Garage Mahal
Tucked quietly among a row of anonymous warehouses in sunny Southern California sits one of the most dazzling car collections in the world. The owner, comedian and famed host of “The Tonight Show” Jay Leno, a noted car nut, has christened his complex “Jay Leno’s Garage.” And quite the garage it is, indeed.
Leno’s collection encompasses two buildings, many, many thousand square feet and over 100 years of automotive history. His oldest cars in the collection include a 1906 Baker electric car and a 1906 Stanley Steamer. But a curious conundrum arises when discussing Leno’s impressive collection: it’s a museum-quality assemblage run in a manner absolutely unlike a museum.
That’s because the sobriquet “Jay Leno’s Garage” is literal. The collection really does function as Leno’s garage. In other words, these cars don’t collect dust. Leno purchases cars that he enjoys driving—and drive them he does. It’s not unusual for SoCal denizens to spy Leno tooling along in some priceless classic automobile while on his way to his “Tonight Show” gig or a Hollywood premiere.
Leno’s love for cars began as a boy growing up in Andover, Mass., about 30 miles from Boston, where like most young men he liked “anything that rolled or exploded or made noise.” His collection began with the first car he ever bought—which he often used as a sort of “motel on wheels” as he worked his way up through the ranks of the comedy club circuit in his early Hollywood years. That car was refurbished and now holds a cherished spot in Jay’s collection.
The facility also includes a large machine shop area where garage employees, consisting of a three-man crew headed by general manager Bernard Juchli, fabricate parts for Leno’s rare vehicles—a necessity considering your run-of-the-mill auto parts store will carry replacement parts for a 2006 model, but might have a thin stock of parts for a 1906 car!
Of course, any collection worth its weight in gold must include a few classic “Mopars.” Leno’s garage counts among its ranks many Chrysler vehicles. His 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T with a 426 HEMI® and 1966 Dodge HEMI Coronet 500 are displayed side-by-side in front of wall-size reproductions of vintage Chrysler ads.
The star was particularly generous with praise of his 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T in an interview posted on the garage Web site, www.jaylenosgarage.com.
“This is one of these mythical cars, especially for guys of a certain generation—1970 Dodge Challenger 426 HEMI 4-speed,” remarked Leno. “That was the hot set up. This is the car every kid wanted when they got home from ’Nam. This is the one you waited for.”
The rising values of vintage HEMI cars have amazed Leno.
“You could get these when I was a kid for $1,500 - 1,800 bucks. Then in the ’70s they were like $15,000. Then in the ’80s, $40,000 for a HEMI car. In the ’90s they went over $100,000-$200,000. Of course, after the year 2000 some of them were in the millions. It’s one of those cars that caused a lot of myths and a lot of legends.”
Leno also praised the 426 HEMI engine.
“I think it was like an $800-and-something-dollar option,” he recalled. “It doesn’t sound like much now but back in the day that was like a third of the price of the car. Nothing sounds like the HEMI. There’s just something magical about that [sound]. There’s just something about them that kind of drives people wild, and I’m one of them. I love the HEMI engines.”
A 1967 Chrysler Imperial Crown Coupe also resides in Leno’s garage. He bought it in mint condition despite 144,000 miles on the odometer. The previous owner, a 93-year-old movie producer who employed a Chrysler worker to come twice a month and service the vehicle, called Leno and asked if he wanted to purchase the car. A reluctant Leno visited the producer’s mansion on Sunset Boulevard, and was amazed to find the car in pristine shape—and with a store of every spare part, stocked up by the movie producer in case he damaged the car!
Leno’s collection also includes a 1956 Chrysler Imperial with a record player under the dash, and two modern-day Dodge Vipers. Another of the TV star’s sentimental favorites is his HEMI-powered 1954 Dodge Coronet Suburban station wagon.
“I always loved these, the two-door Dodge,” said Leno. “The cool thing about this one is, I had seen this car for years around Los Angeles, and I always sort of lusted after it, because unlike most of them, which were a flathead-six, this had the HEMI engine—a 241 Red Ram with a four-barrel carburetor, three-speed stick with overdrive.”
