George Foreman’s car collection packs a punch (2024)

A two-time world heavyweight champion and the man behind the George Foreman grill, “Big George” turns 72 today and the chances are he’s celebrating with the purchase of yet another Corvette. The entrepreneurial boxer has owned dozens of them, and many other Chevrolets besides, but his first love was a convertible Volkswagen Beetle.

After a troubled childhood, the Texan took up amateur boxing at 18 and won gold at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City. The following year, aged 20, he turned pro and took his first heavyweight title in 1973 in Jamaica with a stunning second-round knockout of the then-undefeated Joe Frazier. Rolls-Royces and heavily customised American luxury cars followed. He defended the belt twice before suffering his first professional loss, to Muhammed Ali, in the iconic Rumble In The Jungle in Zaire in 1974. Foreman retired a few years later after a religious epiphany and became an ordained Christian minister before making a successful comeback to the ring, becoming the oldest world heavyweight champion in history (46 years and 169 days old).

An amiable and inspirational figure, Foreman became the hired face for many products, from mufflers to Disneyland, but his main money spinner has been the George Foreman Grill, a fat-reducing cooker which was introduced in 1994 and has sold more than 100 million units. The grill has contributed the lion’s share to the sportsman’s £250 million wealth.

He’s been married five times and has 12 children, five of whom are boys and are all called George Foreman. He describes his car collection, housed in Huffman, Texas, as one of his greatest joys and reckons he owns more than 50 machines, but isn’t exactly sure. “I really don’t know [how many cars I own], because I’ve taken to hiding them from my wife,” he says.

Stutz Blackhawk (1971)

In 1971, this was America’s most expensive automobile. Back then, you could buy a Corvette in the US for £4,000. A Ferrari Daytona, the world’s fastest production car, was £11,000. The Stutz Blackhawk was £20,000, which is £285,000 in today’s money. Its exclusive customers included Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr, Dean Martin, Johnny Cash, Elvis (whose last photograph was taken while he was driving the car), Evel Knievel, Elton John, Liberace, the Shah of Iran and Mr GE Foreman of Houston, Texas. What’s amazing, given the price, is that under the glitz it’s actually a Pontiac Grand Prix, including its burly 455-cubic-inch V8. It was styled by a self-confessed weirdo called Virgil Exner, who’d been responsible for inventing jet-inspired tail fins at Chrysler, and was coachbuilt by Carrozzeria Padane in Italy almost seamlessly and with minimal panel gaps. The job took 1,500 man hours. The door handles, seats and gauges are from a Maserati Indy, the rear glass from a Ferrari, the switches are 24-carat gold, the radio was developed by Lear (as in LearJet) and the boot is lined with mink. RM Sotheby’s sold one in 2019 for £40,000, which seems an incredible bargain. But the tyres are completely custom and it’ll cost around £12,000 to remake a set, so bear that in mind.

Chevrolet Bel Air (1954)

The Chevrolet Bel Air is the quintessential 1950s American cabriolet. Foreman has a real thing for Chevys and has a number of cars from this era, as well as the brand’s sporty Corvettes. George has an interesting philosophy on the subject. “If you’re going to get a car, get a Rolls-Royce once and then you’ll appreciate how important a Chevrolet is.”

Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow (1974)

… So that’s what the slugger did. In 1974, as the reigning world heavyweight champion, Foreman bought a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow. Between 1965 and 1980, the English manufacturer built 30,057 “Shads”, making it the most mass-produced car in the company’s 177-year history. Used values are starting to go up now after spending decades in the doldrums. Many, though, were poorly maintained and, as the adage goes, the most expensive Rolls-Royce is a cheap Rolls-Royce. Foreman also owns a Silver Cloud, which has held on to its value much better.

VW Beetle Convertible(1977)

“If you take every car I’ve had, that’s the one car I wouldn’t sell,” says the big man of his beloved Bug. “It’s the only car I ever really wanted. When I was 16 and in the Job Corps [state-administered vocational training for young people] I always had to walk everywhere, and I said to myself, ‘One day, I’m going to afford a Volkswagen.’ With my car collection, all the other cars are just dressing around this one. It’s not the most expensive, but it’s cherished by me because you never forget where you come from.”

Ferrari Testarossa (1987)

Foreman had been away from the ring for ten years when, in 1987, he announced his comeback at the age of 38. In his autobiography, he writes that his primary motivation was to raise money to build a youth centre. Another stated ambition was to fight Mike Tyson. Either way, he swapped his holy robes (having served as a reverend in the Church Of The Lord Jesus Christ) for a more fashionable 1980s ensemble of (we’re picturing) rolled-up suit sleeves and a white Testarossa exactly like the one Don Johnson drove in Miami Vice, which was on telly at the time. George has owned several other Ferraris too, including a 360 Spider, a 458 Italia and, most impressively, an F40.

