SuperTunes Auto

Archive for the ‘Celebrity Cars’ Category

When it comes to cars, Jay Leno is a man of many tastes. Whether it’s an old-school Ford Model T or a somewhat up-to-date Bugatti Veyron, the comedian knows his cars and as long as it’s either rare or expensive or a combination of both, it’s going to find its way into his garage.

In the latest episode of ‘Jay Leno’s Garage’, Leno gets his hands on a DeLorean. No, it’s not that DeLorean that can travel in time at the strike of midnight, but rather a brand-new one that still takes the shape and form of the Back to the Future version.

This particular DeLorean that Jay has is an original one that has come with some pretty extensive modifications to at least become somewhat in line with the standards of today. It’s 2.8-liter Renault V6 even comes with an optional engine upgrade that can spike up its pony power to as much as 195 hp.

So as you can expect with just about every car that gets into an episode
of ‘Jay Leno’s Garage’, he gets behind the wheel of the car and takes it for a spin. And despite not having adequate power to suit his taste buds, Leno seems to have a fairly good time bringing the car Leno describes as one of the ’most controversial cars in history’ up to speed with today’s roads.

Video: Jay Leno features DeLorean on latest episode of ‘Jay Leno’s Garage’ originally appeared on topspeed.com on Wednesday, 24 February 2010 10:00 EST.

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Charlie Sheen woke up this morning with a Mercedes missing from his garage, but to his good fortune, he wasn’t around to see what became of his luxury ride.

The actor’s Mercedes was stolen at his home in Sherman Oaks, California, but the thief, apparently, had something different in store for his newly-boosted car, flying it over a cliff along Mulholland Drive, you know, for kicks.

To his surprise, Sheen was woken up by a call from Mercedes telling him that his car was involved in an accident. Amazingly, the perpetrator escaped from the scene before the LAPD showed up, which is now in hot pursuit of the thief.

It’s unclear to us just how Charlie Sheen could’ve jut left the keys of his Mercedes inside the car, making it a relatively easy target for the unknown booster. Then again, Sheen can afford to buy a replacement with just a snap of a finger so we suspect that he won’t lose a ton of sleep over it.

Just a reminder to Mr. Sheen, though. Next time, bring your keys inside your house.

Video: Charlie Sheen’s Mercedes gets boosted; ends up flying over a cliff originally appeared on topspeed.com on Thursday, 11 February 2010 13:00 EST.

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Reports have been filing in today regarding news that P.Diddy’s son, who recently celebrated his 16th birthday, was given a rather expensive gift – even for celebrity standards – by dear old Daddy-O to the tune of a $360,000 Maybach Exelero. Now, if you’re a car aficionado, you’re going to immediately raise a few red flags upon reading this report.

Red Flag no. 1: There’s only one Maybach Exelero in the world and it’s highly unlikely that Diddy gave it to his son as a birthday present.

Red Flag no. 2: The Maybach Exelero does not cost $360,000. Actually that price tag is just a shade under 5% of what an Exelero actually costs, which, if you don’t know, is around $8 million.

The report does say that the car Diddy got for his son, Justin, costs around $360,000 so we’re going to venture a guess that it might have been something along the likes of either a Maybach 57 or a Maybach 62.

But an Exelero? We sincerely doubt that Diddy even considered for one iota to get his 16-year old son a car that comes with a price tag of around four Bugatti Veyrons.

Contrary to reports, P. Diddy did not buy his 16-year old son a Maybach Exelero originally appeared on topspeed.com on Wednesday, 27 January 2010 07:00 EST.

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Last week, Conan O’Brien’s Bugatti Veyron Mouse became the talk of the town after it made an appearance at one the last episodes of the Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien. We’re thinking that the whole segment was O’Brien’s own way of taking a little dig on Jay Leno, who’s famously known for being a car enthusiast.

Well, consider this video as Jay Leno’s response to Conan’s little skit.

