ok so is anyone else out there a fan of this show or is it just me... i cant believe some of the stuff that he has .... makes you REALLY wanna win the damned lottery or at least be a fly on the wall in his garage.... i want that damned 33 indian in his shop.... thing sounds amazing!
I find it great that he drives all his cars, did any one watch the video of his duesenberg model x, it was soaking wet cause he just drove it in the rain!! Also its great to see all these great cars in motion, not just photos of them parked in museums
ya i saw that episode... i watch all of them on his site and ya hes an avid car and bike lover... he has another awesome one of a b17 flying fortress bomber from ww2.. i think that theres another one as well with a p51 mustang on it... he definately knows his cars and parts too.. tries to break it down for people in terms for those who may not be the gearheads that some of us are... hes a great guy .... and like i said i totally need to win the damned lottery
One night on the show years ago, he spoke of how his parents supported his interest in old cars. For Christmas they gave him window glass for his high school ride - '34 Ford pickup. That's us. That's hard core, driving a hot rod without windows in the New England Winter.
Not to many people I would say this about but.... I would like to work for him. He knows what it takes to do the job right - and thats the only way they do it. A genuine love of all thing mechanical. way cool dude.
Doesn't get enough credit for being an awesome mechanic...he's preserved alot of history for all of us and I thank him for that...his knowledge is deep and wide when it comes to anything car related
Ed Bagley Jr has a show on the "Green Channel" called Living with Ed. He often goes over to Lenos garage were leno shows him all his cool stuff and focuses on how he has solar and wind power to provide the juice to his shop. In the last episode he took Bagley around in a 1920'ish electric car. Coolest thing ever.
at the risk of sounding like a jackass, what happens to all his cars when he passes cause i dont think he has kids
He does seem like a pretty regular guy. He doesn't hog the spot light on his show. He lets people talk. Not much ego there. If you look at his hands on the show they do look like they've twisted a wrench or two. There's a few other hollywood guys or girls that are into bikes, cars or planes. Harrison Ford, Queen Latifa is a big time biker, Tim Allen, Steve MacQueen and Paul Newman (RIP). Travolta is a terrific pilot. Some of them seem to be more grounded than alot of those Hollywood goof balls.
I've talked to a lot of people that have met him at car shows and at "Bobs" Everyone tells me what a neat guy he is. He's also very hard working. Other than his show, he still does stand up in Vegas and other places.
Leno rarely gets credit for his shop's program of apprenticing young kids as mechanics or fabricators. He may get some Gov't tax credits for doing it, but he still helps a bunch of kids every year.
In Detroit .....free shows...for the unemployed. http://www.cbc.ca/arts/theatre/story/2009/03/16/comedy-leno-free.html
Anyone who has a passion for something, and is willing to share that passion, and fullfills that passion without expecting a pat on the back, but for the sake of the end result, I'm all for it, and respect that. Be it Leno and his old cars, or a musician more interested in making music and not money. Hats off. He can adopt me, too.
as far as where the cars go when he passes i had heard they will all go into a museum. he said hes only the caretaker of the cars to make sure they are preserved. i dont know who that little old dude is on there, but i bet hes a wealth of knowledge. one day he was showing how to service a stanley steamer, the other he was talking about engines in a duesenberg, and then yet another one he was machining an adapter to bolt a jet engine up to an automatic transmission that was going onto a carbon fibered bodied car. he sure seems like he know a lot about a lot of stuff.
Leno and his organization are top rate. A friend does speciality work, welding and machine work, the drawing or part comes in to his shop. He makes the part and one of Jay's people shows up with a check. No BS, no open account, just paid when completed. My friend says that Leno is one of his best customers and really enjoys building and modifying parts for him. Jay's a stand up guy and really enjoys talking to all car enthusiasts. He's a great representative for the car hobby. The FOGGER
Years ago back in IL. I was working on a Saturday and on the way home in the early afternoon, I was at a stop light and an old car pulled up next to me right when I was taking off. I thought, Jesus that guy looked like Leno but what the hell would Jay Leno be doing here? A few nights later I a watching the Tonight Show and it shows him out cruising the Chicago area and he was filming his show at the Rosemont Theater thta week. Also saw his stand up act in Vegas, a lot of it was about cars.
Tell you what kind of guy Leno is, at the LA roadster show we were sitting at a table haveing a beer and saw Leno come up a get into a long line for a hot dog he was with a guy and they were trying to talk but people kept coming up buging the crap out of him,asking for autographs or pictures just one after another, he never refused any of them, he finly got a couple of hot dogs and a drink had both hands full and was trying to walk away when some broad came up and ask him to take a picture together, he set his stuff down stood by her while they shot the picture and just smiled, he's a class act...
ya i dont think that he has any kids but like some of the others have said in the previous messages .... HE CAN ALWAYS ADOPT ME... ya hes always been that way dont care about what it takes but the end result... I still like some of the ways that he does things... I remember watchin him on the speed channel or something like that and he was going to go buy this one car off some old lady... it was her daily driver and she & her husband bought it brand new from the dealership on the DAY that they got married... I think the woman was in her like early to mid 90s... she said that her husband had passed away several years prior to jay coming to buy the car... she gave him all the info on the car and how much it hurt her to let it go cuz it reminded her soooo much of her husband but it had fallen into disarray and needed alot of work which she couldnt do since she was on a VERY tight income at the time... and what blew me away was you could actually see a tear in jay's eyes... so he restored the car and drove it back to the elderly ladies house with a bouquet of flowers and took her in a ride in it even had it painted the same color that her and her husband had bought it from the dealership.... she started cryin ... he started cryin and then damnit I ALMOST STARTED CRYIN... it was that sweet of a story... oh ya and speakin of other people that have a need for speed.... all of the cars that were on the sitcom Home Improvements w/ Tim Allen was actually out of his personal collection that he personally restored... he also has own tool line... havent personally see em but had some buds in the past buy some and said that they were really good and strong... and have you seen Travolta's plane / house ? wow what i wouldnt do to have 10% of the money that he does lol... has his own damned landing strip next to his house... and its like a Boeing 757 or something like that
Met him at a Shelby convention, Dearborn Michigan in 1985...He was taking delivery of probably the first all aluminum bodied 427 Cobra replica....He proceeded in breaking it in by doing long, smoky burnouts on Michigan Ave. out in front of the hotel until the cops came and shut it down....Just a regular guy
You might be referring to Bob, who takes care of Jay's whole collection. He's also the gentleman who shows vistors around. He knows every detail regarding every car and bike in the whole collection. The depth of his knowledge is absolutley amazing. I sure wish I could share my photos from his garage but I was asked not put them on the internet.
If anyone gets a chance, read some of his autobiographies.... They are hallarious and have a much of stuff about his passion for cars... The way they are written proves that he is simply an average joe with a great sense of humor.
Neat stories about a good guy. I like his Buick, and from what I understand, he is one of thefew people who really understand steam powered cars.
ya one of these days i wanna go on a tour of his shop... just gotta make sure to bring a few extra pairs of underwear with me... and one of the heart jump starter thingies... cuz my ass may have a heart attack lol
The airport that Travolta lives at was built by Arthur Jones, the guy that invented the Nautilus work out machine. He built the strip because he flew 707's into there with elephants and all kind of game for his own zoo. He died quite a few years ago and his wife, Terri, who was a lot younger than him, still lives there as far as I know. John's plane is a 707 that was a Qantas Airline plane. Is painted up in Qantas colors etc. He is a first class guy, sorry about his son. I used to fly into that strip from time to time years ago.
wow I didnt know that ... eh you learn something everyday... now maybe im out of the loop cuz i HATE watchin the news, too damned depressing... nothing but murder, rape, criminality, etc.... but what happened to Travolta's son... no one sent me the memo and i gotta fire that courier service....
Jett,16 yo, died from a seizure http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/05/jett-travolta-autopsy-dea_n_155398.html
I've seen Jay at a dozen swap meets and shows over the years. I try to let him just be another car guy and not bug him. I've never seen him turn anyone away. He was talking to a guy and his wife about their early 50's bathtub Nash, and he warned her that the back seat opened into a bed. I was looking closely at the motor on his Duesenberg and he waited until I got real close, then honked the horn. Comedians! Everyone laughed including me. I was lucky enought to tour his shop and was looking at some toys he had displayed. He had a limited edition Hot Wheels dragster that you could push a button and it would sequence the lights on the tree, then the motor started to rev and the wheels spun. He saw me looking at it and pushed the button and got a big kick out of watching it run. A very nice guy who knows his cars.