David Letterman: Legendary Comedian, Legendary Gearhead
His low-key passion for cars rivals Jay Leno’s.
David Letterman is nothing less than a comedy icon. From his heady days as a standup in the 1970s L.A. comedy scene to the groundbreaking Late Night with David Letterman in the ‘80s, and his 20-plus year role as America’s acerbic conscience on the Late Show, he’s influenced generations of comedians in more ways than one can count. Today, he’s in semi-retirement, complete with a giant white beard and a new Netflix show, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman.
Even though he’s back in the spotlight, Letterman is a famously private man. Splitting his time between Upstate New York and a ranch in Montana, he’s seemingly never been comfortable with the trappings of celebrity. But if you look back over the years, he’s opened up about a few things. For one, he’s one of the biggest Johnny Carson fans on the planet. He loves Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. And, of course, he’s a huge gearhead.
Each May, you’re likely to see Letterman back in his home state of Indiana for the Indianapolis 500. And not as a spectator either. He’s co-owner of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, a team that has competed in CART, IndyCar, ALMS, and the United SportsCar Championship for decades. On top of that, he’s got a car collection that would bring any car lover to their knees.
Cars are, in fact, crucial to Letterman’s rise to fame. In the mid-’70s, he left Indiana for Los Angeles in a 1973 Chevy Cheyenne, which was his daily driver as he rose to stardom. In 1986, Johnny Carson famously stole the truck from in front of Letterman’s house for a TV segment. Nearly half a century later, he still owns the truck.
In 2012, his car collection became a matter of public record when The CT Post got the tax assessment records from the town of Danbury, Connecticut. There, in an unassuming 37,000 square foot warehouse by the municipal airport, Letterman keeps 28 cars and two motorcycles. Among them are 10 vintage Ferraris, including holy grails like a 1963 250GT Lusso, a 1974 365 GTB/4 Daytona, a not-officially-sold-in-the-U.S. 1983 512BBi, and a 1985 288 GTO. There are also vintage Porsches (mostly 356s with a few 911s for good measure), Austin Healeys, an MGA, a Porsche-built Mercedes 500E, and a Jaguar XK140. Unsurprisingly, when asked for a comment on his collection, Letterman declined through his spokesman.
Interestingly, there isn’t much American iron in Letterman’s collection. Well, not in a traditional sense, at least. Just a year after the world got a detailed rundown of what’s in his stable, he appeared on an early episode of Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. And instead of getting picked up by the host in a vintage ride, Letterman supplied the car: A Ford V8-powered 1995 Volvo 960 wagon.
On the surface, the wagon wears its Connecticut plates a little too well. It’s Regent Red with a black leather interior. Really, it’s the exact type of car you’d still expect to see in tonier suburbs in the Northeast. But its 380 horse supercharged racing engine mated to a T-5 manual transmission makes it seem like one hell of a ride. It also has serious provenance: It was ordered for Letterman by Paul Newman.
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It’s telling that Letterman picked the Volvo to show off. He’s clearly smitten with it and still starstruck that another iconic gearhead like Newman would reach out to him. In his folksy way, he recalls to Seinfeld the day he agreed to buy the car:
“He [Newman] called me one day and said: ‘A guy is building me a Volvo wagon with a racing engine. Would you like one?’ And because it was Paul Newman and I was a little intimidated, I said ‘yes I do Paul, I’d like one of those cars.’ He said “great. Do you want a puffer on it?’ and I said ‘sure, sure.’ And I got off the phone and I said: “Does anybody know what a puffer is?!â€
While Seinfeld loves the Volvo, the pair ends the episode in something completely different: Letterman’s Nissan Leaf. Seinfeld is less than enthused.Â
While Letterman may have a passion for performance, day-to-day, his tastes run pretty green. On top of the Leaf, he’s driven a Tesla Roadster, and even had Elon Musk on the Late Show in 2009, where he brought a pre-production Tesla Model S.
So David Letterman is a true car fanatic. The proof? His passion for world-class racing, vintage European sports cars, and the latest in automotive technology. Even if he wasn’t a comedy legend, we’ve got a feeling that we’d get along with him pretty well.
