Comedian Jerry Seinfeld proclaims himself a ‘Porschephile’

Jerry Seinfeld loves Porches. No, actually, he adores them. He craves them. He aches and yearns for all 46 or so of them he owns.

Seinfeld, the popular comedian and former star of his longtime, self-titled TV sitcom, even has a word for the disease.

"Porschephile," he once said in an interview with Automobile magazine.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

The fact is, Seinfeld is only supporting an addiction every car lover would love to be able to afford. And it's a serious fixation.

In his private collection, Seinfeld owns a $700,000 Porsche 959, one of only 300 or so ever built, as well as a 1959 16-cylinder GT speedster, a 911S from the 1971 movie "Le Mans" and one of 40 1955 Spyder 550s, the same model and pearl-gray color actor James Dean was driving when he crashed and died in 1955. And then there's the 10 Boxsters that are reportedly all painted different colors.

"Cool is what sells sports cars," Seinfeld wrote once in Automobile, trying to explain the Porsche mystique. "Why is this company so cool? Can you name another company in the history of companies that could get a positive PR spin off (James Dean's death)?"

He has a point and he's not afraid to show it.

When Seinfeld married wife Jessica in 1999, he gave her a $40,000 1958 Porsche 1600 Speedster as a wedding gift.

But the trail of money doesn't end there.

Seinfeld spent five years and almost $1.4 million turning an abandoned New York City plumbing and heating warehouse into his own private garage.

It could hold up to 20 vehicles on white floors covered in Italian tile. The "garage" was also designed to include a playroom with a big-screen TV and a pool table as well as stainless steel appliances.

Walk down 83rd Street on Manhattan's Upper West Side and you could practically miss the building.

But, then, that's the point.

Seinfeld is an intensely private guy who doesn't make his passion public too often.

He has been obsessed with German cars for years. As a struggling comic, his first car was a 1977 Volkswagen Beetle, a vehicle that has been on display at a car museum in South Deerfield, Mass.

But it has been all Porsche ever since.

In his production office at NBC, Seinfeld kept several miniature Porsches on display and would obsessively document the maintenance record of all of his vehicles on a wall chart. Next to the chart was a framed "Le Mans" movie poster with actor Steve McQueen in the 911S, one Seinfeld's favorite vehicles.

Seinfeld has occasionally written columns for different automotive publications and even took up an offer from Automobile magazine to drive a $450,000, 604-horsepower Porsche Carrera GT on a press trip in Germany.

"It was the most incredible thing that has ever happened to me in my life except for my family," he told Automobile. "It was amazing. It was unbelievable."

It was a trip he just had to make.

One of his biggest disappointments, however, is not being allowed to drive his ultraexpensive 959, a model that is not certified for legal use in the United States. The 959 has never been tested by the U.S. government to determine emissions and crash-test standards because Porsche refused to deliver four vehicles for destruction tests. Therefore, Seinfeld had to import the vehicle under an "exhibition-only" clause.

Still, Seinfeld finds a way to love what he drives.

He occasionally gets away from New York by ringing out one of the Porsches on Connecticut's back roads.

But he occasionally causes a stir as well.

Once, Seinfeld brought traffic to a halt at a Park Avenue dealership where he bought a Mercedes E-60. The police had to call in extra officers to settle the crowds down as Seinfeld rolled away in the $138,000 car.

It's a safe bet another Porsche won't be far behind.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, either.

Jason Stein is a feature writer with Wheelbase Communications. He can be reached on the Web at www.wheelbase.ws/mailbag.html. Wheelbase Communications supplies automotive news and features to newspapers across North America.