Passion has many forms. Sometimes it’s personal and has a significant value to the individual even when there wouldn’t be much importance of it in the outside world. And sometimes it could be an embodiment of the entirety of a person and includes everything from life to career.
In the case of Jay Leno and his love for automobiles, it’s both a personal aspiration and something which has made him recognized all over the world at the same time. Anyone who’s even remotely passionate about motoring or cars knows Jay Leno, idolizes him, looks up to him as an authority on all-things-cars, and even envies his one-of-a-kind car collection. Which arguably is the best in the entire world.
His passion for cars and his knowledge of the long history of it is unbeatable. From some of the rarest cars in the world to the oldest working model of a truck in his collection, he is kind of a celebrity in the automotive world. But his love for cars got the acclaim very recently in his career. In the previous decade to be precise and only picked up in around 6 years. Earlier to that, Jay Leno was this funny stand-up comedian who was a champion of the late-night shows in the US. His love for cars was, let’s say, very private, and was only evident to the few who were hard-core car collectors and close to him.
Arguably, he was always passionate about comedy and humor in his own right. “If Jay spent as much time studying as he does trying to be a comedian, he’d be a big star,” one of his teachers from school would say. This turned out to be prophetic and he went on to become arguably one of the well-known figures in television history.
The Birth Of The Passion For Cars
Jay comes from very humble beginnings. Born in New Rochelle, New York, to Angelo Leno, an insurance salesman, and Cathryn Leno, a homemaker, his life was anything but ordinary.
In his early days, one could always find Jay around cars, either fiddling with its mechanics or engine. He loved to understand what made the cars work and how they could move. And, he was fascinated with the internals of a car as much as the exterior. He was also inherently inclined towards humor that saw him take up a Bachelor of Arts degree in speech therapy. This led him to perform stand-up comedy in local night clubs even before he graduated and the rest is history.
His career started as a writer working for the many late-night comedy shows which went on to culminate with hosting one of the most popular late-night shows, ‘The Tonight Show with Jay Leno’, for well over a decade. He has also kept on performing stand-up comedy on the side along with his television shows. His philosophy of having at least two sources of income and his love for the art pushed him to do so.
His passion for cars and collecting them started in Andover, Massachusetts with a humble 1934 Ford when he was a teenager. And, he hasn’t stopped ever since. Collecting, restoring, and using the rarest of rare and vintage vehicles is his expertise. Not only that, his knowledge of the story behind the vehicle and the person who owned it before him is a remarkable feat. Something that very few in the world could match.
His Love For Cars Is As True As It Gets
‘The idea is if something’s broken and you fix it and then you drive it, you feel like you’re not some rich sod who just drives around all day and has no idea how the thing works. I don’t want to be one of those guys” — Jay Leno
Most of the people who know Jay Leno often think about him as someone who’s rich and has the money to spend to have such a collection of cars and bikes. But, the fact is that they’d be terribly wrong. He happens to love cars for a very different reason than just their aesthetics and their perceived value. Admittedly, he loves them because of what they represent — a different form of freedom.
For him, motorcycles and cars are a symbol of freedom. Timeless masterpieces of art and culture and the expression of living your life on the road. His automobile collection, which comprises 181 cars and 160 motorcycles from all eras, is one of the most renowned.
“So the car, the motorcycle, any mode of transport like that, that was the ultimate freedom. You could go out, you could go away, you could go anywhere you wanted.” — Jay Leno
While most of the cars or bikes he owns are collectible and have a beautiful story attached to it, here are some of the notable inclusions that would inspire any petrol head.
- 1906 Stanley Steamer Vanderbilt Cup Racer, a steam-powered racing car.
- 1986 Lamborghini Countach, no description needed here.
- 1963 Chrysler Turbine Car, powered by a turbine engine much like a modern aircraft.
- 1994 McLaren F1, arguably the best production car ever made.
- 1916 Autocar Coal Truck, one of the earliest coal transport trucks alive.
The list is huge with many modern supercars, superbikes, and generation-defining iconic automobiles from every era. His love for cars doesn’t end there. As much as he likes to own cars, he loves to enjoy them as well. Often using them for a joy ride and getting deeply involved in any repairs and restoration projects for his possessions.
However extravagant his collection would seem, his personal life was very ordinary. Jay, reportedly, lived off of very little money. Often he would use the lowest of paychecks, he’d get from many of his working gigs, for his living expenses. The rest he’d put away in a bank which would fuel his passion for automobiles. His fashion sense on his show, Jay Leno’s Garage, consisting of just denim is also a stark reminder of his strong ethics with money.
His portrayal would be incomplete without acknowledging his many accolades in the field of entertainment and television. The many Emmys for his shows and his enrollment into the Hollywood walk of fame is a testament to his brilliance and presence. He also got the Hasty Pudding Man of the Year in 2011. And very recently, he got the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2014.
The Passion That Burns Through
His love for cars and his love for comedy has made him one of the most known celebrities in two distinctly different circles. On the one hand, his persona as one of the best in the comic and late-night hosts is polarizing, and on the other hand, his in-depth knowledge of automotive history and his passion for cars is inspiring.
His career journey and his life show that a life of passion can have many faces and that it could be completely different and unrelated to each other. It shows that the pursuit of passion always bears its fruit in one form or another, and it could contribute to a lifetime of success and potentially a shot at immortality.
