Sunday, December 19, 2010

Driven Personalities - Jay Leno

Of all the personalities I've had the privilege of meeting, Jay Leno is top of the list of the car guys. You don't have to spend much time with him to recognize his warmth, sincerity, his knowledge, unabashed enthusiasm for cars, and his humanity.

He loves to talk about cars, drive cars, work on his cars, and of course collect them. I've had the honour of being invited back to his garage in Burbank for a one-on-one with the collection, where he proudly showed off his Bentleys and Jaguars to me.

Like me, Jay suffers from pathological curiosity, and when he talks cars it's with an authority few enthusiasts can muster, and he loves to meet like-minded car buffs so he can find out stuff he doesn't already know.

Walking the 18th fairway at the Pebble Beach Concours dÉlegance in 2006 I had the pleasure of chatting about the cars on display as we walked among the exhibits. Cars are his passion, and he gives back a lot too.

He has a lot of respect for the great marques, and when Jaguar invited him to preview the brilliant new CX-75 concept he jumped at the chance to delve into its design and engineering with Design Director Ian Callum.

Jay is as natural, and funny, in real life as he is on his TV show. What you see, is what you get. He is a great human being, and a great car guy. What a package! I'm very proud to have these photos.

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