Jay Leno's Garage: "Supercars"
Everyone loves supercars, especially Jay Leno. But what exactly IS a supercar? In this episode of Jay Leno's Garage, Jay intends to find out.
Jay's first supercar crush was a 1955 Mercedes 300 SL. This first love was followed closely by Jay's infatuation with the Lamborghini Miura, a car that received worldwide acclaim when it appeared in the film, The Italian Job.
While giving the Muira a quick spin, Jay runs into some car trouble. Luckily for him, Robert Herjavec of Shark Tank happens along with his electric blue 1976 Lamborghini Countach. Robert gives Jay a lift back to town and, once there, they head straight to Franco's, a family-run auto body shop for luxury vehicles. At Franco's, Robert and Jay explore the shop and check out a few rides, like a 1988 version Robert's current car, the Lamborghini Countach.
Jay's next guest is superstar Nick Cannon, who actually owns a luxury car dealership. Jay takes a tour and checks out some of the cars that Nick has on display, while Nick explains that everything in the building is for sale. One notable exception: The white Rolls Royce that Nick purchased for his grandfather. After the tour, Jay and Nick take one of the toys out on the road: A jet-black 2013 Ferrari California with 453 horsepower. After a leisurely cruise around town, it's time for jay to visit his next guest.
Next, Jay flies to the Michelin Proving Grounds in Laurens, South Carolina to meet with Christian Von Koenigsegg, the founder of Koenigsegg Automotive. If the other cars in this episode are considered supercars, the Koenigsegg One:1 would be considered a "megacar." At $3 million dollars, the One:1 is one of the most expensive cars around. It's also one of the rarest. There are only six of them in the world and only one in the USA—the one Jay is test-driving. After a few mega-powered laps around the track, Jay heads back home.
Stump The Car Nerd: Alonzo Bodden
Jay loves to play a game he calls Stump The Car Nerd. Today's contestant? Comedian Alonzo Bodden. After blindfolding Alonzo, Jay drives him around in three different cars while Alonzo tries to guess what car he's riding in. This round, the cars are a 2015 Ford Shelby GT350R, a 2004 Porsche Carrera GT and a 1929 Duesenberg. Alonzo guesses two out of three correctly. Not bad at all!
Designer Profile: Michelle Christensen
Michelle Christensen is the exterior design project leader for the Acura NSX, which hasn't been in production since 2004. The rebooted 2016 NSX retails for about $156K and Michelle calls it, "an exaggeration of everything that's cool."
Entrepreneur Profile: Ryan Fisher
Ryan Fisher is the founder of Shift S3ctor, a company that allows people to race cars at top speeds in a very unusual place: airports. Racing at an airport may seem odd, but the long straight runways that airplanes use to land are perfect for pushing a car to its outer limits.
Assess & Caress with Donald Osborne
Donald Osborne is a well-known automobile appraiser and Jay likes to consult with him on the appreciation of his vehicular investments. This episode, Donald assess the five year appreciation of three cars: a 1913 Mercer Raceabout (238% appreciation), a 1977 Porsche Carrera Turbo (264%) and, Jay's favorite, a 1971 McLaren F1 (233%). It's interesting to note that even though the McLaren costs more than the Porsche, the Porsche has appreciated more.