While he may be the lead singer of AC/DC by night, by day Brian Johnson is a keen petrolhead , owning a collection of classics to leave us all Thunderstuck with jealousy. Here’s our top 5 from Brian Johnson’s extensive car history.
Brian with a big cat.
You may know Brian Johnson as a rock legend - but unlike his fellow icons Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin, Brian hasn’t spent his money solely on questionable hobbies involving sherbet (we’re told) and religious no-nos. Brian has long been a car enthusiast- and can be found behind the wheel instead of in an early grave.
Owning a garage overflowing with class, style and rarity - to us, Johnson is more than a rock god - he’s our automotive messiah. Currently shooting about in a Ferrari 458 Italia and also keeping an Abarth 500 for more low-key thrills, in terms of charismatic cool, nothing comes close to Johnson. Here we run down the top five cars our car/rock god has been enjoying recently.
You can keep with Brian Johnson's racing activities on his racing website.
5. Rolls Royce Phantom
The Rolls-Royce Phantom is one of Brian Johnson’s favourite cars - ever. It’s big. It’s huge. It’s magnificent. Ever since Johnson was growing up in Britain, he always felt there was something special about a Rolls-Royce - they were out of reach and unobtainable to the common man. As soon as Brian had the chance, he bought one. In his own words, ‘ I drive it like I stole it.’
The fact that the engine was built in Germany doesn’t ruffle his feathers in his hunt for Englishness personified in car form - for the next car on his list is as British as they come. Perfect for the highway to hell?
4. Bentley 4 1/2 Litre Vanden Plas
The most iconic British automobile? Johnson believes so. Raced by rich, young men who had lots of money, alongside cahoonies the size of a steering wheel. As it turns out, W O Bentley is one of Brian’s heroes - starting with aeroplane engines before moving onto producing a car that Johnson describes as ‘oozing Britishness’. Christened ‘Thunder Guts’, you can often find Brian driving his Bentley 4 1/2 Litre Vanden Plas around Sarasota, Florida as his daily runabout. Well, if you want to be shook all night long…
3. Mini Cooper
Brian loves the Mini Cooper due to itsaccessibility - The Beatles had them, the Royal Family drove them, but then so could your dad. Desperate to race a Mini Cooper at Brands hatch, his dream finally came true after some rally lessons from the legendary Paddy Hopkirk . Climbing up the podium, Johnson fell in love with the Mini Cooper he was driving so badly that he couldn’t leave without making it his. Offering to buy it from the owner, the first offer was refused. As Brian says:
‘[The Owner] had two and said "I can’t sell it to you, Brian. It’s not possible." And his wife came up and said "You have two of them!" He had two the same colour, buying the second one without telling his wife so he could pull it out and she wouldn’t know one from the other - but she had found out he did have two of them'. Forced by his wife to sell the Mini, finally, Brian had his Cooper. Who said dirty deeds need to be done dirt cheap?
2. Land Rover Defender/ Range Rover Supercharged V8
Brian calls it his ‘Chelsea Tractor’ - a dark green Supercharged Range Rover V8 that resides deep within his Florida garage. However, he also has major respect for the Land Rover itself. He says that ‘England feels nice and safe. Because there’s Land Rovers there.’ He appeared downhearted upon discovering Defender production was coming to a halt, albeit finally getting to rally a Land Rover around the Special Forces training ground. He even has a soft spot for the Range Rover Evoque…
1. 1965 Lola T70 Mark 1
With only 15 examples built, Johnson owns the very last one. Hiding a 640bhp Ford V8 within the curved bodyshell. it’s not hard to see why he claims to get more excited over this car than any other. One of his race cars still pushed around racetracks come event season, it even tried to kill him. Pure T.N.T. As Brian explains, just listen to the engine note: