Sharp’s IMSA car and the pace car were essentially given the same set up. But as I’m fond of saying, if you want to get a Lambo Miura or you want to get a 350 GT or a 400 GT 2+2 or whatever it is, if you have a million dollars lying around or seven-hundred-thousand, or two million if you want an SV, then you can always find one.‘But if you want a BRE Roadster [above] then you’ve got to talk to me, because there are two of them on the planet and I own both of them!
The Newman stuff is really cool and the BRE stuff is really cool.‘You know I also have some old Lambos, and Lambo stuff is kind of cool, too. The car was originally built by Bob Sharp to run in the IMSA GTU class in 1975 and was also hired to make the pace car for the series. ‘I was a Datsun fan more than a Newman fan, interestingly enough,’ says ‘I had a bit of an epiphany, like, “You’re now a Paul Newman collector!”. ‘How many cars do I have? I just find that a much more enjoyable environment.’And so we get onto the cars, and how it all started.

Coches Motos Carro Dibujo Autos Clasicos Carreras De Autos Deportivos Coches De Carreras Automovilismo De Velocidad Datsun 510. Bob  One of the latest to join this fraternity of legitimate car guys is Adam Carolla. To be honest I bought a few, I sold a few over the last few years, a lot of them are out in different places at different stages, so I might just say 25 or 30 at the moment.’ He laughs when it’s pointed out that not knowing how many cars are in his collection isn’t a bad problem to have.

“Allan Robbins is the real deal.

He also owns more cars raced by the late actor-driver Paul Newman than anyone else. The admiration even prompted a documentary film, Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman , released in 2015 and directed by Carolla and Nate Adams.

[A further pause].

”Between 1967 and 1975, Bob Sharp won the Sports Car Club of America national championships six times, including B-Sedan, F-Production and C-Production and the IMSA GTU title, racing for Datsun.

We recently spent some time with Adam in his San Fernando garage, where we learned that his on-air persona is not so different from the real thing; he can best be called a man’s man. There’s a long pause as Adam thinks about that.

Visit little known hideouts and avenues that open the mind into what being a local is all about.Datsun Competition Transmissions were considered the hot set up for racing. The interior is period correct with a few modern touches.

It was the original display vehicle at the 1969 New York Auto Show.

So I bought that car, and I think the next car I got was Paul’s two-frame GT1 championship car.‘There are always Newman cars out there that I want. Adam never met the screen star, who died in 2008, but as the collection of ex-Newman cars began to build up, so too did his admiration for the actor. Paul Newman’s 1986 Camaro started life as an Oldsmobile partial tube chassis and ran both a 6 cylinder and 8 cylinder engine depending on the class it was running.
Adam Carolla is a comedian, carpenter, podcaster, filmmaker, best-selling author, race car driver and entrepreneur. I was probably at the Toyota Grand Prix at Long Beach while he was there, but I never met him.‘You’d like your kids to turn out like Paul; he was generous, he didn’t have a lot of time for fools but he was a regular knockaround guy. Paul Newman’s cars aren’t going to retire any time soon.

Bob, who was the premier Datsun racer on the East Coast, introduced Paul Newman to competitive driving in 1971.

Is that the case? I think he was a salt of the earth, but he had the mind of a poet.‘I don’t compare myself to him, but I do understand that I much prefer a regular guy and to talk some shop and mess around with cars than going to movie premieres or something.

He sold the car to Adam Carolla, the celebrity Datsun car collector. AutoClassics So my feeling is that, as cool as the Ferraris are and the Lambos are, the idea of having, say, the old [Triumph] TR6 Tullius [Group 44] car that Newman put in his own livery and drove to his first production championship at Road Atlanta [below], then that’s just a rare piece because it’s one of one.’Reports vary on the size of the Carolla collection, but most say that Adam currently owns 37 cars. Carolla also owns two of BRE's original Datsun 2000 roadster race cars, as well as the Hino transporter that hauled the cars to the track. They got the same wing, huge flairs and G nose, along with a roll cage and fuel cell. I have purchased vintage parts on a number of occasions from him. Everyone I interviewed about him had nothing but glowing things to say about him.‘He was an interesting guy because he was private but he also loved to just cook for all the guys at the track at the weekend, make burgers.

"So, I have a strong attachment to the BRE side." Car Reviews, motorsport, race, japanese, Monterey Car Week, Celebrity Owner, TV car

Carolla’s BRE Datsun 510 replica was built by Classic Datsun Motorsports, though Adam is not afraid to get his hands dirty working on it. ‘I always liked Datsuns. Vehicle is in race configuration as campaigned by Bob Sharp Racing and driven by Sam Posey.Bob Sharp Racing Datsun 240Z Chassis #00006 This car is the first Datsun 240Z imported into the U.S. He started collecting rare Datsuns 25 years ago.