Jay Leno, perhaps the world’s most famous car collector, has amassed a slew of four-wheeled icons in his garage, and in this article, we’ll take a look at five of his rarest production models.
Born on April 28, 1950, in New Rochelle, New York, James Douglas Muir Leno, better known as Jay Leno, started out as a comedian, but rose to worldwide fame for hosting The Tonight Show on NBC from 1992 to 2009 and again from 2010 to 2014.
Thanks to his brilliant career, Leno, who is also a car enthusiast, has had the opportunity to put together one of the most famous car collections in the United States.
Since retiring from The Tonight Show, Jay has entertained car enthusiasts around the world with his fascinating car series Jay Leno's Garage, which began as a television show and is now a YouTube series.
His collection includes around 300 vehicles, including some fascinating and rather famous one-offs, but in this article we will focus on Jay's five rarest production cars, taking into account the original production numbers of each model.
1966 Chevrolet Yenko Stinger Phase II
Photo: Jay Leno's Garage via YouTube screenshot
If you're a fan of muscle cars, especially those bearing the Chevy badge, Don Yenko will be familiar.
In the 1960s, Yenko's Pennsylvania shop achieved national fame for producing Camaros, Novas, and Chevelles with the 427ci (7.0-liter) L72 engine.
However, only the most hardcore Yenko fans remember that Yenko's first production Chevy-based car was the Stinger.
The Stinger was created in 1965 to homologate a modified racing version of the Chevy Corvair for the SCCA B Production class.
The Stinger was available in four high-performance versions, from the 160-hp, road-legal Stange I to the 240-hp, race-capable Stange IV.
Jay Leno owns a Stinger Stage II, which features a highly modified 190-horsepower version of the Chevrolet flat-six engine.
To earn SCCA homologation, Yenko modified 100 Corvairs into Stingers in a single month and built 14 more between 1966 and 1969, bringing total production to 114 examples.
1963 Chrysler Turbine Car
Photo: Jay Leno's Garage via YouTube screenshot
Beginning in the 1950s, Chrysler Corporation conducted research into the feasibility of turbine engines in road-going automobiles.
The project lasted over a decade and produced the 1963 Chrysler Turbine Car, a two-door hardtop coupe with a Ghia body.
Under the hood, the car featured Chrysler's experimental A-831 gas turbine engine mated to a three-speed TorqueFlite automatic transmission.
Capable of developing 130 horsepower at an incredible 36,000 rpm, the turbine engine could be powered by conventional gasoline, diesel, perfume or even tequila.
Chrysler produced 55 units, five of which were prototypes. The other 50 were leased to individuals for three months at no cost, but each individual was required to keep a diary and provide feedback when returning the car.
The experiment ultimately proved unsuccessful due to reliability issues, and most of the Turbine Cars were scrapped. Nine survived, one of which is part of Jay Leno's collection.
1953 Cunningham C-3
Photo: Jay Leno's Garage via YouTube screenshot
In 1950, racing driver and team owner Briggs Cunningham made history by entering two Cadillacs in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the first time an all-American crew had entered the legendary race.
But Cunningham didn't stop there. Shortly after the race ended, he began building racing and road cars under the BS Cunningham brand.
Introduced in 1952 as a prototype, the C-3 was, as its name suggested, the company's third homologation special.
The road version of the C-3, a two-door grand tourer, featured a splendid body designed in Italy by the famous Giovanni Michelotti.
But while the bodywork was Italian, the car's supporting structures came from American manufacturers.
The C-3 was powered by a 5.4-liter Chrysler FirePower Hemi engine modified to produce 220 horsepower.
With the exception of a couple of prototypes, all C-3s were produced in 1953. Five convertibles and twenty coupes were built, one of which currently sits in Jay Leno's garage.
Duesenberg Model X 1927
Photo: Ultimatecarpage.com
Duesenberg was an American luxury automobile manufacturer with origins in motorsports.
The company only produced cars for about 17 years, but they were among the most advanced of their time.
Examples include the sumptuous Twenty Grand from the famous SSJ, which in 1935 developed a whopping 400 hp.
Of its few production cars, the Model X was the rarest. A sportier version of the Model A, the very first production Duesenberg, the X was heavier and sat on a longer wheelbase chassis.
Powered by a 260-cubic-inch (4.3-liter) inline-eight engine that produced 100 horsepower, only 13 examples of the X were produced from 1927 to 1928. Of those, five are still on the road, one of which belongs to Jay Leno.
1989 Ford Fiesta Shogun
Photo: Jay Leno's Garage via YouTube screenshot
The Ford Festiva was a subcompact that few still remember. Launched in 1989, it was designed by Mazda and sold in various markets as the Mazda 121, Kia Pride or Ford Festiva.
The model arrived in the United States under the latter name in 1988, with an attractive price, which made it quite popular among those looking for an economical city car.
In 1989, racing driver and journalist Rick Titus, together with his engineer friend Chuck Beck, founded Special Editions, Inc., with the goal of transforming the Festiva into an American Renault 5 Turbo.
Like the French hot hatch, the special edition Festiva, called Shogun, has been completely modified.
It received a widebody, larger wheels and, last but not least, a mid-engine. Derived from the first-generation Taurus SHO, the Yamaha-designed 3.0-liter DOHC V6 produced 220 horsepower, allowing the small hatchback to reach 60 mph (97 km/h) in 4.6 seconds and cover the quarter mile in less than 13 seconds at 100 mph (161 km/h).
After officially partnering with Ford, Special Editions planned to build 250 Shoguns, but only seven were ultimately completed, one of which is now part of Jay Leno's remarkable collection.