By Merryl Lentz
Rock and roll icon Sammy Hagar loves the roar of supercars almost as much as he loves the roar of the crowd. The age-defying 70 year-old vocalist/guitar slinger, veteran of Montrose and Van Halen, and current frontman of Chickenfoot, has a jaw-dropping collection of more than a dozen heavy metal speed machines, and is the proud papa of sextuplets: six Ferraris.
And he does play favorites. He is most passionate about his $1.4 million limited edition Ferrari LaFerrari, purchased in 2015, which strongly resembles the F1. To put this price into perspective, it was little more than pocket change for Hagar, who sold his award-winning Cabo Wabo Tequila Company for $91 million in 2008.
The LaFerrari is the heir apparent to the Enzo and the F50. The carbon fiber car is a savage beast, unleashing a fearsome V12 hybrid engine snarling at 789 HP, augmented by an electric motor crackling with 120 KW, escalating the LaFerrari’s brawn into the stratosphere with a grand total of more than 960 HP. The LaFerrari’s muscle includes formidable acceleration that catapults it from 0 to 62 MPH in less than three seconds, and to 124 MPH in less than seven seconds. The LaFerrari is the fastest supercar that Ferrari has ever produced. Revered as artistic masterpieces, LaFerraris are equivalent to Picassos, according to Marco Mattiacci, Ferrari North America CEO.
Ferrari’s first car equipped with a hybrid powertrain, the LaFerrari was unveiled at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show, leaving competitors McLaren P1 and Lamborghini Veneno in its dust. Three days after the show, 1,000 people scrambled to claim one of the scant exotic vehicles for themselves.
Hagar is part of an elite sphere of 499 LaFerrari owners. This is the number of LaFerraris produced only once every decade. Inclusion in this supercar superclub requires that enthusiasts already own five Ferraris. In desperation, one man spent $750,000 on a Ferrari F12 Berlinetta to raise his stable of Prancing Horses to the requisite five.
Hagar’s credits in the realm of Ferrari ownership, however, are substantial: he began what would turn into a massive Ferrari collection (at one point, he had around 30) in the1970s. His first was a 330 GT 2+2, and he currently owns a 512 BBi, a 400i, a Daytona, a 456 2+2 and a 599 GTB Fiorano.
Each LaFerrari is custom made, with the guidance of a personal designer, enabling Hagar to participate in almost every facet of his baby’s creation, right down to selecting the piping accenting its seats. He didn’t have to leave to chance what the final product would look like — Ferrari has a theater-size screen on which Hagar could see his imaginings take form, and either retain these details, or replace them with something more satisfactory.
His vision materialized into a masterpiece on wheels at the Ferrari Factory in Maranello, Italy, where he mugged for photos with its employees, and met Piero Ferrari, son of the company’s founding father, Enzo Ferrari. Despite his nickname, “The Red Rocker,” Hagar was averse to using the stereotypical flashy Rosso Corsa red Ferrari shade chosen by numerous rock stars. Instead, he selected the unique subtlety of cream for the car’s body, or as he called it, “cappuccino,” with black accents. (The color matches his personal jet.) The interior is sumptuous cream-hued leather with root beer-suffused accents, and houses seats that are custom-fitted to hug his body’s contours. The cockpit was so small that an indentation was constructed for the musician’s head. Hagar’s initials and birth date are even engraved on the steering wheel.
Due to the LaFerrari’s meticulous hand crafting, Hagar had to wait an interminable 10 months for its completion. When it was finally delivered, he had no intention of keeping it hermetically sealed in a subterranean vault — he blasted off down the road. And maybe even broke the sound barrier!
