Jerry Garcia's cars (and other Dead cars, too)

From the article above:

Jerry Garcia at the wheel of his 1972 (or '73) Volvo P1800ES (photo probably by Annie Liebovitz, from Rolling Stone)

from another website:

1973 BMW 3.0 CS formerly owned by Jerry Garcia, photographed in 2013.

http://www.classiccarstodayonline.com/article-guide-by-pictures/1973-bmw...

David Nelson, Spencer Dryden, Alton Kelly, Davis Torbert, Bob Weir, Jerry Garcia, John Dawson  next to Jerry's car?

from dead.net

1956 Chevrolet used by the band. - DONLEY AUCTION SERVICES

https://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2015/04/08/tripping-out-on-grateful-dead...

Both photos with the Citroen were taken the day after the Essen show, 3-29-81 outside the Essen hotel the band was staying at – photos by Harald Hatschgy Jaberg

Grand Prix Racecourse - Watkins Glen | July 28th, 1973 | Photo: Suki Coughlin

I forgot about that. My friend's daughter was drafted to go get Jerry, as she was close by:

**************************************************************

January 19, 1995 - Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia escaped injury when he lost control of a brand-new BMW and smashed into a retaining wall on U.S. 101 in Marin County, but the car didn't fare so well.

Garcia, of San Rafael, was northbound on the freeway between Mill Valley and Corte Madera about 1 p.m. Wednesday when he lost control of the gold-colored BMW 525i he had borrowed from the Sonnen BMW dealership in Mill Valley. His own car was in the shop for repairs.

The loaner, valued at $32,000 to $34,000, was "a cherry," Highway Patrol officer Jerry Monge said.

The car bounced off the guardrail on the right side of the roadway several times, spun around and came to a stop facing oncoming traffic. CHP officers said the front of the car sustained heavy damage.

The 52-year-old Garcia was unable to explain how he lost control.

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Jerry-Garcia-OK-after-Marin-freeway-...

Love letter from Jerry to Mountain Girl 1980s that mentions his driving:

"...Then drive to Columbus! Me at the wheel, Bill, Jonathan, Jackson my cowering passengers. ''Look out for that truck!''

I only want to get to the phone (you) a tenuous thread now extremely important to me, a brief moment that links us together across the millenia (hoo whee), you tickle me with your sweet talk. . . .I love you on every level EVERY WAY!! Always, your Devoted ugly jer."

https://www.nytimes.com/1997/02/02/weekinreview/it-is-money-battles-like...

A JERRY GARCIA OWNED HARLEY DAVIDSON

According to Rock Scully: "Some time late in 1982 or early '83 I heard a rumor that a devoted fan of the Jerry Garcia Band had approached Jerry about wanting to gift him a brand new Harley Davidson.

I don't think he took the guy seriously because Jerry could only say '... far out and thanks, man!' Jerry, you see had only recently been sighted riding all over San Rafael on an Italian motor scooter. The Independent Journal, Marin County's daily paper, gave this story a lot of ink. The story caught the eye of our insurance agent who called our office to warn us about the dangers of riding on two wheels and how very much more this was going to cost. The story also caused many more people to be on the look out for Garcia on two wheels. Jerry at this point felt like he had a target on his back.

As it turned out the guy who had promised the bike wasn't kidding. Ram Rod called Jerry and told him to come over to Club Front for a big surprise. When Jerry got there he was amazed to find a brand new, pristine, and black 1983 Harley Davidson Soft Tail. Garcia didn't know how to do any more than be his gracious self in accepting this gift. He rode it around Front Street but was not willing to ride it down town. This bike was well cared for and well maintained and eventually the Dead's piano player, Brent Mydland, got the title on it. Unfortunately Brent's driving privileges had been suspended and he was unable to ride it. The bike, however, did enjoy co-star billing on the cover of David Gans' book, Playin' In The Band."

https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/20158/lot/3072/

Looks like Merl borrowed Jerry's Bentley for this photo shoot at Palace of Fine Arts

backstage in someone's van?

I think you could be right--dressed for SF weather

From auction page:

The newly discovered Grateful Dead's first band truck was originally purchased by Owsley Stanley in 1965 and used until 1970 for moving the Grateful Dead's sound equipment. Discovered several years ago resting in a storage shed in Berkeley by design historian Steve Cabella, it was found in it's present state and represents a true frozen moment in time, a time capsule if you will...Still in its original condition from its time with the Dead, parts of the original crazy color style has been lightly misted over in primer at some point in its history, possibly to make it less Pop looking, and thus preserving the original red Owsley paint and the psychedelic motif. Known as the Father of LSD, Owsley was the Dead's first band manager and their original sound-man. It was Owsley who first developed, along with the drug LSD, the infamous Wall-of-Sound audio equipment for the Dead.

This 1949 red Studebaker truck became the first of the Grateful Dead's early "Caravan of Six" band vehicles, which included the Dead's original Sweet Magnolia Tour Bus. Along with published information in the November is of Rolling Stone magazine from November 25, 1982, Owsley himself has stated that his red one-ton truck was known in the Bay Area and in Dead circles as the "Dred" or the "Dredded Dormammu" � it was named by Owsley after a Marvel Comic book character. He has said in personal emails that he named and owned the Dred and it was used by him as manager to help move their audio gear to local gigs as well as to L.A. in 1966 for the Dead's first L.A. recording dates. Fondly recalled by others who were part of the Summer of Love scene, it comes with the ownership traced from Owsley in '65 until today. Please email with any inquiries. And for fundraising or publicity purposes It also comes with the REGISTERED DOMAIN NAME: www. gratefuldeadtruck.com

Surf - here's a better article about truck from owner:

https://www.hemmings.com/blog/index.php/2012/05/02/a-long-strange-trip-g...

