Rock music, Los Angeles and classic cars – these things go together better than anything else. A famous rock drummer carefully created his classic car collection over the years, and the move from Toronto to Los Angeles had a big influence on that. This unique collection has now been sold, with one notable exception.
The 17th annual Pebble Beach Auctions included a truly unique collection this year – Rush band drummer Neil Peart’s estate car collection, which he lovingly called his Silver Surfers. Gooding & Company, the official auction house of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, showcased the collection at its two-day sale on August 13 and 14. As expected, it was a big hit, and the Toronto Sun reports that it was sold for almost $4 million.
The top sale of the rockstar’s seven-car collection went to the 1970 Lamborghini Miura P400 S, which fetched more than the estimated amount, and that is $1.325 million. Introduced in 1966, this model was considered the fastest production car at that time, and quickly became iconic.
This particular car, chassis 4042, came in a striking silver livery, which was the late Neil Peart’s favorite. At one point during his life, he stated that during his drives through California, he realized that the blue of the ocean had inadvertently influenced his preference for silver cars, since they look so amazing against a blue background. This is how he eventually dubbed his beloved classic cars the Silver Surfers.
Only one car out of this beautiful collection failed to sell – the 1964 Aston Martin DB5, which had been estimated to reach between $650,000 – $725,000. A truly rare beauty, one of just over 1,000 that were built, Peart’s Aston Martin displayed his favorite colors, with a Silver Birch metallic exterior and the navy blue leather interior. In fact, this was the first classic car purchased by the late rock drummer, the one that marked the beginning of his collection and that he had dreamed of since childhood.
The other cars from the collection that were sold at Pebble Beach were a 1964 Shelby Cobra 289, a 1965 Maserati Mistral Spider, a 1964 Jaguar E-Type Series I 3.8-Liter Coupe, a 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Split-Window Coupe, and a 1973 Maserati Ghibli 4.9 SS Coupe.