Celebrity Auto Reviews
by: Jim Prueter - AAA Arizona
Award-winning British actress Jane Seymour got her biggest break and made a splash as Bond girl Solitaire in the 1973 James Bond film “Live and Let Die.”
She is perhaps best known for role as frontier doctor in the hit television series “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman,” for which she won a Golden Globe. She won an Emmy for her portrayal of Marie Callas in the TV miniseries “Onassis” and another for role as Cathy Ames in the TV miniseries “East of Eden.” Most recently, she took a comedic turn as the wife of Christopher Walken’s U.S. Treasury Secretary in the 2005 hit “Wedding Crashers.” In 2007, she appeared on ABC’s hit series “Dancing with the Stars.”
In addition to her acting career, she is an accomplished artist, dedicated mother of six, committed philanthropist, and recipient of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation’s 2008 Philanthropy Award.
Seymour is also the official spokesperson for Camp Soaring Eagle in Sedona, scheduled to open in June. The camp — for children in the Southwest living with fatal or life-threatening diseases — is part of Paul Newman’s Association of Hole in the Wall Camps, which have hosted more than 100,000 seriously ill children from across the globe.
I recently spoke to her about her first car.
“I grew up in England where my father was a doctor. My first car was a 1947 English Ford that was absolutely one of the most difficult vehicles ever to drive. It was a manual shift with three gears, each and every requiring
a double shift.
“The car was given to me by one of my father’s patients because it was too difficult for him to drive. He gave me driving lessons in a local car park.
“I recall taking the written and road test for my driver’s license, which is at least ten times harder than it is here in the U.S. In fact, if you fail, you must wait a full year to take it again.
“The road test is 40 minutes long, but after about 20 minutes the instructor said he couldn’t believe I could drive that Ford, especially the way it shifted, and said he couldn’t do what I was doing. He said to quit, that if I could drive that, I could drive anything.
“Later, my father sold the Ford and got a used Humber Super Snipe that I drove. He never did own a new car.
I recall that he owned an English Rover, but borrowed my Humber for a black-tie event because the Rover
wasn’t reliable. My Humber eventually rusted out and died — but I still have the license plate.
“When I was going to school my father bought me a new VW Beetle because he said it had the best resale of any vehicle. It was marine blue, not the color I wanted, but one my father said would be easiest to sell.
“When I came to America for my acting career, I had no money so I drove cars from Rent-a-Wreck in Hollywood.
I rented and drove a classic Mustang. People always stopped me to inquire about the Mustang, thinking it was mine. One time I went to the Hollywood Hotel to pick up one of the biggest producers in the business, who thought it was one of the classiest things he had seen.
“Later I bought a Ford Pinto, then a Chevy Blazer. But my most special and favorite car was a beautiful 1976 Bentley that I bought from Goldie Hawn. I was with her when she bought it new and always admired it.
For the last few years I have been driving a Mercedes-Benz S-Class and get a new one every two years.
My next car will be a hybrid, but I’m not sure which one.”
— Jim Prueter
