Stars and Their Cars - Wheels of the Rich and Famous
Many
celebrities confess to having a love of cars and driving; some even
spend a considerable amount of time and money building up collections
of cars for their own personal garage. So, what are some of the
vehicles driven by the rich and famous?
Footballers,
it seems, are in the top bracket when it comes to exotic cars, with
many of the top earners in the game having what appears to be an
obsession with owning the world's most exclusive and expensive cars.
Manchester United star Wayne Rooney, for example, can count such
vehicles as the Lamborghini Gallardo, Bentley Continental GT, Aston
Martin Vanquish and BMW M6 among his collection.
Chelsea
midfielder Claude Makelele is another footballer whose garage is full
of hot wheels; a Mercedes McLaren SLR, Ferrari F360 and a Mercedes SL65
AMG convertible are among the cars owned by the Dutchman. Meanwhile
Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard can boast a Porsche 911 Turbo,
Mercedes SLK, Aston Martin Vanquish and BMW X5 as part of his fleet of
motoring muscle. Cristiano Ronaldo has owned an Audi R8, BMW X5 and
Ferrari 360 among his cars, and his name features on a waiting list for
perhaps the world's ultimate car - the Bugatti Veyron.
However, perhaps the ultimate car fanatic from the footballing world is David Beckham. Having spent in
excess
of £2million on a host of vehicles, Beckham's garage counts the likes
of the Ferrari 575 and F430, Lamborghini Gallardo, two Bentley Arnages
and a Rolls Royce Phantom among others. Beckham also has an
armour-plated BMW X5 and once owned an Aston Martin DB7, with the
registration plate 'DB7'. Cars such as these are all a far cry from
Beckham's first entry into the motoring world - the humble Ford Escort.
Fame
doesn't necessarily give rise to the need to spend lavishly on
top-of-the-range cars, however. At the peak of the Spice Girls' fame,
band member Melanie Chisholm - also known as 'Sporty Spice' - shelled
out on a 1998 Audi A3 which she used to drive herself around as she and
the band rose to international stardom, clocking up 79,000 miles in the
process. With the Spice Girls going on to become one of the biggest
girl groups of all time, it was unlikely that Sporty Spice needed Audi car finance
to make her purchase and later the car was sold on the motoring
website, Autotrader, having amassed 110,000 miles and a full service
history, for a bargain price of £2,995.
Film
and TV stars aren't immune to owning top-of-the-range vehicles either.
American actor Ben Affleck has owned an Aston Martin DB7 and Dodge
RAM, while Brad Pitt can claim to have driven the Mercedes G55 AMG.
More modest cars owned by film and TV stars include the David 'The
Hoff' Hasselhoff's BMW Mini and Harry Potter star, Daniel Radcliffe's
Fiat Punto.
However,
no celebrity car is complete without a personalised registration
plate. Recently, Formula One racing driver Lewis Hamilton reportedly
paid £200,000 on the personalised registration LEW 1S; but the driver
won't be putting the registration onto his Mercedes SLR or McLaren F1,
however, with the plate destined to be attached to his Mercedes GL420
4x4 off-roader. Other famous registration plates