Barry Weiss’ Car Collection: Eccentric Americana Galore
Barry from Storage Wars’ car collection is something for the books, and is unique compared to other celebrities’ car collections in that it’s not just a collection of expensive modern supercars and hypercars. But who is Barry Weiss? He’s best known for having been a cast member of A&E reality TV’s Storage Wars, where participants bid for abandoned lockers in the hope of finding something valuable inside. He appeared on the show from seasons 1 to 4 (2010-2013) and seasons 14 and 15 (2022-2023).
Barry Weiss
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images via tvinsider.com
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Weiss built his fortune in fresh produce alongside his brother Joey, and started collecting cars at 15. All of Barry Weiss’ cars and bikes are rare, strange, and, more than anything, a lineup of true vintage Americana. Many of them are customized, too, to reflect the collector’s eccentricity and unique style, with lots of custom builds, hot rods, rat rods, and other special rides among them. Some of the vintage cars have been left standard and were lovingly restored to their former glory to preserve their character and historical significance.
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Photos of his cars aren’t that easy to come by, as he mostly keeps his collection private from public eyes in a Los Angeles warehouse, but a few YouTuber fans have been given the privilege to visit him and video his cars. Interestingly, a fair number of his most unique cars were actually found inside mystery storage units while he was on Storage Wars. Take a journey with us into a few of the highlights of Barry Weiss’ car collection as we list just a few of our favorites:
1947 Custom Cowboy Cadillac
This dramatically customized 1947 Cadillac has a cowboy-themed interior with western-stitched leather, vintage bull steer horns on the grille, an impossibly slammed stance, and many other custom touches setting it apart and demonstrating Weiss’ flair for outrageous detailing. It’s probably worth between $50,000 and $70,000 at the moment. It was handcrafted by Frand DeRosa.
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1955 Ford “Beatnik” Custom Hot Rod Bubble Car
Valued at more than $150K, Weiss’ Beatnik Custom Hot Rod started life as a 1955 Ford, but has been customized with a spaceship-like bubble glass top and vivid blue paintwork by Gary Chopit, building it Frankenstein-style from a Lincoln chassis, a Chevy V8, and a Cadillac front end.
Storage Wars Storage Unit Finds:
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The 1966 Shelby Mustang Weiss owns was found in a storage unit while he appeared on the Storage Wars TV series.
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2004 Rolls-Royce Phantom.
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James Bond Lotus Esprit submarine. Weiss owns the submersible Esprit used in the 1977 James Bond movie The Spy Who Loved Me, starring Roger Moore as 007, and once owned by Elon Musk.
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Tesla Roadster. Weiss owns a first-generation Tesla Roadster, which he also found in a storage unit.
1939 Lincoln Zephyr Coupe
The rare Zephyr Coupe is, of course, not standard, but customized to suit Weiss’ personal style with a bespoke interior and paint job. It’s worth around $100,000. It was custom-built by Terry Cook, editor of Hot Rod magazine, and Ramsey Mosher in the mid-’90s. Originally a purple show car, Weiss customized it to be fully road legal, as he says he doesn’t have trailer queens, and drives his cars. He also painted it black. It has a 350-CI Chevy V8 in it, not the original Zephyr V12 engine.
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1940 Ford COE Truck
Weiss’ 1940 cab-over-engine (COE) Ford truck has not been fully restored, but customized with a low stance, many performance upgrades, and a red paint job. It was a staple of Storage Wars. It’s estimated to be worth around $65,000. The same photos of this truck in front of a brown brick wall circulate the internet, with the originals very hard to pin down.
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Tim Burton Batmobile
The original Tim Burton Batmobile used in the 1989 Batman movie is also in Weiss’ garage, and at around $620,000, probably his most valuable car.
Other Barry Weiss Cars
Weiss reportedly also owns:
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A 2014 Maserati GranTurismo
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A bunch of other old timers from more than a century ago
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Final Thoughts
It’s been reported that Barry doesn’t own all the cars on display in his warehouse, and it’s often hard to figure out exactly what he does own. For example, the 1955 Ghia Streamline X “Gilda” concept car is on video record to appear in his collection, but no official sources confirm that he actually owns it; in fact, it currently belongs to Scott Grundfor. It adds yet another layer of mystique to the Barry Weiss collection.
Barry Weiss from Storage Wars is often confused with music executive Barry Weiss, and some people have thought that this is the same person and have mixed up their respective car collections, or even combined them. It’s unfortunate, because our man from Storage Wars is a true eccentric with some fascinating and unique vintage Americana in his California garage.
FAQs
Q: What is Barry Weiss’ car collection worth?
A: There’s no firm estimation of the number of cars or their value, but it has to be well over a million dollars, given that the Batmobile and Beatnik Custom Hot Rod together already amount to about $770,000.
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Q: How many cars does Barry Weiss own?
A: It’s estimated that he has up to around 30 cars at the moment, but a precise number is not available, and looking at the photos of his collection, it looks like a lot more than that, though no official number has been given. He also owns many vintage motorcycles.
Q: What is Barry Weiss’ most valuable car?
A: It used to be his Beatnik Custom Hot Rod, which is estimated to be worth around $150,000, but the 1989 Batmobile from the Batman movie is estimated to be worth $620K.
Q: What is Barry Weiss’ net worth?
A: Barry’s net worth is estimated to be around $10 million.
Q: What has happened to Barry Weiss?
A: It seems that Weiss, now 74, has mostly retired from public life after briefly returning to Storage Wars’ 14th and 15th seasons, finishing in 2023. He suffered a serious motorcycle accident in 2019, but recovered from it after 2 months in the hospital.
