Autoblog gets a peek inside Adam Carolla's private garage

Adam Carolla has been called many things – and he has called many people different things – over the years. The noted television host, radio personality, actor, comedian, and famed podcaster is currently hosting The Car Show on SPEED TV with John Salley, Dan Neil and Matt Farah (it airs Wednesday evenings). On a more private level, Mr. Carolla is an avid collector of cars.

When Carolla asked if Autoblog wanted a closer look, we grabbed a camera and headed straight to his home for a private tour of his garage. If you were expecting a one-car shed crammed full of broken toys, outgrown bicycles and his grandma's worn clothing... think again. Carolla is an automobile enthusiast with a very nice, if eclectic, collection of racing and exotic vehicles in a spacious custom-designed storage area on his property.

After descending a metal spiral staircase from the house, we found a well-kept main parking area that held just under a dozen cars very comfortably. The floor is polished concrete, the ceiling painted steel beams and the walls covered in collected memorabilia. There is a lot to look at, and it requires a few moments just to look around and take things in. Unlike many "professional" garages we've visited where everything is mathematically placed and surgically installed, Adam's garage looks like a giant-sized version of something we would have – and we mean that as a compliment. A flat-screen television is hung on one wall and posters and pictures cover the others. There are loose items (half-empty bottles of wax, a dirty car duster, spare helmet visors, etc...) strewn haphazardly on the wood countertops. It is very apparent that Adam's garage is a working arena, not a showroom.



Then there was the fancy sports cars. While most people stick with one single brand, era or country of origin to maintain consistency throughout their collection, Adam has decided to collect historically significant models from Nissan, Datsun and Lamborghini – remember, we did say eclectic. While Adam admits he has a Datsun fetish, his overall tastes are more subjective than anything else, and none of these vehicles appear to have been purchased for their future speculative value. If they have an interesting story to tell, are rare and look damn cool, Carolla finds them appealing. The collection is small (Adam has other vehicles at off-site locations), but nothing in his garage is boring. Even better, Adam was quick to offer a surprising amount of insight much like we would with our own prize possessions. Not surprisingly, the natural gearhead is as comfortable talking about the intricacies of tuning carburetors as he is cracking jokes.

Scattered throughout the room, bathed in natural light from large windows, we found a Datsun Camel GT pace car built by Bob Sharp parked next to a Paul Newman / Bob Sharp Racing IMSA 300ZX. A few feet away, sitting next to the tool cabinets with its rear wheels riding on rollers to ease movement around the shop, was a custom Datsun Roadster 1600 racer with radically-flared fenders in bright orange. (Adam hasn't raced each of these, and he may never, but he currently participates in his share of on-track competitions in his stunning Bob Sharp Datsun 610.)



Parked further back into the garage, but equally as impressive, are the Lamborghinis. We couldn't take our eyes off the 1967 Lamborghini 400 GT 2+2, with its 4.0-liter V12, or the Lamborghini Miura fitted with a transversely-mounted mid-engine V12 of the same displacement – pictures don't do these gorgeous Italians justice.

Asked what vehicles he'd like to add to his collection, Carolla thought for a moment and mentioned a Ferrari 250 GTO – of course, he said in his familiar sarcastic tone, who wouldn't want a GTO? When pressed with the question again, he said a BMW 3.0 CSL race car ("Batmobile") would be interesting. One more thing, but it was an odd request. Adam is waiting patiently for Nissan to sell him a diesel-powered Armada as it would be the ultimate tow vehicle for his track cars. Sounds easy enough. Are you listening Carlos?