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Jerry Seinfeld
Jerry Seinfeld is an avid automobile enthusiast and collector. However, unlike fellow comedian Jay Leno, he is far more focused—he is rumored to own one of the largest Porsche collections in the world. He rented out an entire hangar at the Santa Monica Airport in Santa Monica, California for an extended period of time during the 1990s for storage of some of the vehicles in the collection; after his return to New York he was involved in an extended dispute with several neighbors over the proposed building of a massive $1.4 million multistory garage to contain the cars.
A current tally puts Seinfeld at 47 Porsches. Reporter Paul Bannister reports that Seinfield’s collection includes 911s from various years, 10 Boxsters each painted a different color, and the famous (some would say infamous) 1955 550 Spyder, the same model and pearl-grey color that actor James Dean was driving when he crashed and died in September 1955 near Cholame, California. The center piece is a $700,000 Porsche 959, one of only 200 ever built. To Seinfeld's despair, he is not allowed to drive it as U.S. emission and crash tests were never performed because Porsche refused to donate four 959s for destruction tests (rendering the car "not street legal"). Seinfeld imported the car "for exhibition purposes", which stipulates the car may never set rubber on American roads (Paul Bannister, The Comedians, p.74-75).
In several episodes of his sitcom he uses a Saab 900 convertible, but a Porsche themed painting (depicting a 904 GTS race car competing in the 1964 Targa Florio race in Italy) is visible on a wall in his apartment. In addition, an issue of Excellence magazine, a Porsche-centered publication, is featured prominently on an outdoor magazine rack in one episode, and on at least one occasion Seinfeld is seen reading an issue of Road and Track magazine from circa 1990 with a cover article on the Porsche 964. He also wrote an article for February 2004 issue of Automobile Magazine, reviewing the Porsche Carrera GT. For the story Seinfeld was awarded Road Test - Silver at the 2004 International Automotive Media Awards (no Gold award was given).
