(first posted 2/17/2012) Aside from my well-known love of old cars, I am also a huge fan of Frank Sinatra. From his early days as The Voice to his twilight in the 1990s, Ol’ Blue Eyes was a singular force in the world of music. I have always been interested in the cars of all of my favorite musicians. Unfortunately, this information is usually very hard to come by, if available at all. Fortunately, Sinatra’s life is well enough documented that we can at least find a few of them.
Sinatra got his big break in 1939 when he signed with the Harry James big band. His first recording with the band (All Or Nothing At All) only sold about 8,000 copies that year, but it would go on to sell millions as he became better known. It seems that through his life, Frank Sinatra was, at least part of the time, a Chrysler guy. Although I have not verified this recently, I recall reading in a biography that when he got married to his first wife Nancy in 1939, they went on their honeymoon in a 1939 Chrysler.
Sinatra became famous with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra and, in 1942, began his solo career. The Voice, as he was known then, had a string of hit records and could send most any teenage girl into a faint. What was he driving in those years? I have to speculate here, and if guessing, wouldn’t it have to be a Lincoln Continental? After all, if all the other big stars like Rita Hayworth had one, surely Sinatra did as well.
Some say that the greatest single record Sinatra ever recorded was I’m A Fool To Want You. Recorded in 1951 during a long, slow decline in his popularity and during his tumultuous relationship with Ava Gardner, Sinatra did the song in a single take. Then, without saying a word, he strode out of the Columbia Records studio into the night. Wouldn’t a real fan want to know what car he got into? It bothers me that I cannot complete this mental image. I like to think that maybe it was a new Hemi Imperial, but I am probably dreaming.
But I can move us into the high-flying 1950s when he revived his career with a fresh artistic wind. A series of successful records backed by Nelson Riddle on the Capitol label and starring roles in a series of critically acclaimed films, he was at the top of his game. In 1955 he recorded what is, in my opinion, one of the best up-tempo albums of his career – Songs for Swingin’ Lovers. And that year, he did his own swingin’ in this 1955 Thunderbird.
By the next year, he was moving up. In 1956, he co-starred with Grace Kelley and Bing Crosby in High Society, a remake of the 1940 Cary Grant-Katherine Hepburn picture The Philadelphia Story. With the combination of Cole Porter’s songs and Sinatra’s voice and natural acting abilities, the movie was a huge hit. Sinatra moved into automotive High Society with his next car, a Continental Mark II. At $10,000 in 1956, this was the car that Henry Ford II used to try to put Lincoln back onto the prestige car map. Although the Mark II failed at this mission, it was quite a car. And Sinatra had one.
Sinatra’s dice remained hot in 1957. His best remembered work of the year is probably his Capitol album Come Fly With Me. I have always loved the Lockheed Constellation on the cover. The album’s theme was a musical trip to exotic places, and then back home. Sinatra’s Dual Ghia was sort of an exotic place all by itself. The car is an interesting mix of Virgil Exner’s designs, Ghia’s prototypes and Chrysler drivetrains. It is an interesting story that we do not have time for on this tour.
1958 brought the acclaimed album Only the Lonely, a classic collection of songs about heartbreak. The 1958 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham was a kind of heartbreak for Cadillac, as the division lost a ton of money on each one of the $14,000 cars. The Eldo Brougham was a semi-custom built four door hardtop with suicide doors and a stainless steel roof. This is the one that graced the Sinatra garage.
By 1962, Sinatra was continuing his upward mobility. He now owned his own record label, Reprise Records, and his albums continued to spin on turntables everywhere, at least everywhere where there were adults and martinis. That same year, The Manchurian Candidate hit the movie screens in what became one of his most critically acclaimed movies. Sinatra’s Chrysler thread picked up again with the 1962 Dual Ghia L6.4, the second generation of Chrysler-powered semi-customs.
Frank Sinatra turned 50 in 1965. Everyone has a mid-life crisis, I suppose, and I guess he did too. This customized Mustang would seem to fit the bill for a midlife crisis car.
But apparently not. By 1969, he retired, he married a much-younger Mia Farrow (for whom he reportedly bought a 1969 Mark III) and he went way out there for his next car. A 1969 Lamborghini Miura.
In 1980, Sinatra turned 65 and was enjoying a resurgence in his popularity and seemed to be returning to his musical and cultural roots. He had a hit song (New York, New York). He had a hit album (Trilogy). And even a new movie (The First Deadly Sin). And, of course, we know that he spent some time in his own 1981 Imperial (CC here). Does his musical commercial count as a hit?