Added Leno, “This was about the fastest thing around in its day—150 horsepower, a V8, a stick, pretty light too, 3100 lbs. this thing weighs. Not bad.”
The car includes all “the period bells in whistles,” according to Leno, including a $1.95 “radio antenna intensifier” to increase the volume and tone of the car radio, and also a matching cooler.
Leno’s garage is crammed with automobile posters, literature and knick-knacks, including model HEMI engines. “The fun thing about these old cars is collecting all the junk that goes with them,” cracked Leno.
Leno noted that in its early days, Chrysler was an industry standout from an engineering standpoint. “Chrysler was an engineering company. Walter P. Chrysler was an engineer. From an engineering standpoint, Chrysler vehicles were overbuilt. Quality went down during the 1960s, but it was rejuvenated with folks like Bob Lutz.”
Leno’s love of fast cars has made Leno a fan of Team Mopar®. The busy talk show host visited with Team Mopar’s two-time Formula Drift Champ Samuel Hübinette, team owner Shaun Carlson and his NuFormz Racing crew at his garage late last year. Leno even took the wheel of Hübinette’s 650-plus horsepower Mopar Dodge Charger SRT8® drift car and reeled off a few laps on the streets surrounding his facility.
“The team went over and we had a chance to have a meet-and-greet with Jay, and he gave us a personal tour of his garage,” said Hübinette. “The garage was spectacular. After we were done, he said, ‘Let’s check out your car.’ Shaun and I talked with him about the car’s specs. Then he got behind the wheel of the Charger and took it for a spin and really enjoyed it. He even tried to drift a little bit.”
Leno switched from drift to drag mode and welcomed Team Mopar Funny Car drivers Gary Scelzi, Ron Capps, Jack Beckman and their Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) team to his garage for a tour prior to the NHRA Winternationals in February. The DSR chef whipped up a feast for Leno and his guests in the gourmet kitchen Leno installed in the garage, while Jay and the Mopar drivers filmed segments for NHRA POWERade Drag Racing broadcasts on ESPN2. Jay even hopped in the cockpit and fired up Scelzi’s 7,500 horsepower Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car.
“I like all kinds of motorsports so I find it fun,” said Leno. “I’m more of a street car guy. I like stuff I can go out and drive around. But it is impressive how much horsepower they make. I come from the era when 6, 7 and 8 second [elapsed time] was a huge deal. So you walk away for a couple of years, you come back, and you go, ‘Oh my God.’ It’s amazing how much faster. I remember guys were just breaking 200 [mph] back in the ’60s. So, it's pretty amazing. I was in it more in the ’60s, and I kind of got into old cars and road racing cars, and now you kind of drift back into it again.”
“The best part of it was we’re standing around and here he comes pulling in in a 1967 Chrysler Imperial,” said Capps of the visit. “Just drove right in like it’s his [house] garage. All these cars run. He picks one, gets in it, and drives off. It’s not like a museum, it’s not a tribute to himself—it’s cars that he loves probably because they remind him of his childhood, and I’m the same way.”
“This place is incredible,” Scelzi raved. “What a neat guy, really relaxed, just a normal guy.”
Rob Richard, Director - Mopar Parts, Sales and Service Marketing, Chrysler LLC, and Sunil Lahoti, Mopar’s Senior Marketing Manager, dropped in on Jay and his “babies” during the Long Beach Formula Drift event in April. They came away duly impressed.
“Jay’s car collection is amazing,” observed Richard. “He took us on a tour and talked about some of his many cars, including a number of classic Chrysler vehicles, and his passion was obvious. I think what impressed me the most is that he drives each and every one of his cars. This is a functional collection owned by a guy who just flat-out loves cars.”
Rumor has it that Jay’s 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T may soon have a sibling—one of the first new production model, HEMI-powered Dodge Challengers. Looks like his collection is about to get bigger by at least one!
