Guitarist Jeff Beck Would Get His Hands Dirty Building Custom Hot Rods
The music world took some time today to mourn the loss of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame musician Jeff Beck. Beck died on Tuesday after a short illness, and many in the custom car and collector community are also mourning his loss. He has a large collection of customs, classic cars, and hot rods and a long history of building cool cars.
What band did Jeff Beck start with?
Beck became a big star in the late 1960s as a member of the Yardbirds for 20 months. Though he didn’t last long with the Yardbirds, he became a big star with his own band The Jeff Beck Group, and in the 1960s and 1970s as a solo artist. He won eight Grammy awards. He’s in the Rock Hall twice, once for his work with the Yardbirds and also for his solo work. Rolling Stone called him one the top five best guitarists of all time.
But through it all, custom cars and trucks were his second love.
What kind of cars does Jeff Beck have?
Though many of us know his music, his car collection was far less publicized. According to GQ, he found the car hobby as a kid when his parents bought him a copy of Rods and Customs magazine. There, he said, he saw the cars and fell in love with chrome and, specifically, American customs. But Beck didn’t just buy cars, he built them, too.
He built more than 30 cars and owned 14 cars and custom trucks.
What cars did Jeff Beck own?
Jeff Beck has 14 cars. In his collection, he has three Corvettes, a a 1932 three-window coupe, and a 1932 Ford Deuce Coupe. The Ford was a copy of the car from the 1973 film “American Graffiti.” He also has some British classics, including a 1947 MG TC. But they’re not all classics, some are simply classics-to-be, like his 2007 Corvette Z06.
Beck was a car traditionalist
In a 2016 interview with USA Today, he railed against self-driving, or autonomous cars. Like his guitar playing, where he emulated many of the early rock ‘n’ roll greats, he likes his cars to have a rough edge.
If you’d like to see Beck’s collection in full, he published a book called “BECK 01” in 2016. The book has pictures of his hot rods, his guitars, concerts, and some cool shots of the guitar god welding, working on, and tinkering with any number of hot rods.