5 Cars Owned By Guy Fieri That Proves He Has Great Taste
Love him or hate him, Guy Fieri is a juggernaut in the culinary world. He certainly didn't get to the top of that mountain without having at least a modicum of taste (something highly subjective), both figuratively and literally.
Guy Ramsay Ferry (no relation to Gordon Ramsay) began his climb to the top humbly enough, pushing around his pretzel cart as a kid around Ferndale, California (via CNN). In 2006 he won the second season of "Food Network Star," where his rocket ship to fame and fortune really took off. In 2019, he became just the third celebrity chef — Wolfgang Puck and Bobby Flay are the first two — to get their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Then in 2021, he became the highest-paid star on the network, making some $80 million and hosting (for now) six different shows (via Variety).
Fieri acknowledges that he's a "car junkie" who has more cars than he has time to drive, but carries pictures of them so he can pull them out and talk about them. In 2020, Fieri appeared on an episode of "Jay Leno's Garage."
Instead of the car and the personality showing up at Leno's garage, the ex-late night talk show host went to Fieri's place in Santa Rosa, California. Stashed inside an immaculately refurbished round barn originally built in 1891, Fieri showed off five of the cars in his collection that he obviously holds nearest and dearest to his heart.
1971 Chevrolet Chevelle SS Coupe
The 1971 Chevrolet Chevelle Coup is painted yellow with black Rallye stripes running the length of the car (like many of his other vehicles). Fieri calls it his "baby" (via Autoweek) because it's the first hot rod he ever bought (via Jay Leno's Garage). It's ironic now, but at the time, yellow wasn't a color Fieri initially liked (via Food Network). Obviously, it grew on him because — as you'll see — he's had countless yellow cars in his collection ever since.
The SS initially came with several different engine choices, with the 16 OHV V8 sporting a 7.4-liter 454-cubic-inch engine that kicked out 425 horsepower and 475 foot-pounds of torque (via Conceptcarz.com), but Fieri has since hopped up the motor to a 496-cid (via Autoweek) and added a "rock-crusher rear end."
Fieri says he saved up for years to buy a car, stuffing the odd dollar or three into a boot. But as life can do, things kept happening that prevented him from saving up enough. When he saw the car in the paper, Fieri didn't have enough.
However, through a confluence of borrowing $3,000 from his partner and several promises to the owner that included giving their son a job, never reselling the car, and a year's worth of dinners at his restaurant to procure the Chevelle — he got it. "I will never get rid of the car," Fieri said (via Autoweek).
2007 Shelby Cobra 427 S/C
Some websites claim that Fieri is such a diehard Chevy fan that he would never own a Ford, but that statement is clearly false. One of Fieri's neighbors Bill DenBeste (owner of DenBeste Motorsports), introduced him to Carroll Shelby. The two struck such a bond that Shelby actually gifted the Cobra to Fieri (via Motor Biscuit). As it turns out, Shelby was also pretty famous for his custom chili kit, which naturally appealed to the Food Network star. However, it is the only Ford in Fieri's collection (via Autoweek).
The black Cobra 427 (nicknamed "Live Fast") has his Knuckle Sandwich brand logo sitting squarely atop silver Rallye stripes. And it's not a replica, but an actual "continuation series Cobra" built by DenBeste at his shop. The naturally aspirated 500-cubic inch big block is based on the big Ford FE V8s, and kicks out 600 horsepower (via Ford Muscle Magazine).
Fieri said the car's horsepower-to-weight ratio "is about the most ridiculous thing in the world," and that drivers can't take hands off the wheel because they must constantly be aware of where and how fast they're going (via Jay Leno's Garage).
1969 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray convertible
Fieri has owned several Corvettes over the years. Still, the first time Fieri ever bought a car at auction (Barrett-Jackson, no less), he was on the phone calling in bids for a yellow 1969 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray convertible. It was also his birthday (via Jay Leno's Garage).
Interestingly, unlike many of his other cars, there are no racing stripes on this one. Not much is known about what exactly lies under the hood of Fieri's 'Vette. Despite being a "Chevy Guy," it's doubtful that he owns one of the ultra-rare (as in only two) ZL1 Vettes (via Hagerty). Otherwise, they would have made a much bigger deal about it on Leno's show, and they didn't.
A stock '69 Stingray came with a naturally aspirated 350-cid Chevrolet small block Turbo-Fire V8, with a Rochester 4-barrel carburetor kicking out 300 horsepower and 380 foot-pounds of torque. The rear-wheel drive convertible Stingray is mated to a Muncie M20 wide-ratio 4-speed manual transmission, and has a top speed of 123 mph. It went from 0-60 miles per hour in 6.1 seconds, and the quarter mile in 14.7 seconds (via automobile-catalog.com).
2007 C6 Chevrolet Corvette
Fieri has a thing for yellow Chevys, if you haven't noticed. After "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" launched in April of 2007, he rewarded himself (via Autoevolution) by going out and getting a Velocity Yellow 2007 Chevrolet Corvette C6 (via Autoweek) with removeable roof panels.
The standard coupe came with a 6.0-liter, 362-cid LS2 V8 engine under the hood that kicked out 400 horsepower and 400 foot-pounds of torque. The Z06 version was juiced, strapped with a 7.0-liter, 427-cid LS7 V8 that made 505 horsepower and 470 foot-pounds of torque.
The base model went from 0-60 mph in 4.8 seconds, while the Z06 version crushed it in just 3.6 seconds (via Corvsport). It's not clear which model Fieri owns, but given his penchant for fast Chevys (not to mention his connections), it wouldn't be shocking if he had the Z06 version.
Fieri is on record saying the "2007 Corvette is one of the greatest things I've driven in my life." For a guy (pun intended) who has driven a whole lot of cars from a whole lot of automakers, that's a pretty bold (and probably biased) statement, given his devotion to Chevy.
1968 Chevrolet Camaro SS convertible
The list wouldn't be complete without including his Rojo Red (via Food Network) 1968 Chevrolet Camaro SS convertible co-host on "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives." Debates rage over whether he actually owns or drives it, and even the car's model year ... all of which makes for a great story (for another time).
During Jay Leno's Garage, Fieri claims he purchased a complete frame-off restored '68 to use on the show. If you're unfamiliar with the term "frame off," the entire car was stripped down to the frame, restored, and rebuilt.
On an episode of Chevrolet Performance's "The Block," Guy said the car's 396 engine needed to be replaced. Instead of dropping in another 396, though, he called up his "buddies" at Chevy (Fieri has that kind of clout, being a big-time "Bow Tie Guy"). Instead, they put in a GM Performance ZZ 502 crate engine mated to a Tremec 5-speed manual that kicked out 502 horsepower and 567 foot-pounds of torque. They also added a Hotchkiss suspension system (via Jay Leno's Garage).
But the ambiguity around this Camaro gets even hazier. During season 42 (episode 36, "Revved Up"), which aired in December of 2022, VP Speed Shop built an "identical twin sister" car that even Guy couldn't tell apart from the original. So, which of the two does he have at home — the twin, or the original road warrior?