If you buy Sammy Hagar's Ferrari, you may be invited to party too: 'Bring your passport'
Rocker Sammy Hagar is all about the music this summer as he and his bandmates storm through a series of dates on their Best of All Worlds tour.
But come fall, when the supergroup that includes drummer Jason Bonham, bass player and Van Halen veteran Michael Anthony, and guitarist Joe Satriani wraps up its set of Hagar-career spanning hits with a show in Japan on Sept. 23, it'll be time to turn to the musician's other passion: fast cars.
On Oct. 12, Hagar's prized one-of-one 2015 Ferrari LaFerrari will finally cross the auction block at Barrett-Jackson, after an initial plan to sell the car earlier this year was scotched when a full inspection of the low-mileage supercar (it has only 1,100 miles) revealed that it was in need of a new battery.
"It's certainly a bittersweet thing for me to hand those keys over to the new owner, but someone needs to enjoy that car as it's made to be driven and it's too much car for my expertise," Hagar tells USA TODAY from Nashville, where he's getting set for a show Wednesday at Bridgestone Arena. "Hopefully I will become friends with the new owners and we can take it out once in a while."
Hagar adds cryptically that the winning bidder should come to Arizona with his or her passport in tow. Hagar plans to leave right after the auction to fly on his private plane to his longtime hangout in Cabo San Lucas, just in time for that 77th birthday bash on Oct. 13.
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"I jokingly say to anyone bidding on this car, 'bring your passport,' you never know," says Hagar.
Incidentally, his jet has the same color scheme as his LaFerrari and served as its color-palette inspiration when he journeyed to the fabled factory in Maranello, Italy, along with his wife Kari, to custom-design the vehicle prior to production.
Hagar's car is truly personalized: beyond his cappuccino-vibe color scheme, the carbon fiber steering wheel features his initials as well as his birth date. A longtime fan of numerological alignment, Hagar is almost giddy about how things are mapping up for the sale.
"I received the car on my birthday, on Oct. 13, 2016, and on the steering wheel is a small silver plaque that says 'SH1013.' After the sale, I'll be celebrating my birthday, knowing that just as happy will be the lucky person that lands this, the most beautiful LaFerrari of them all," he says. "Oh, P.S., it's a Libra."
Craig Jackson, CEO of Barrett-Jackson, says "the decision to hold Sammy’s LaFerrari for our fall auction was the right one, and ensures it’s a truly immaculate supercar for the next owner. His LaFerrari is an extension of his ‘go fast lifestyle,’ and we’re honored to make it the centerpiece of our second Scottsdale auction this year.”
The 2024 Barrett-Jackson auction unfolds Oct. 10-13 at WestWorld of Scottsdale, and Hagar's sale will be part of a live broadcast on FYI and the History Channel.
There was a lot of hype last fall around the upcoming sale of Hagar's custom cream-over-black LaFerrari, news that prompted fellow Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and car nut Rod Stewart to connect with Hagar. Stewart ultimately purchased his own white LaFerrari.
But the battery failure pulled the plug on the deal, since the seller and auction house both needed the wildly expensive car to be beyond reproach before it went up for sale.
A new battery might sound like a simple enough fix on an average vehicle, but not so when it comes to securing a rare and specialized five-figure part for a machine that cost upwards of $1.4 million new.
Just over 700 Ferrari LaFerrari cars were made between 2013 and 2016. Today, they trade hands for upwards of $5 million. Ultimately, a new battery was sourced from the Ferrari factory and the swap was performed by Ferrari of San Francisco, a dealership near one of the singer's longtime California homes.
As many of his fans know, Hagar has been obsessed with fast cars throughout his career, a love that is epitomized in a song that is an anthem for speed freaks everyhere, "I Can't Drive 55."
In fact, it was during a tour with early band Montrose that the singer first spotted a Ferrari and vowed to one day own one. He wound up collecting quite a few, and even owes that hobby to landing the job as frontman with Van Halen.
Hagar's Los Angeles mechanic, Claudio Zampolli, was looking after exotic Italian sports cars for both Hagar and Van Halen and connected the two when he heard the guitar ace was looking for a new frontman after the abrupt departure in 1985 of David Lee Roth. The rest is multi-platinum history, as Hagar's singing, guitar playing and songwriting helped extend the band's lofty status before, as Hagar has noted, he was dismissed from the group in 1996.
Hagar's automotive hobby was aided by his parallel success as an entrepreneur, epitomized by the sale in 2007 of most of his interest in Cabo Wabo tequila to Italian company Gruppo Campari, netting the singer $80 million. He later sold the remaining 20%.
Although his garage already brimmed with supercars from a range of makes, from Ford to Aston Martin, around 2013 Hagar became intrigued by the notion of owning Ferrari's latest supercar, the oddly named La Ferrari (the car translates to being called the Ferrari The Ferrari), which boasted acres of carbon fiber laid over a space-age frame and powered by both V12 gas engine and electric motors generating a staggering 1000 hp combined.
Now someone with truly deep pockets – and hopefully a passion for rock 'n' roll – will get to pilot that prized machine.