In the latest episode of Jay Leno’s Garage, Leno featured his very own Veyron, a 16.4 Grand Sport. The big difference is that while O’Brien loaned the one that appeared on the show from the Petersen Automobile Musem, Leno’s Veyron looks like it’s actually his.

We figured that this so-called Late Night Wars reached its end after Conan and NBC agreed on a buy-out settlement and the comedian was brought of his contract with NBC, but now it seems that it’s only heating up and don’t be surprised if Leno turns the table on Conan with a few skits of his own directed at the latter in the coming weeks.

Until then, consider this video of Jay Leno driving around in a Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport as the opening salvo.

Video: Jay Leno drives a Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport in response to Conan O’Brien’s Bugatti Veyron Mouse originally appeared on topspeed.com on Tuesday, 26 January 2010 09:00 EST.

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If you haven’t heard about the controversial “Late Night Wars” between NBC, Jay Leno, and Conan O’Brien, then we have to ask you exactly what rock you’re living in.

For those that are in the loop, you probably know the news that Conan O’Brien is leaving the Tonight Show after only seven months to job after being forced out by NBC and Jay Leno. We could go on and on about the story but we’ll save it for another time.

Anyway, seeing that his days as host of the Tonight Show are numbered, Conan spared no expense in racking up NBC’s bills by inviting special new characters to his show that are not so much as ’funny’ as they are ’crazy expensive’.

True to his word, Conan wasted little time inviting his first new character to the Tonight Show: the Bugatti Veyron Mouse!

Check it out and laugh until your sides hurt.

Video: Conan introduces the Bugatti Veyron Mouse to the Tonight Show originally appeared on topspeed.com on Saturday, 23 January 2010 10:00 EST.

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Conan O’Brien’s newest Tonight Show character, the Bugatti Veyron Mouse, made some headlines recently not because of the shrill laughs it generated – although it did get a lot of ‘LOLs’ and ‘ROFLs’ all over the Internet – when it made its debut recently, but more so of how Conan was able to get a Veyron to appear on his show.

Now, if he really wanted to, we’re sure that Conan could afford to buy his own Veyron. But for a man who famously vouched his undying loyalty to a 1992 Ford Taurus SHO – a car he still drives, by the way – it’s highly unlikely that he would pay $1.5 million for the Bugatti supercar.

So the question on everyone’s mind is where did he get one?

Well, after a few hours of speculating, we learned that the Bugatti Veyron that was later dubbed as the Bugatti Veyron Mouse was actually loaned by the Tonight Show from the Petersen Automotive Museum.

Ever since the Late Night Wars between Conan, NBC and Jay Leno exploded into public consciousness, the whole world has been waiting breathlessly for the next twist in what has turned out to be a real-life soap opera. The introduction of the Bugatti Veyron Mouse, a character Conan introduced to the tonight Show because it was “crazy expensive” – a subtle swipe at NBC – has certainly gotten the world’s attention again.

The immediate celebrity status attached to the car has probably given the Petersen Automotive Museum smiling from ear to ear. Not only did the car generate free publicity for the museum, but it may have added a few more zeroes into the car’s value.

Conan O’Brien’s ‘Bugatti Veyron Mouse’ was loaned from the Petersen Automotive Museum originally appeared on topspeed.com on Friday, 22 January 2010 14:34 EST.

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Ordinarily, Suri Cruise is someone we’re not too keen to talk about. It’s not that we don’t like her, but she’s just someone we don’t ordinarily associate with cars.

Apparently, we’re wrong.

Not only is the daughter of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes into cars, she’s actually a big fan of auto racing. You’re probably wondering by now how on Earth a three-year old is into something like that but her affection for the sport has actually prompted daddy-o to buy her a custom-made miniature replica of an open-wheel race car that costs a whopping $30,000.

That’s right; it’s the price of an actual car!

For the life of us, we have no idea how Suri ended up liking auto racing except that she may have watched one too many re-runs of Days of Thunder. But being given a replica of a open-wheel race car that costs $30,000? At an age where she can’t even spell NASCAR?

