Jon Hamm Loves Mercedes But His First Car Was This Toyota
In his signature role as Don Draper on "Mad Men," a show that chronicled the golden age of advertising, actor Jon Hamm was frequently behind the wheel of his brand new 1965 Cadillac Coupe DeVille. In real life, we've come to know Hamm as the brand ambassador and voice of Mercedes-Benz since back in 2010. We're not sure how much loyalty to his employer swayed his opinion, but Hamm is also on record stating that his dream car is an ultra-rare 1955 Mercedes 300SL with its "gullwing" doors, beating the Bricklin SV-1 and DeLorean to that innovation by a good twenty years.
Before Hamm was Draper or Vice Admiral Cyclone in "Top Gun: Maverick," he was a high school teacher in Missouri who decided to strike out to Hollywood to find fame in 1995. His trusty companion in this endeavor was a 1986 Toyota Corolla, which apparently also doubled as a sleeping quarters along the way. In a 2012 interview with Esquire, the actor recalls, "I left St. Louis with $150 in my pocket and a wallet full of dangerously overdrawn credit cards. I drove out from St. Louis over the course of four or five days (staying on friends' couches in various western states, as well as on the side of the road in Carlin, Nevada) in a 1986 Toyota Corolla that would regularly blow a radiator-fan fuse and overheat."
Jon traded the Toyota for a bus pass and inline skates
Once in Los Angeles, the situation with the beat up Toyota didn't improve quickly. Per Hamm, the perpetually overheating Corolla required him to turn on the car's heater — which, FYI, acts as a supplemental radiator — and coast downhill whenever possible. Eventually, the City of Los Angeles relieved Jon of the Corolla by impounding it for accumulating too many unpaid parking tickets, which the actor admits that he didn't take seriously.
Now without a car, Jon took to public transportation to attend auditions, covering the last bit of distance from the nearest bus stop on inline roller skates — not exactly a great look for an aspirational actor. Finally, a friend of Hamm's gifted him a 1981 Volkswagen Rabbit, a car that Hamm says was actually worse than the venerable Corolla. Apparently, the Rabbit's convertible top was stuck permanently down and the fuel gauge was busted, but at least it beat rollerblades.
Ahem, back to the Corolla for a moment. Note that in 1986, Toyota was selling two very different cars under the nameplate Corolla in the U.S. market. One was a sporty rear-wheel drive hatchback (featured above) while the other was a typical econobox compact sedan. It's not entirely clear which one Hamm was cruising around Los Angeles with, but given the actor's then-dire financial straits, we're guessing the latter. If you're reading this, Jon, drop us an email. Inquiring minds want to know.
[Featured image by IFCAR via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled | Public domain]