CAPTAIN’S LOG, STARDATE 040816: William Shatner and his cars beamed up to Barrett-Jackson Palm Beach
April 1, 2016
Posted by Barrett-Jackson
Written by Barbara Toombs
William Shatner at home with his 2002 Aston Martin DB7 V12 convertible (Lot #89.1) and 2004 Volkswagen Phaeton (Lot #89.2), before they headed to Florida for the Barrett-Jackson Palm Beach Auction.
It started with a tweet:
Not surprisingly, the answers came quickly ‒ considering William Shatner has 2.3 million Twitter followers – and a common thread was clear: Barrett-Jackson.
William Shatner’s low-mileage 2002 Aston Martin DB7 V12 convertible. “A jewel of a design inside and out,” he says.
Shatner is an actor, singer, author, producer, director, spokesman and comedian who became a cultural icon for his portrayal of James T. Kirk, captain of the USS Enterprise in the “Star Trek” franchise. He has starred in over 20 films and 30 television shows, as well as numerous video games and commercials.
Behind the scenes, Shatner has a longstanding love for horsepower – both of the four-legged and motorized varieties. He breeds American Saddlebreds and Quarter Horses at his home in Kentucky and is an accomplished equestrian. A lifelong motorcycle rider, Shatner recently partnered with the Illinois-based company American Wrench to create a custom three-wheeled motorbike called The Rivet, which he drove along with the American Legion from Chicago to Los Angeles on what he calls a “life-changing ride.”
The plush interior of Shatner’s Aston Martin.
It’s the horsepower under a car’s hood that really captivates him, however. “Mechanical things have always fascinated me,” he says. “The sound of the exhaust, the ticking of the engine, the sleekness of the design have intrigued and entranced me.”
Shatner, who also flies planes, still remembers his first car, a 1940s Chevy that required oil every 40 miles. “Ingress and egress was through the window; the door was jammed,” he recalls. “I was a kid in Montreal and figured if the car stopped, I would just leave it there. It did stop, but unfortunately it was at a parking lot and I had to pay to have it removed. Ever since then, cars that work longer than 40 miles and driver’s doors that open have held a fascination for me.”
Lot #89.2 in Palm Beach is Shatner’s mint-condition 2004 Volkswagen Phaeton, which he says is “one of the most advanced cars of the world of its time.”
Taking heed of the advice he received on Twitter, Shatner will be on hand to accompany two of his cars across the Barrett-Jackson auction block in Palm Beach: a low-mileage 2002 Aston Martin DB7 V12 convertible (Lot #89.1) and a mint-condition 2004 Volkswagen Phaeton (Lot #89.2). “It goes against my grain to spend the kind of money on a car that in my more modest-means day I could have bought a house, or actually three houses,” says Shatner. “So I look for cars like the ones I am selling: a great VW Phaeton – one of the most advanced cars of the world of its time – and this Aston Martin DB7, which is a jewel of a design inside and out. I am selling them because I have too many cars and I am ready to go onto another phase. I have driven them for years and kept them up meticulously. Nothing has ever gone wrong.”
With typical Shatner eloquence, he adds, “It is with great reluctance that I part with either one of them. I will sign them and I will be beside them to bid them adieu.”
Crossing the Barrett-Jackson Palm Beach auction block at No Reserve, these are two remarkable celebrity cars that anybody can own and enjoy.
For up-to-date information on these vehicles and others on the Palm Beach docket, click HERE.