Callaway Corvette C4 Convertible (1988)

George owns several Corvettes, including a 1963 C2 Stingray and the blue and white 1996 Grand Sport special edition, which marked the end of C4 production. Perhaps the most interesting his rare Callaway-tuned C4 convertible from 1988. The Connecticut fiddler developed a twin-turbo kit, boosting the Chevy’s modest 240bhp to a more respectable 382bhp, and tweaked the styling to make it even more brash-looking than normal. The fuel economy was predictably awful, but it carried a blue-collar punch. Foreman could relate to the Callaway, having a mighty right hook but also a reputation in the ring for a somewhat crude fight technique and a lack of stamina.

Acura NSX (1991)

Much better handling than the Callaway is the NSX, badged an Acura in the States and Honda everywhere else. NSX is an acronym for “New Sports eXperimental”. It introduced VTEC technology and had its driving characteristics fettled by, among others, F1 god Ayrton Senna. Packing a mid-mounted 3.0 V6, it was the world’s first all-aluminium production car and, thanks to its comfort and reliability, was a supercar that could be used every day. Gordon Murray hailed it as a “monumental” piece of design and says it partly inspired his McLaren F1 in its chassis dynamics and usability.

Dodge Viper RT/10 Roadster (1993)

After a decade or so of rather ugly, soft, slow and soulless cars, the executives at Chrysler decided to raise their game considerably and built an 8.0 V10-engined brute that had been at the steroids. A Shelby Cobra for the 1990s, the Viper was ferociously powerful, loud, crass and gave you first-degree burns to the ankle when you tried to get out. It was spartan in the extreme; it didn’t have windows, any kind of roof covering or door handles. It was fiendishly difficult to drive, lacking traction control and even ABS. Basically, it required the sort of bravery it took to get in a ring with Muhammed Ali. Foreman isn’t the only fan; one of our overriding memories of Old Top Gear, in the early 1990s, is Jeremy Clarkson falling in love with this Motown marvel. He described it as “like riding an atom bomb. Against this, the [Lamborghini] Diablo is like Winnie the Pooh.”

Lamborghini Diablo VT (1997)

... And speaking of which: Big George celebrated his second retirement from sport with a car that befits his huge physical strength. In an eliminator fight in 1997, which should have seen him face WBC champion Lennox Lewis, Foreman fought 26-year-old Shannon Briggs (who, despite the name, isn’t a girl) and pummelled his younger opponent for 12 rounds. Almost everyone ringside judged the win to be the 48-year-old’s, but the points decision went in Briggs’ favour. Foreman called it quits for a final time and focused on TV punditry, business and clearing space in his garage for the £150,000 V10-engined Lambo.

Plymouth Prowler (1999)

Having made up to £3.5m a month from sales of his lean, mean grilling machine, the ex-boxer sold the rights to the George Forman Grill to Russell Hobbs in 1999 for a whopping $138m. He toasted the deal with an all-American purchase, the retro-styled Plymouth Prowler. The car is remarkably unchanged from Chrysler’s original 1993 hot-rod concept, and Foreman’s more so than most. He (and Carmen Electra) had designer Chip Foose take off the bumpers and all the plastic bits, shave the side skirts and chrome the open front suspension to enhance one of the coolest-looking cars in the world.

Ford GT (2005)

Detroit muscle reached its zenith with the Ford GT, which was built in 2005 as a nod to the iconic Le Mans-winning, Ferrari-slaughtering GT40. Powered by a 5.4 supercharged V8 producing 550bhp, it hit 0-62mph in 3.8 seconds and a top speed of 205. It was also more spacious than its 1960s inspiration and, crucially, three inches taller. Jeremy Clarkson also loved this car when he tested it (“handles like a Lotus, shocks like a Lambo, goes harder and faster than a Ferrari and is priced like a Ford”), but less so when he tried owning one and it went wrong every single day.

GMC Series 100 Pick-Up Truck (1950)

This vintage pick-up, and George’s contemporary Chevrolet Silverado, are the cars that get the most usage in the Foreman household, largely due to George and wife Mary’s eleven German shepherds. In 2019, a golf cart caught fire at the back of the building where George’s cars are kept, but fortunately, despite some smoke and water damage, all the automobiles were saved. The dogs raised the alarm by barking incessantly, alerting George to call the fire brigade in the nick of time before the car collection was down for the count.

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