JAMES Martin may be a household name for his cooking skills but the chef also owns an impressive car collection worth a cool £5million.
The chef, 51, has become a TV personality thanks to shows like Saturday Kitchen for the BBC and ITV’s Saturday Morning.
He’s also a huge petrolhead and has built up quite a collection over the years from a classic Ferrari to a legendary Colin McRae rally car.
The motors are kept in a special garage at his Hampshire home.
James is thought to have been bitten with the car bug when he got a toy Ferrari 288 GTO as a youngster.
One of the stars in his collection is a rare Mini Cooper which was previously driven by British world rally star Paddy Hopkirk and Rauno Aaltonen.
It was also previously owned by TV presenter Raymond Baxter before James bought it 15 years ago at a car auction.
James believes the model is one of the first Minis to be fitted with hydro-elastic suspension and the only Mini to have all three variants of the engine.
The chef previously spoken about the purchase, saying: “I was at the Goodwood auction and this car came up for auction and no one wanted it. The bidding sort of stalled, I flicked over the magazine looking at it and I ended up buying it.”
Another eye-catching car in his possession is a silver and black Ferrari 275 GTS from 1965.
James admits to still getting behind the wheel to take it for a spin, describing the classic supercar as “absolutely incredible”.
The car has also undergone a lot of restoration work, including the installation of a new roll-off engine.
James has owned the Shelby GT500 for nearly 20 years, having bought it from Florida.
He bought the stunning motor badly damaged after it collided with a wall back in its racing days.
James though managed to find an expert to restore it to its former glory.
The restoration too, 18 months to complete, with the bonnet alone taking one guy 400 hours to build.
James is also a big fan of motor racing and also owns a number of top models as part of his collection.
One of the jewels is a beautiful Ford GT40 which he partnered alongside three-time British Touring Car champion Jason Plato.
It won the Whitsun Trophy at Goodwood Revival and taken part in hill climbs in Switzerland.
James said: “It is an amazing bit of kit. Not until you fire it up and until you drive it there is no other thing on the road like it. None.
“There is nothing like this on the road. Nothing. The dealer went ‘there we go’, and I went ‘done, sold’. I’d never driven it.”
Another in his motor racing collection is a Ford Escort which finished second in the 1969 Acropolis Rally.
The vehicle is in immaculate edition and has the added bonus of being the very first Escort model ever produced by the marque.
James also owns the original race suit and trophy awarded to rally legend Roger Clark more than 50 years ago.
James also owns Prodrive Subaru Impreza models driven by Colin McRae and Petter Solberg.
Both the Impreza’s run on high-octane fuel but are still road legal so can be taken for a spin around Britain’s roads.
James admitted that owning rally cars had become an “obsession” but still thought they were “amazing” machines.
This model was owned by Keith Floyd and when the TV chef died, his family got in touch, saying they wanted to sell it, so James ended up buying it.
The car featured in a couple of Keith’s TV shows but he used it as his “daily runaround” when he was living in France.
This luxury motor in “black and black” dates from 1988 with James saying “[It’s] one of the last of the real hand-built Bentleys, before BMW took it over.
James describes this as “a little bit of a bargain at the moment”.
This model dates from 1982 and had previously had just one owner.
The TV chef said: “[It’s] never been touched and is in absolutely mint condition.”
James “absolutely loves” driving around in this pickup truck even if his mates take the mickey.
He said: “All my mates take the p**s: ‘So you’ve got all these cars, but you drive around in a pick-up truck?’”
Another vehicle he drives a lot is this BMW 760Li which singer Jay Kay told him to buy.
James said: “A lot of people buy RSA Audis and stuff like that, but the 760Li is absolutely mega – V12, 700 horsepower… Mega.”
If that wasn’t enough he also says he has two variants of a Ferrari Daytona dating from 1972 “one plexi, one non-plexi.”
His first classic car was a Mercedes-Benz SL 1955 Gullwing, buying it at a car show in Essen, Germany, having driven all the way there in his VW Golf.
He told SL.Man in 2023: “There were two Gullwings for sale on a Mercedes-Benz stand as soon as I walked in at 9am.
“One of them had already sold five minutes earlier. I spoke to the guy and shook his hand – everything was done on a handshake – and he said he’d say it’s sold. I loved the look of it and thought it was a beautiful thing.”
Sadly though he no longer owns it, having sold it to Mercedes-Benz.
He said: “I sold it to them as they came searching for it. They called me, I told them it wasn’t for sale, but then they made me an offer I couldn’t refuse, so I sold it.
“I’m a classic Yorkshireman. I still go and see it sometimes, and I’m still allowed to drive it.”
James also owns an Alfa Romeo ATL which is currently being restored.
