5 musicians whose cars brought staggering prices
We dedicated the May/June 2023 issue of Hagerty Drivers Club magazine to the deep connections between music, musicians, and cars, including several fun lists featuring your favorite car songs. Come back often or click the Music & Cars tag to stay up to date on these stories as they roll out online. You can also jam with our custom Music & Cars playlist on Spotify, available here.
Celebrity ownership of classic cars is often a huge driving factor in their big sale prices at auction, and fans have paid thousands of times over the odds to buy cars once owned by their musical heroes. From high-buck supercars to fairly conventional machines with morbid histories, here’s a rundown of the musicians whose cars have fetched big percentages over similar cars.
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Keith Richards
The Rolling Stones rocker’s cars regularly outsell their normal counterparts, but his 1965 Bentley S3 Continental Flying Spur provided the biggest bang, selling in 2015 for £763,100 ($1.18M), or 304 percent over any other example.
Elton John
Sir Elton is a frequent seller, with 17 different sales over the years. But when it comes to pure profit, his 1956 Bentley S1 Continental fastback at £196,250 (around $283,000) in 2001 accounted for a 341 percent markup.
Elvis Presley
The King’s cars always bring big money, and his 1975 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham is a standout, after reaching £66,083 (around $81,500) during an online auction in January 2022—a 518 percent premium over any other Caddy of the same ilk.
Freddie Mercury
The Queen frontman’s 1974 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow sold last November for $322,861, an astonishing 3871 percent over any other example.
Notorious B.I.G.
In 2017, the 1997 GMC Suburban in which Christopher Wallace, aka Biggie Smalls, aka the Notorious B.I.G., was shot to death sold for $1.5 million, an increase of 18,650 percent compared with a similar Suburban.
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The Bentley’s are the nicest looking of these cars here but i wouldn’t pay extra for anyone famous owning it. The Suburban is ridiculous.
1.5 MILLION for a 97 Suburban? Somebody has way too much money. I don’t care if Jesus himself drove it, it ain’t worth more than $10-15,000.
Somebody with some kind of sick fascination, too. Not sure why anyone would want a car someone else was shot-to-death in.
None of those cars really interest me, so why on earth would I pay a premium because some famous musician owned one of them? I did buy some Rolling Stones albums back in the day, but that’s about as far out as my wallet extended.
I’m with you . It would make sense maybe it the cars had something on them that makes them uneneek ie a Murrole of Mick Jaggers Lips on the globe box with his signature .
My favorite question when bargaining for a used car: “How much without the story?”
Now that I like!!
agreed!
The person who paid $1.5 million for a 97 GMC Suburban must be some type of wealthy superfan who collects everything related to BIG. If you parked it at Wal-Mart, nobody would give it a second look.
It’s a matter of hero worship. These arts wrote and recorded some amazing music. Most of have a song that brings us back to memory. A different time and place. The people that bought these cars can(apparently) afford to get as close to their hero as possible.
The 1956 Bentley Fastback owned by Elton John is a beautiful car regardless of the owner. However, I could understand someone paying extra for these cars.
Nick Mason (Pink Floyd drummer) has an incredible car collection. I wonder what his cars will sell for.
Makes me think of the Seinfeld episode where George buys a Chrysler LeBaron because it had supposedly belonged to a famous person. You can guess how it turned out. I’d pay a premium to own John Lennon’s Rolls, or George Harrison’s E-Type because I like those cars and I am a Beatles fan. Of course, I would never pay as much as it would take to get such a car.
Check the math on Freddy Mercury’s car. If $322,861 = 3871 percent of the usual price for a 1974 Silver Shadow, then these cars usually sell for around $8,300. Is that correct?
Janice Joplin’s Porsche 356 went for 1.7 million a few years back.
Right!
The Elvis car for sure, not the others, English cars are not my style.
How can you leave us hanging? We’re all now just dying to know “your style”.
Janis Joplin’s Porsche. End of discussion.
Yes!
I have John Voight’s car.
I remember that one ,so funny
Hi, I too thought about the porsche and lennon’s rolls…I saw the nick mason collection years ago!! If I recall he had a ferrari 275 GTB 67′ which model!! I’m sure he has muscle cars…kick ass stuff!! My favorite car was the65′ Bentley S3 flying spur!! Richard’s taste was very $$$$$ !!