Everyone likes to fantasize about what they’d do if money were no object. For petrolheads, there’d probably be one answer: a garage with enough room for a fleet of expensive vehicles. Some celebrities are in the privileged position to make this happen for themselves. Frank Sinatra and Eddie Van Halen, for example, had the freedom to indulge some of their desires on the auto front. After all, Celebrity Net Worth estimates Old Blue Eyes’ estate to have been up to $600 million at the time of his death, and Eddie Van Halen’s to have been approximately $100 million as of 2020. So it’s not surprising that they both had a taste for Lamborghinis.
Of the many expensive vehicles that Eddie Van Halen owned, the most notable was probably his Lamborghini Miura S “Widebody.” Eddie’s former wife of 20 years, Valerie Bertinelli, bought the Miura S as an elaborate wedding gift for her new husband, with the license plate APR 11 to honor the day they tied the knot. As We Are Curated puts it, “This is a car that Eddie Van Halen used to daily drive throughout the streets of Beverly Hills … this was a car that was so iconic with him. He used to drive it around listening to … his own music, writing his music … what a piece of history.”
We Are Curated actually purchased the legendary vehicle and had it restored by Lamborghini Polo Storico over a long four years. They marked its completion in September 2023. Meanwhile, Frank Sinatra also owned a Lamborghini Miura, a storied model in its own right.
The story of Frank Sinatra’s own Lamborghini Miura
Frank Sinatra also had a magnificent collection of cars, with a 1970 Lamborghini Miura P400S among them, which he purchased in 1969. Autocar declared the Miura P400S to be the fastest production car of the ’60s, with a top speed of 174 mph. Just like Eddie Van Halen, music seemed paramount to his driving experience, as Sinatra had an eight-track stereo fitted to his P400S. His color choice, meanwhile, might be a little more controversial, as the model boasted an eye-catching orange-carpeted interior, matched by its exterior.
To have the remarkable machine built, Sinatra traveled to Lamborghini’s factory in Sant’Agata Bolognese. He was treated to a private tour around the factory, and the completed model was dated with his birthday, December 12, 1969. The Miura, then, was an ostentatious wedding gift for Van Halen and a birthday gift of sorts for Sinatra. Christie’s held an auction for the model in 2003 as part of a collectors’ car auction at the Rockefeller Center. The car had 36,844 miles on the clock, attracting a final price of $150,500. Classic Driver reports that its owner, prior to being auctioned, had carefully stored it since 1977.
An appreciation for the sleek and stylish Miura isn’t the only thing that connects the two musical legends. Eddie Van Halen appears in Frank Sinatra’s video for “L.A. Is My Lady,” joining David Lee Roth as he bursts through a door and points toward an exit with an exuberant “Alright! L.A. is that way!” The pair doesn’t quite hit 174 mph as a classic Miura did in the process of leaping into a taxi, but they probably came quite close.
