? Rockin' Garages, by Tom Cotter and Ken Gross, Motorbooks, 192 pages, $39.
THE pairing of fast cars and rock music was established as surely as if rock and roll was a baby delivered in the back of an ambulance racing to the hospital.
Speed, power, hard lines and smooth surfaces all blend together and nowhere brings that union into better focus than in the garage of a rock star.
Tom Cotter and Ken Gross have paid house calls to some rock legends that are also car enthusiasts. They show us the gleaming treasures that rest behind the garage doors. We get to see Sammy Hagar's Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona, along with his Aston Martin Vanquish S and a Ford GT parked alongside a pair of Mustangs.
Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason loves a different era of speed and has a collection of vintage racecars. Many of these cars Mason has raced on the track, but it's his Ferrari 250 GTO that he holds dearest. This car is one he has not only frequently raced but also used to drive both his daughters to their weddings.
The unique 20th Century Cycles is a non-business, non-museum in Oyster Bay, New York, that Billy Joel owns.
"I don't sell anything, so it's not a business, and I ride all my bikes, so it's not a museum" says Joel. He put his collection on public display as a move to support the local businesses of his adopted hometown.
Keith Urban shares his love of big cruising automobiles like his "ultimate driving couch," a rare 1956 Lincoln Mk II. Urban owns several Lincolns and enjoys the big cars because they're cars that he can "just cruise in, talk, enjoy the landscape, and the actual act of driving."
His garage shows an eclectic selection that includes, in addition to the Lincolns, a Rolls-Royce Ghost, a Porsche Cayenne, an Aston Martin Rapide, a 1969 Mustang and a Fiat 500 that gets towed behind his tour bus.
Twenty different car lovers open their doors and show us the vehicles that make them happy. As we read Cotter and Gross' words we are treated to the visual delight of Michael Alan Ross' photographs of these gems.
