Da ya think Rod Stewart's car collection is sexy? - British GQ

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In what is a surprisingly hotly contested field, for a long time Sir Roderick David Stewart – rock legend, model railway enthusiast and, according to James Brown, the best white soul singer in the world – was celebrated for being music's greatest gravedigger. However, despite beating off competition from celebrity spade-wielders such as Tom Petty, The Damned's Dave Vanian and Joe Strummer from The Clash, the truth is Rod merely worked briefly in a cemetery and avoided digging holes. “It's a delicious, mysterious piece of backstory, but again we must move to strike it from the record,” Stewart wrote in his autobiography, Rod. "I was no more a gravedigger than Gordon Ramsay was a gravedigger who played for Rangers."

The other rumours about Rod The Mod, however, are almost certainly all true. The sex, the drugs, more sex, more drugs and rock'n'roll. Yep, he lived it: been there, seen it, done it, got the Celtic shirt. Because the only thing Stewart loves more than girls, drugs, booze and music is football. Oh, and cars. How much did he love cars? Well, as we wish Rod a very happy 76th birthday, we picked out a few of his favourites – the good, the bad and Lamborghinis…

1969 Marcos

By the tail end of the 1960s, things were going pretty well for Rod. After starting his career singing with a variety of blues-rock bands including The Dimensions, Steampacket and Shotgun Express, he eventually found success as the vocalist for the Jeff Beck Group and then in 1969 he joined The Faces. With a bit of money in his pocket, Rod did what all musicians did and bought his first sports car… a three-litre V6 Marcos GT. These sexy little kit cars were initially made in 1959 using a wooden chassis, but by 1969 the cars were built from steel and featured powerful Ford engines that resulted in handling that one motoring magazine described as “fantastic, probably the best of any production car we have driven”. Rod loved his Marcos, but not as much as the Lamborghini Miura…

1971 Lamborghini Miura P400 S

In 1971 Rod released his third sole album, Every Picture Tells A Story, and he had a mega hit around the world with “Maggie May”… so he decided to treat himself and ordered a Lamborghini Miura P400 S. And we don’t blame him. Arguably one of the most beautiful cars ever made, Rod's was one of the first to arrive in the UK and he specified a “bianco over nero” (white exterior, black leather interior) colour scheme. Rod was in good company, as both Frank Sinatra and Miles Davis owned Miuras, but neither or those legends owned an SV…

1972 Lamborghini Miura SV Coupé

Having acquired a taste for the Miura, Rod couldn't resist buying an SV coupé a year later. The last, the most expensive and the rarest Miura, his SV was one of only seven right-hand drive models – only 150 were ever made in total. Rod's came with Lambo's upgraded V12 tuned to 380bhp, which meant it was capable of 172mph. The singer held it in such high regard that he kept it until 1985.

1977 Lamborghini Countach LP400 ‘Periscopio’

In 1977, Rod toured Australia for the first time and to keep him entertained – it was Australia in 1977; he needed something – he ordered a Lamborghini Countach LP 400 “Periscopio”. The name Countach comes from a local Piedmontese exclamation meaning “Wow!” (legend has it that was the first word stunned Italian designer Nuccio Bertone used to describe the car) and the “Periscopio” referred to a groove in the roof that was used for the rearview mirror. Rod fell so hard for his he kept it inside his music studio for at least two weeks while he was recording demos for the Blondes Have More Fun album. Because he was in Australia, he opted for a rare right-hand drive model (one of only 20). However, when Rod returned to LA he took the Countach with him and had it converted to a left-hand drive.

1977 Porsche 911 Turbo Carrera

The iconic Porsche 911 Rod had in Hollywood was a stone-cold classic. The Turbo Carrera came with a 3.3-litre flat six and was much admired. So much so, that in 1982 Rod was relieved of his by a car-jacker. After shopping with his three-year-old daughter, Kimberly, on Sunset Boulevard, as they went back to the car with their shopping a car thief pulled a gun on them and demanded Rod hand over the key. The singer obviously complied and as their assailant jumped in the 911, they began walking away. However, seconds later the robber returned and admitted he couldn't start it. Rod takes up the story: “So at gunpoint, I had to walk out on a side street with a gun in my back and get in the car and start it for him. It started on a button.”

1988 Lamborghini QV

Remember that seen in The Wolf Of Wall Street where Leo DiCaprio's Jordan Belfort tries to get home while bombed out of his brain on 'ludes? Yeah, that one. That’s the Countach QV (the four-valves per cylinder Quattrovalvole). When they were new, they cost £90,000, but Rod was so desperate to get his hands one one he paid £135,000 just to get a second-hand version. However, he only kept it for a few years because by then Lamborghini had unleashed the Devil…

1991 Lamborghini Diablo

After 17 years, Lamborghini finally replaced the Countach with the Diablo. Named the “Devil” after a famous ferocious fighting bull and styled by Marcello Gandini (who had also designed the Liura and Countach), it featured a rear-wheel drive 5.7-litre V12 mid-mounted engine that made it the first Lambo to break the 200mph top speed barrier. You will be unsurprised to hear that Rod ordered one quicker than you could say “Hot Legs”. He paid a then astronomical £150,000 for it and picked it up from Portman Lamborghini in 1991 shortly after finishing his album Vagabond Heart.

2003 Ferrari Enzo

As well as Lamborghinis, the singer has had a lot of love for Ferrari and of all the cars Rod ever owned, the only one he regrets selling is the Enzo. Announced in 2002, at the time it was the most technically advanced Ferrari ever made, featured F1 technology and the 399 limited production run was originally offered to existing customers, who snapped their hands off. Unsurprising when you hear that it produced 650bhp, could go from 0-60 in about three seconds and would keep going up to 217mph. Musicians such as Axl Rose, Eric Clapton, Jay Kay and Pharrell Williams all bought one, as did our Rod. However, the car generated so much attention from motoring enthusiasts that Rod got bored of all the attention and unloaded it. “I shouldn't have sold it,” he lamented years later. “It's worth a fortune now. But the thing was you had to clear frenzied car lovers out of the way to get back in the driving seat.”

2007 Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder

The best-selling Lamborghini of all time, the Gallardo was the first car created after Audi took ownership of the Italian marque in 1998. Having gone on sale in 2003, Lambo unveiled the Spyder in 2006 and Rod bought his from new a year later at a cost of £131,000. That bought him a beautiful, fully functioning and reliable Lamborghini (yes, really) that could be driven every day and had a top speed of 197mph. Not bad for a convertible. However, despite owning it for a couple of years, Rod only put 2,243 miles on the clock before selling it for a small profit. Some guys have all the luck.

2013 Rolls-Royce Ghost EWB

Without exception, every rock'n'roll star buys a Rolls-Royce sooner or later, so of course Rod has had a few. Most recently he has been driving around in an extended wheel-base Ghost and as a musical elder statesman it does quite suit him. But really, if truth be told, GQ would rather not see him sailing ('cross the sea or anywhere) in a limo. Rod belongs in a two-seater sports car with the top down and a gorgeous blonde in the passenger seat. Sorry… it's not very 2021, but there you go.

2014 Ferrari 458 Spider

So we had to finish with a convertible two-seater sports car. In this case a Ferrari 458 Spider. When in LA, the septuagenarian singer can still be found, top down, wind blowing in his hair, with his wife, Penny Lancaster, by his side, living his best life, forever young. Happy birthday, Rod.