Celebrity-Owned Cars Go Up for Auction

By age 24, Max Weinberg, band leader of NBC's "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," was driving one of the sexiest, most sought-after cars of the time — a 1970 Jaguar E-Type. It was 1975 and he had managed to leverage his success as the drummer in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band like a true car enthusiast would.

Weinberg has owned dozens of notable vehicles since joining the band in 1974, and eventually assembled a trio of classic American ones, including a 1931 Ford Model A Woody Panel Truck, a 1951 Ford F-1 pickup and a 1957 Chevrolet Corvette. We talked to him before taping Thursday's show to find out the sentimental value each one holds and why he has put them up for sale at the upcoming Christie's auction during the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, the Mecca of classic car shows, in Monterey, Calif., this August.

Other celebrity tie-ins at the auction include a Harley-Davidson motorcycle owned by Peter Fonda and a 1963 Ferrari once owned by the late actor Steve McQueen. Christie's expects the 60 cars it has up for bid to bring in more than $7.5 million.

See photos of these rare, six-figure classics, including Weinberg's cars, in our slideshow, or keep reading to find out more about the drummer's interesting stable of vehicles over the years and what he's driving now.

ForbesAutos: How long have you had the vehicles you're selling at the upcoming Christie's auction in Monterey?

Weinberg: Since I joined the E Street Band back in '74 I've had a variety of vehicles through the years. We all in the band sort of did collect at various times. I had all different types of Jaguars, mainly E-Types. I know there were '57 Chevy's, there were Thunderbirds, there were Corvettes. So I've always had this affinity growing up in the '60s.

Well the Corvette, Dominick Salvemini, [a classic-car restorer,] I guess he put that together over a period of about two and a half years from start to finish. And it is a magnificent vehicle. The Woody, which is a '31 Model A, probably I've had three years. I had several other Ford Trucks through the years that were not exactly right, they were either customized, or something else. This particular '51 I found about four years ago in Florida and it was stock, which is really nice because it had everything that it should've had in 1951. It was simple and most of the ones were sort of hot-rodded up.

So these are my collection because they all have some emotional connection to me - I was born in 1951, my father always had Ford Woodies; even when they went into laminated Ford Woodies he had a Ford Woody station wagon. And the Corvette, 1957 was certainly a milestone year for 'Vettes, for music, for the '57 Belair, that was a great edition of that car.

ForbesAutos: Did the fact that you're a Beach Boys fan play into your choice in classic cars?

Weinberg: Oh, big time. Well I always loved the Woody, for example, because of my father and the Beach Boys. The Beach Boys were my favorite band - I saw them something like over 30 times before 1969, and I was a young kid. I had older friends who were surfers and I didn't surf, but we went to their concerts wherever we could. And I have had the great fortune of performing with the Beach Boys many, many times in the past and that was always a thrill for me. I don't know if you remember the album "Shutdown," but there they are with, I think, a '64 Corvette on the cover and their blue jackets. My first band, there was a guy who was four years older than me, so he must've been 19 when I was 15 and he was a real gear-head. And he had a 1960 'Vette that he redid himself; it wasn't primo, but it was fun to ride around in, obviously. So the 'Vettes, the XKE's, it was a much simpler time and you grew up with that. And cars and rock 'n roll always kind of went together, particularly if you were American musicians. Other than Jeff Beck, I've never known any English musician who was as into cars as an American musician.

ForbesAutos: Why are you putting these vehicles up for sale?

Weinberg: Well, I don't use them as much as I did. I don't drive them. The 'Vette, it was a project I wanted to do, I had my fun with it, particularly in putting it together and you go through life changes. My children are older, they're not home, I've had my fun with them driving around. I have a farm out in NJ. I'd drive the Ford to go pick up hay for horses. I would drive the woody down to the beach. Of course the condition doesn't reflect that because I really took good care of these cars.

ForbesAutos: So you drove the Fords around, but the Corvette you pampered?

Weinberg: The Corvette is absolutely a trailer queen show car. It's like a brand new car. It was completely and totally disassembled, and Dominick, who I think is one of the premier restorers in the country, because of our personal relationship took even greater care than he normally would. And normally he's A-plus, plus - this is beyond. He is very precise, let's just say that. So this car is stunning, the color is stunning and it's essentially a new car - it's a new '57 Corvette. And it was one of the editions with the radio delete and heater delete, which was a very specific function. This was a car that was meant to be driven fast. One thing we did do is we lowered the engine compression a bit to accept regular gas, because if you kept it with the original compression, the higher compression, you'd need jet fuel.

