He’s known as a comedian and podcaster, but Adam Carolla’s also a prolific car collector and he’s putting some of his historic race cars with celebrity connections on display in Orange County.
“I’m bringing 13 cars, and they’re all different in their own way; there’s a lot of variety but they’re all race cars,” said comedian, filmmaker, and automotive enthusiast Adam Carolla, whose race cars once owned by actor and car racer Paul Newman will be shown at the Jordan Family Classic Cars event venue in Santa Ana.
The comedian will be at the venue for the opening of the exhibition on March 22 for a live podcast and question-and-answer session.
Carolla, who made a name for himself as co-host of the syndicated radio call-in program “Loveline” from 1995 to 2005, has also worked on shows like “The Man Show” and “Crank Yankers.” And through it all, he has been an avid car guy.
“As a kid, I always had this yearning to get my hands on something and work on it and fix it,” he said during a phone interview a few days before the opening of the exhibit dubbed the “Paul Newman Racing Collection.”
“As soon as I got into show business and made money, I started in on cars because that’s what I always wanted to do: tools, cars,” he said.
But the comedian didn’t seek out to collect Paul Newman’s former race cars; instead, it just developed by chance.
Carolla said he always had a particular affinity for vintage race cars, and he started collecting old Datsuns when he found out that Newman drove for Datsun, which is owned by Nissan. So people would recommend cars to the comedian and many of those just happened to have been owned by Newman.
“I would buy them mainly because it was a Nissan, but it didn’t hurt that Paul Newman owned it, and eventually it became evident that I was a Paul Newman collector more than a Datsun collector, so I started collecting everything with Newman, but it was really by mistake at the beginning,” he said.
Among the highlights in the exhibit is the 1979 Porsche 935 driven by Newman to a second-place overall finish at Le Mans.
“That’s probably the jewel in the crown. All 935s are just the best. A 935 is arguably one of the best race cars ever built from any era,” Carolla said.
Also on display is the championship-winning 1986 Nissan 300ZX, a 1979 Nissan 280ZX Twin Turbo V8 which produces 933 horsepower and a 1971 Triumph TR6, which launched Newman’s professional racing career.
Besides cars, the exhibition will include Newman’s racing suits, helmets, trophies, plaques, and other personal memorabilia.
“When you see his helmets, his fire suits, they’re not stuff he wore once in a charity race, it’s stuff he wore over the course of seasons. You can see the wear on them,” Carolla said.
Paul Newman Racing Collection
When: Opens March 22
Where: Jordan Family Classic Cars , 2851 Pullman St., Santa Ana
Cost: Tickets start at $33.85
Information: adamcarolla.com or 949-307-5894