 Excerpt - Cabella, who often represents elderly artists or recently passed ones whose works were contemporary 50 or 60 years ago, said he came across the truck the old-fashioned way: It found him. “I got a phone call one day about helping an artist settle an estate,” he said. “In the yard was this truck that they had just pulled out of the barn behind the building. I noticed it was psychedelically painted. That’s why I was interested in it and I’m a Studebaker fan. I have owned several Avantis, including driving one with 300,000 miles on it. That’s what a fan I am.

“After I purchased it, the lady hands me a note from Owsley Stanley, saying that basically this was his truck that he used for the Grateful Dead. I didn’t know that two minutes earlier, so that was a surprise. At that point, it became a cultural, sort of historical vehicle for me. And I realize there is some responsibility in finding the appropriate home for it now.”

CELEBRITY DRIVE: LEGENDARY GRATEFUL DEAD FRONT-MAN BOB WEIR JAMS IN A HYBRID LEXUS, BUT SAVES THE LOVE FOR HIS FOR HIS 1963 STINGRAY

Quick Stats: Bob Weir, founding member of the Grateful Dead
Daily Driver: 2007 Lexus GS 450h (Bob's rating: 8 on a scale of 1 to 10)
Other car: 1963 Corvette Stingray roadster (rating: wants to be buried in it)
Favorite road trip: San Francisco streets with Beat legend Neal Cassady
Car he learned to drive in: A tractor
First new car bought: 1969 BMW 2002

Excerpt - Bob Weir may be the folksy vegetarian-Birkenstock-wearing founding member of the Grateful Dead, but he is all about new technology when it comes to transportation choices.

It seems a paradox for someone who is indelibly part of the ultimate jam band that helped define the Hippie movement. But it makes sense for Weir, whose concern for the environment has made him go hybrid with a 2007 Lexus GS 450h.....

963 STINGRAY

Weir bought his resplendent Stingray during his Grateful Dead days, paying $3500 for it at an auction in 1976. "I saw one with one headlight, punched out in several shades of primer gray, and I decided I needed a sturdy, dependable American-built second car. I started looking and I found this one. Then I had the engine and running gear balanced and blueprinted. It's fuel-injected, a rocket-powered slingshot."

https://www.motortrend.com/news/grateful-dead-bob-weir-celebrity-drive/

A bisexual Porsche: The Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir gets down in the new Carrera 2 with a Tiptronic Dual Function transmission

Excerpt - The car we lent to Grateful Dead guitarist and singer Bob Weir was a bright-red 911 Carrera 2 Tiptronic. Weir owns a BMW 535i sedan, and he was drawn to the flashy little Porsche, which offered him a very different driving experience. “I had some dangerous fun in this car,” he reported. “The ballyhoo about its handling is probably well deserved. It’s a demanding automobile.” We were motoring along a road of threaded switchbacks up to Weir’s house, which juts out from the wooded mountainside near Mill Valley, a formerly bohemian and now affluent enclave outside of San Francisco where he has lived for twenty years. The road became steeper and steeper, and Weir, whose BMW is a stick, was still feeling a little uncomfortable with the Tiptronic. “Anyplace where there’s traffic congestion, this transmission makes sense, but it’s not like a manual transmission. It doesn’t shift when you want to shift, it shifts when it wants to shift. And it can take a moment or two-see?” 

Weir pulled up to his mailbox on the roadside. “You want to drive this car very smoothly. If you do that, and just sort of caress it through the corners and other maneuvers, it responds beautifully. It rides like a buckboard, however, as you see.” The pavement of the narrow road was patched and broken in places, and the 911’s suspension, tuned for the autobahn, fought it. “The ride is very, very stiff,” Weir said. “No one who would buy a Porsche would have it any other way. That’s what Porsches are about.”...

Up at the house, Weir showed me his black Corvette convertible. “This is a 1963, the first year for the Sting Ray. The engine and running gear are better than new.” (The body, however, wasn’t restored. Northern California chic, I suppose.) “It’s got the old Rochester fuel injection. I bought it for 3,200 bucks in 1976. It’s the old American fun machine. This car is more fun to drive legally than just about any car on the road. That’s another point about the 911,” he said as the Vette’s hood came down with a thud. “I’m kinda surprised that they don’t have roughly the equivalent of handgun laws, pending legislation, regarding these kinds of cars because basically the 911 is nice in the corners around town, but it doesn’t really do what it does until you’re breaking the law. Past a certain speed in California, and I’m not sure if it’s 85 or 100 m.p.h., it’s a felony.” (Actually a $500 fine and the possibility of losing your license.)...

O.K., so what does Jerry Garcia drive? “He’s got a BMW 750iL,” Weir said, referring to the $72,000 fat eat’s twelve-cylinder executive sedan. “It’s a big rocket ship.” 

https://markginsburgmedia.com/a-bisexual-porsche/

Wildlife protection organization The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation is auctioning Bob Weir’s 2014 Tesla Model S sedan. The guitarist and his Dead & Company band mates autographed the vehicle being sold for charity.

Along with the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, the Oceanic Preservation Society will also benefit from 100% of the proceeds of the auction. The winning bidder will own the car signed by Weir and his Grateful Dead band mates Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart, as well as D&C members John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge and Jeff Chimenti and will receive a Tesla Factory Tour and driving lesson instructed by professional race car driver (and Weir’s sister-in-law) Leilani Münter.

The auction opens on Thursday, August 10 with the starting bid set at $100,000.

https://www.jambase.com/article/bob-weir-auctioning-dead-company-signed-...

Ken Kesey, Jerry, and Ken Babbs

 Bill Graham  (not a car and he's not actually driving, but...)

a classic:

Phil in racecar with Jackie Stewart