Leno also owns a McLaren P1. He could afford any one of the Holy Trinity, but he settled for the P1, widely regarded as the most dangerous of the three.
More importantly, McLaren didn't require customers to jump through hoops to buy a P1. To buy a LaFerrari, you had to buy a series of other Ferraris, submit a blood sample, and give the Italian brand your firstborn.
9. 1996 Mazda Miata
Not everything in Jay Leno's garage has a top speed of 200 miles an hour. There are some pure sports cars for the everyman, represented perfectly by the NA Mazda Miata.
Leno made quite a controversial statement in a 2018 interview with Business Insider, claiming that the Miata and original Prius will become collector's items one day.
"It's whatever you grew up in. It's whatever you went to your prom in. It's whatever your dad used to take you to Sunday ice cream in," said Leno. "That's the car the next generation will collect."
Leno is a big fan of the Miata's gearbox, high-revving engine, and fun approach to motoring. It was also cheap, which means Mazda sold a lot of them. That means there's an entire generation who grew up admiring the Miata who now have the funds to buy one.
We're big Miata fans at CarBuzz. If a man who owns a Porsche Carrera GT, McLaren P1, and McLaren F1 still gets simple thrills from a basic roadster, you know Mazda did a good job.
10. 1934 Duesenberg Walker Coupe
Leno owns several Duesenbergs, but the Walker Coupe is special. It's the most expensive Duesenberg ever made, with an aerodynamic body designed and built by Walker.
The car was built for Josiah Lilly, the president of Lilly Pharmaceutical, who didn't like it.
From there, the car would live a rather exciting life. It was sold to a politician's mistress, who then sold it to a gas station owner. Instead of using it to go to church on Sunday, the gas station owner used the straight-eight engine to tow stuff. To be fair, it was ideally suited to the task. The car weighs in excess of 6,000 pounds, and the eight-cylinder produced 265 hp.
It's estimated that this particular car is the most expensive of all Jay Leno's cars. The worth is somewhere between $20 million-$30 million, though nobody is able to put an exact figure to it.
We'll only know what it's worth to the market if Leno decides to sell, and that's not going to happen soon.