ForbesAutos: Do you have other cars in a collection that you're keeping?

Weinberg: No, just the three. I'm not in Jay Leno's class of car collectors. That's an incredible collection he has.

ForbesAutos: What was your first car?

Weinberg: My first car was a very inexpensive Volvo P1800, I think it was a '65 and I got it in '69 when I went to college. It was quite used, I think it cost $800, which I saved from playing. And I think I got it because "The Saint" with Roger Moore was a favorite TV show of mine and I saw this thing available and it was a hot little car and I managed to keep it running for a few years. I had that car through the time I met Bruce and the E Street Band. And then I didn't have a car because I was on the road all of the time.

The next car I bought was a 1970 sable tan XKE 4.2 and that was a fun car to drive around. I think I got it in 1975, right after "Born to Run," so I was 24 years old and that was a nice car to be tooling around in at 24.

That I sold and I didn't have any cars for a while. Then I got a really cool '73 XKE - it was called "sea-green turquoise" with a tan interior. It was the last year where they didn't have those huge ugly bumpers on it and no emissions controls. That was a great car, that was a 12-cylinder. And I drove that for about three years on nice days. I had regular cars too, I think my first sort of driving around car was a Saab, then I had a small Mercedes and I've always had BMWs since then.

ForbesAutos: What do you drive now?

Weinberg: A BMW 645, couple of years old.

ForbesAutos: How do you like it?

Weinberg: The 6 Series is very nimble, very low. I've had, for at least 12 years, nothing but a variety of BMWs and I have to say they are probably my favorite driving-back-and-forth-to-New-York car. I have a bit of a problem with the low profile tires in the streets of New York; you gotta watch. But the 645 is a wonderful car.

ForbesAutos: What's your dream car that you fantasize about owning someday?

Weinberg: I love Bentleys as a driving-around car. The Continental GTC is getting a tremendous amount of publicity. I haven't driven one, but that's a car that I'd be interested in driving. I think it's a great combination of comfort and sport and, at my age, not that I'm old, but I like the comfort.

But a dream car, one of them would've been a '55 Mercedes - of course any 280 SE is a beautiful car. A friend of mine in high school's father had one that was a convertible; that was a great car. I think it was a '68 or '70, maybe even earlier, I'm not sure.

I've already gone through my mid-life crisis, but if I had another one I'd probably want the new Ferrari. It's unbelievable; the new Ferrari is just incredible.

ForbesAutos: The 599 GTB Fiorano?

Weinberg: The Fiorano, yeah. It's amazing - haven't driven one, but I just love the styling and I like all Ferraris. A friend of mine in high school's father had a Lamborghini, a '67 Lamborghini; every once and a while my friend would take it out and that was very exciting. So I kind of love all cars, there's something about every car, even a DeSoto.

ForbesAutos: What's up on the music front?

Weinberg: Well, I just continue to focus on my work here at NBC. We're going into almost our 15th year here with "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" and it's a day-to-day job, so I'm just a working stiff driving back and forth to New York and dealing with the traffic like everybody else. That's about it.

People have had the misconception that TV band leaders show up at 5 o'clock for a 5:30 taping; doesn't really work like that, particularly in this competitive climate of television. So it's a full-time, 10-hour day. I'm in the studio more than I am home. But that's about it, just continuing to try to make good music and to try to make people laugh at night, which the world sorely needs more of.

I'm looking forward to going out there myself by the way, I'm going to be at the Christie's auction talking about these cars and meeting people.

ForbesAutos: What's your take on the Pebble Beach event?

Weinberg: Car nirvana; every type of car you can imagine. I've been a few times - all the auctions are great. I think what's nice about Christie's is that they don't have a lot of cars, they are extremely selective in what they present, it's quality over quantity. But the whole week is just filled with activities and if you like cars of any kind, whether it's brass era cars, old Rolls-Royces, I mean, the final day, when they have that concours up on the golf course it is an absolutely wild show. You've never seen anything like it, with people dressed in the era of the car and just miles of Rolls-Royces and Bentleys and racing cars. The Blackhawk Collection is great - these cars aren't for sale, but you walk around and just see gorgeous examples of stuff you'd never see. And of course that part of California is among the most beautiful spots in the world, I think. It's remarkable.

Top three images: CHRISTIE'S IMAGES LTD.2007
Bottom image: Frank Micelotta/Getty Images