But what was his last car? The answer will surprise you – it did me. Life has a way of coming full circle, and Sinatra’s automotive history does the same. His last car is reported to be a 1985 Chrysler LeBaron Town and Country wagon. Even Frank Sinatra eventually put the old flash and swagger aside as he got older and could be satisfied with a very modest car.
So, as it turns out, Frank Sinatra really was a Chrysler man at heart. Or maybe the T&C was a warranty replacement for the ’81 Imperial?
I bought a 1981 imperial that had a convertible conversion and a letter from an early owner said frank owned/used this car as Lee Iacocca had the Sinatra edition cut because the coupe looked sharp with the top down. The owner also thought it was a one off conversion. Any thoughts?
He had an ’86 K-car limo that sold not long ago.
http://www.classic-carauction.com/auction_details.cfm?auctionid=7367
Mr. Sinatra’s Chrysler wagon was a 1981 or 82, Not the “K” car. It was white with the faux wood. I was at a light on Beverly Blvd. in my white 81 T&C and he pulled up next to me in his identical car….he waived
Also, Dean Martin owned a BMW 5-Series E34 and Mercedes S-Class W126 looking at this old photo of his house (though I’m not exactly sure if the cars were either owned by him or his relatives).
Source: http://www.findadeath.com/Deceased/m/Dean%20Martin/dean_martin.htm
I had a calendar with various photos of Frank. One that caught my eye was a photo of Frank backing out of his driveway in Hasbrouck Heights New Jersey in a 1942 Chrysler convertible. I believe its a New Yorker because the front from cowl forward seems to be the eight cylinder. It is an early 42 because it has all the chrome speed streaks on the front and rear fenders. looking close it has a few minor dents in the fenders on the drivers side.
Your recall of that calendar picture gibes with my own of Sinatra’s early preference for Chryslers.
I have eventually decided that this preference remained through much of his life because I recall a car coming up on eBay some years ago after I wrote this. It was a 74 Imperial, IIRC, bright red with white leather/vinyl roof. There was some questions whether he bought it for himself or if it was one of many cars he apparently bought for people in his close circle of friends and family.
Very interesting article, but what caught my eye in the pic with the T Bird convertible were the oil stains on the driveway. I’d read that much older cars lost a great deal of oil, hence checking the oil at every gas fill up. Those stains look like the floor underneath my fathers 39 Ford.
Only tangentally related, but this song called “Sinatra’s Car” has one of the most bizarre stories behind its release and is an amusing read (and a good song too!)
If the Imperial FS had an 8-track player in it, it would be able to play the most valuable 8-track cartridge ever, which trades for about $5,000. It was intended to be the follow-up to Sinatra’s (excellent) collaboration with Tom Jobim, but Frank got hold of a tape and didn’t like what he heard – his voice was off on several tracks, and they sliced “Wave” in half and put it on two different 8-track programs, leading to a “ker-chunk” halfway through the song. But the album had already been for sale for a day and about five that were sold are accounted for. The cease-and-desist order came before any LPs, cassettes, or open reels were issued.
I like Songs for Swingin’ Lovers but my favorites from that period are the “downer” albums – In the Wee Small Hours, Only the Lonely, and No One Cares. The two Jobim albums are also great, and Watertown is, well, interesting.
For your reading amusement, the very wordy advert for the 81 Imperial:
pg. 2
I remember seeing those ads for the ‘81 Imperial. I liked the look of them, but I also remember reading that they had problems with the fuel injection system, and some owners had the 318 retrofitted with a carburetor. I’d also be leery about the reliability of the all-digital dash back then – I’d prefer gauges if I could get them.
Great Essay! Thanks for the automotive history on The Voice.
I have a car was also Frank’s, he owned it in 1972, El Camino, runs on either gas or propane, I bought it in 1991, now it’s in Minnesota, and needs restoration, was originallyyellow, for sale if interested, usedabit58@hotmail.com
I’d like to add a picture or two
Try this pic, if it will post,
Is this car the car he bought his father, the 1964 Buick Electra 25>
Around 1970 Lee Iococca at Ford before he went to Chrysler, had the Lincoln Division make designs for a model called “The Frank Sinatra Special”. I don’t know if it ever got off the drawing board. Iocacca liked big cars and stuck Ford with an albatross lineup before he left for Chrysler and became an advocate of the small car. My boss in the late sixties attended meetings with him and “The Deuce”. He was not a nice guy and was not liked within the company. Some of the meetings devolved into shouting matches between him and “The Deuce”. Four letter were exchanged between the two of them.
Can’t tell from your construction here whether “He was not a nice guy” refers to Iacocca or to HF2, but it doesn’t matter; it applies equally well to the both of them.
Didn’t Barbara and he buy each other cars on their wedding day? Could you elaborate? Thank you