I read yesterday that Jay Leno is selling his car and motorcycle collection to a Saudi prince for something approaching a billion dollars. The story is so far unconfirmed but a billion dollars for eighty cars and about the same number of motorcycles? Wow. Just wow. If it’s true I might just have underestimated the chin that walks like a man…very shrewd move on his part imho and smelling a lot like the late eighties when the Japanese paid through the nose for expensive art and real estate just before the bottom fell out…
A myth, last made the rounds a year ago.
Besides, what would he do in retirement without all those cars?
And he lists about 627 cars on his site, not 80. I didn’t count the motorcycles.
Mea culpa. I should have waited a day or two to comment on this because the ‘story’ has been pulled from the Toronto Star archives (of obscure blogosphere rumours, it seems). Lame stream media at its finest…
I however, especially covet this member of the collection:
I for one will miss Jay. Hope he makes the rounds after leaving. NBC is paying him 15 million to leave early. Hmmmmm. Sounds like a real money maker to me.
Rosebud is a Corvette with a Roadmaster body on it. It’s far more than just the crate engine. No wonder he likes it. And if you miss Leno, I’ll bet that you can see him in Las Vegas after he retires from the Tonight Show. How can he catch the Sultan of Brunei if he doesn’t have a steady income? Maybe he wants more Porsches than Jerry Seinfeld. So many cars; so little time.
Does everybody read Mr Leno’s Popular Mechanics column? It appears every other month or so, and is usually very interesting. My favorite column was when he talked about how much fun it is to drive his Stanley Steamer. I think it is very generous of him to take the time to share his cars with the rest of us through his column.
I wonder if Mr Leno will jump ship to another network? I think if he did, he’d remain no. 1 in the ratings. If next March, after the olympics, the tv late night line-up at 11:35 pm is Fallon, Kimmel, Letterman, O’Brien, & Leno, while they are all good comedians, I’ll be watching Mr Leno.
“…I’ll be watching Mr Leno.”
Vegas, baby.
Why do I care? Good for leno, some people have too much money to make it interesting to me.
It’s reassuring to see a highly paid celebrity who is able to keep a level, clear head after years of stardom. I understand that Leno has invested his income from late night television while living on his other appearances and performances. So many stars go out like Roman candles.
To be honest, I thought Johnny Carson was irreplaceable on the tonight show. I feel that way now about Jay. But, someone else will come along. I can’t see it being any of the present herd.
They probably have a non compete clause on him for a few years. I actually don’t like his show. Johnny Carson and Steve Allen were the pace setters and the rest just don’t do much for me. I like him outside of the show though so maybe its just the stupid writers he has. At any rate you don’t have to have a job to have an income and I imagine he has taken care of himself.
Maybe they’ll give Larry the Cable Guy a shot, @dagosa.
So far, none of the “gentlemen in waiting” seem strong enough. When Jay came up, he was a no brainier.
Fortunately, I inherited my parents’ Dumont television made in the early 1950s and watch Jack Paar.
There were people back In the late 1950s that thought nobody could replace Jack Paar, but Johnny Carson really built up the “Tonight Show”. A competing network had a talk show host back in the early 1960s named Les Crane, but he couldn’t compete with Carson. My guess is that when Leno retires, we will go through a couple of talks show replacements until the network gets it right and there will be another Carson or Leno. However, there probably won’t be a talk show host who has Leno’s knowledge or love of cars.
Just nap in the late afternoon like we retirees. Jay becomes more acccesable.
You don’t know if someone will be a good host until they get a chance. Maybe Fallon will be the right guy. He seems to be popular on Late Night. He is a musician and singer in addition to being a comedian. Some of the skits he’s done use his other talents. He gets laughs in more ways than just stand-up. In that way, he reminds me of Steve Allen.
“So far, none of the “gentlemen in waiting” seem strong enough. When Jay came up, he was a no brainier … Maybe Fallon will be the right guy.”
Fallon seems to me to be the likeliest to take the no 1 spot. Jimmy Kimmel, David Letterman, Conan O’Brien all can be very funny, but none of them has a personality that is very likeable. To me all three have a sort of mean streak in them. Jimmy Fallon – hopefully he can improve and lengthen his monologue – seems to be the most likeable.
Couldnt care less,I dont get much sleep at night due to my hours,so I couldnt tell you who is on late night tv,as for his cars,he can blow his money on anything He wants,its such a need in the world of want-Kevin
I can only watch Leno on Friday night. Getting up at 5am during the week makes it impossible during the week.
I like Jay Leno. Love his car collection.