That’s just beyond absurd.

Tom Cruise buys daugher Suri a $30,000 mini replica of an open-wheel race car originally appeared on topspeed.com on Saturday, 16 January 2010 14:00 EST.

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You can never mistake Travis Pastrana for being a reserved and conservative fellow. On the contrary, he is everything but those two things. One of the best that’s ever driven a dirtbike, Pastrana has a long list of death-defying stunts to his credit, a list that only a few equally crazy people in the world can boast of doing.

In time for the New Year’s celebration, Pastrana has decided to ring in 2010 with a bang…or, jump. Never one to back down from a new stunt, the all-world biker is planning on jumping a car off a ramp at the end of a pier into a waiting barge, covering a distance of over 250 feet of water in the process. Sounds like a routine day in the office for a man like Pastrana, right?

Naturally, a jump of this craziness requires some time for practice and as this video clearly shows, if Pastrana is looking to achieve his death-defying leap, he’s going to need a few more practices under his belt – and maybe even a few more cars to destroy, too.

Video: Travis Pastrana’s world record practice jump gets off on a crashing start originally appeared on topspeed.com on Friday, 18 December 2009 21:02 EST.

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Out of all the things we’re envious of Justin Timberlake – the singing voice, the movie credentials, and of course, Jessica Biel – his latest endorsement deal just might be the one we’re most jealous of.

The four-ringed car brand, Audi, recently chose Timberlake to be its new brand ambassador for the new Audi A1. Curiously, this announcement comes a few days after a report that the A1 may not be headed to the US.

Nevertheless, you can’t deny Justin’s international appeal, as evidenced by the global popularity of his one-time boy band group, N’Sync – Ok, we just had to put N’Sync somewhere in here – so even if the car doesn’t hit US shores anytime soon despite earlier reports saying on the contrary, who’s to say that his presence as Audi’s new brand ambassador won’t have an impact on the other parts of the globe.

According to Audi, Timberlake’s involvement will center on a soon-to-be-launched – possibly in the Spring of 2010 – Audi A1 Internet campaign, where as Audi put it, “Timberlake will play a leading role”.

Naturally, Justin himself seems to be very excited about his new partnership with Audi, saying that, “Audi has always been at the forefront of engineering and technology”, says Timberlake, and I am very excited to be a part of the next evolution conscience with Audi and the A1”.

Audi taps Justin Timberlake to be new brand ambassador originally appeared on topspeed.com on Thursday, 17 December 2009 13:00 EST.

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It may not be the most aesthetically-pleasing car out on the market, but the Tango electric car does have Jay Leno’s stamp of approval. And in the auto industry, that speaks volumes.

The pencil-thin, yet surprisingly-fast electric car was the subject in the latest episode of Jay Leno’s Garage. In the episode, Leno talks with the inventor of the Tango, Rick Woodbury, and the two discuss the uniqueness of the car despite its rather peculiar appearance. In a rare moment of seriousness, Leno looked as if he was genuinely interested in what Woodbury had to say, which is pretty significant because the comedian wastes little time in trying to crack jokes at other people’s expense. One particularly important point that was stressed was the Tango’s use of lead acid batteries as compared to the lithium-ion variety, which Woodbury admits the company still doesn’t have the budget for. Nevertheless, the inventor of the Tango stressed that the company is proceeding plans with putting lithium-ions in the Tango in the near future.

After their conversation, Leno then takes the Tango out for a ride and is pretty impressed with the ride, even saying that the car’s unique ability to split lanes – according to 63 police officers Woodbury asked, all of them have said that it’s perfectly legal – makes it the perfect traffic buster.

Another Leno quip that made us crack was when he said that the Tango’s the only car that you can hang both your arms on both windows. The man hasn’t lost his touch.

Check out the video to see the complete webisode.

Video: Jay Leno test drives a Tango electric car originally appeared on topspeed.com on Friday, 20 November 2009 08:00 EST.

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