Joe Strummer may never have gotten his hands on that brand new Cadillac he sung about on London Calling, but The Clash's late frontman did have a taste for fine automobiles. The gorgeous ride you're staring at is a 1963 Chalfont Blue Ford Thunderbird. Strummer bought it in 1987 for $4,200. Now in the possession of the Beverly Hills Car Club, it's being auctioned on E-bay. If you're a true boss, you can check the link out here and try your luck in the bidding war. The vehicle will be on sale for 9 more days–bidding started yesterday–with the final day of the sale falling on Strummer's birthday, Thursday, August 21(Strummer would be 62 on this day).
Of course we could go on about how special the car is all on its own– an original California double black-plate Bullet body style T-bird. But c'mon, you mostly wanna know if Strummer (who passed away in 2002) ever actually drove the thing. Yes, as a matter of fact he did.
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In 1987 and 1988 Joe Strummer was living in Los Angeles, in a beautiful wood-framed house with a swimming-pool on Ridgemount Drive off Laurel Canyon where he recorded his first solo album, Earthquake Weather, at Baby O studio on Sunset Boulevard. During this time, Joe's principal mode of transport was the T-bird. He would take his partner Gaby Salter and their two young daughters on family outings to the desert in the car. In May 1988 he and Gaby drove the 850 miles in the Ford Thunderbird to New Mexico for the Santa Fe film festival where Mystery Train, Jim Jarmusch's masterly independent film in which Joe starred, was being screened.
“This is such a special car to me. I knew Joe Strummer as a boy growing up in London. He was one of a kind, just like this car,” says Alex Manos, owner of the Beverly Hills Car Club. “Joe had an enormous love for American cars and I feel it's serendipitous that this beautiful 1963 Ford Thunderbird is coming to us for sale.”
If you're a fan with some cash in your pocket, then the fact that this baby was owned by the leader of the “only band that matters” makes this the only car that matters, at least for the next week and a half. Happy bidding! But before you do, check out some more photos of this beautiful ride after the jump…
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See also
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