STARS AND THEIR CARS
For most of us, a car is something that gets us to and from wherever it is we’ve got to go.
For others — those lucky few — a car isn’t just a ride, but the ultimate toy. In fact, sometimes, a car can be nothing less than the realization of a youthful dream.
We asked a few notable Southern Nevadans about their favorite cars and why they love them. Here’s what they said.
TERRY STOKES
1963 FORD THUNDERBIRD
Terry Stokes, who performs in “Hypnosis Unleashed” (formerly “Hypnosis Gone Wild”) at the Empire Ballroom, has had his classic ’63 T-Bird for about two-and-a-half years.
It’s “the first car I ever wanted, when I was 13,” Stokes says. “They came out with that, and I fell in love with it. I thought, ‘If I can ever afford a car like this …’ “
Now, he can.
The car sold for “about $7,000 back, then. A fortune,” Stokes says. “And they only made 400 of these cars because they thought, ‘People won’t pay that kind of money for a car.’ “
Today, there are few in “really good condition,” Stokes says. “I probably looked at 45 of them.”
Finally, he got lucky when a friend hooked him up with one. How much did he pay? “A lot,” Stokes says.
Is it worth it? “Oh, absolutely,” he answers.
Stokes isn’t one of those car collectors who buys his dream car and then keeps it locked away, either.
“I’ve always had the attitude (of) what’s the point of having it if you don’t play in it? What’s the use of having a toy if you can’t play with your toy?”
MONTI ROCK III
2004 CHEVROLET CAVALIER
Entertainer, raconteur, columnist and man-about-town Monti Rock III tools around the valley in a Chevrolet Cavalier that bears a one-of-a-kind leopard-print exterior.
The design — created by Pictographics, a Las Vegas digital imaging firm — is, Rock says, patterned after a scarf and shirt he owns. If anybody’s confused about just who’s driving, the Montimobile also features Rock’s’ name and the perfectly slightly askew epigram, “A legend in his own mind.”
The Cavalier — never before, we’d wager, has a humble Cavalier ever been turned into anything so funky — isn’t Rock’s first leopard-print car but is, he says, “the best one.”
“It’s my brand,” he explains. “All of my leopard cars have gotten me more publicity …”
Not to mention attention. Motorists and passers-by who recognize Rock from his eclectic career in show business — numerous appearances on “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson,” frontman of the chart-topping Disco Tex and the Sex-o-lettes, his now-iconic role as the DJ in “Saturday Night Fever” — often ask to photograph it, him and him with it.
“This is what makes me a famous character, this car,” Rock says. “People honk, and they love it.”
DANNY GANS
1970 CHEVROLET CHEVELLE SS
When Danny Gans was 15, he drew up a list of cars he’d one day like to own.
At the top of that list: A 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS.
“When I was going to high school, this was the car all the rich kids could afford,” Gans says.
Problem was, Gans wasn’t a rich kid and didn’t even own a car until he was 25.
“Even through college, it was taking the bus or the train home,” he says. “So I could never afford anything like this.”
Today, Gans headlines at The Mirage and maintains a fleet of more than a dozen classic cars — many of them muscle cars from the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s — that he keeps in a specially designed garage.
Finally, about five years ago, he added that long-desired Chevelle SS to his collection.
It was “in pretty rough shape,” Gans says. But, for $7,500, it was good enough to serve as the foundation of a long-delayed dream.
Now, post-restoration, Gans’ Chevelle packs not only such latter-day refinements as power steering, but a 502 cubic engine, rather than the 454 cubic inch engine it originally came with.
“We’ve got it as 510 horsepower and it’s supposed to do a quarter-mile in about 10 seconds,” Gans says. “It just runs so great. It would be the equivalent of if you went out and bought a brand-new Viper or something like that.”
Better yet, Gans’ Chevelle SS looks the way a classic muscle car should look. Outside, he says, “it’s the original factory flame red with black stripes.” “It’s just such a head-turner,” Gans says. “I can’t drive the car without getting people trying to pull me over and yell at me, ‘How much you want for it?’ I get a lot of thumbs-up.”
MARTY ALLEN
2007 SAAB CONVERTIBLE
Not surprisingly, when talk turns to cars, Marty Allen can conjure up a million one-liners.
“It has a windshield wiper that won’t hold parking tickets,” says the scare-haired comedian, who recently headlined “Hello Dere, featuring Marty Allen and Karon Kate Blackwell” at the Gold Coast.
“This guy has an old beat-up car and drove to the tollbooth with his car, and the tollbooth collector says, ‘Two dollars.’ He said, ‘Sold.’ “
“A wife told her husband, ‘Be an angel and let me drive. He did and he is.”
But, for Allen, his less-than-a-year-old Saab convertible is great for cruising around town.
“It’s a phenomenal car,” he says, “and when you look at the dashboard, it’s like an airplane. I was thinking of buying a leather cap with goggles on it.”
But what really makes the car special is the license plate that bears Allen’s signature line.
“When I drive, I keep hearing people (say) ‘Hello dere, hello dere’ ” Allen says. “I say, ‘How did they recognize me?’ “
But he loves the reaction the car, and its plate, evoke.
“I really like people and I’m easygoing,” Allen says. “If they get a kick out of it, why not?”
Any final words for Southern Nevada motorists?
“The trick,” Allen replies, “is to drive so that your license expires before you do.”
THE AMAZING JOHNATHAN
1956 CHEVROLET 210
The Amazing Johnathan, who performs his own brand of magic and comedy act at the Sahara, wasn’t a car aficionado as a kid.
“I never liked cars at all when I was growing up,” he says. “Just three or four years ago the bug hit me, and I’ve been buying like nuts.”
Today, he maintains a warehouse packed with 21 vehicles ranging from a 1948 mint green Studebaker to a 2003 Harley-Davidson V-Rod 100th anniversary edition motorcycle.
The 1956 Chevy 210 he chose to feature here illustrates the prime consideration that goes into his buy/no buy decision when he finds something promising at auctions and on e-Bay: Does it look good?
For this one: No contest.
“It kind of looks like the Batmobile,” Johnathan says.
“That’s the car that, when you’re going down the street, everybody looks at.”
Driving such a car “gives you a whole new persona,” he says. “It really makes you feel confident.”
Johnathan drives all of the cars in his collection. He figures he can either keep his savings in the bank or in his cars.
“I enjoy driving my money around,” Johnathan says. “That’s my only weakness. I don’t really spend a lot of money on everything else.”
