Jay Leno Garage

The 2023 C8 Corvette Z06, has to be one of the most important and highly anticipated cars to hit the road this year. With its high-revving mid-mounted V-8 engine, the new Z06 can give any European exotic, a run for its money. You had lead development engineer Aaron Link from General Motors join Jay Leno to give him a quick tour of the new car.

If you already haven’t already heard about the headline figures on the new car, you can find the performance figures of the C8 Z06 here. I’ll instead mainly touch upon some aspects of the C8 that the pair talk about.

It’s hard to imagine that the Porsche Boxster is already 25 years old this year. On his show, Jay Leno’s Garage, the talk show presenter and host takes a look at the new limited edition version of the Boxster.

In the video, Jay states that he was present at the 1993 Detroit Auto Show when the Boxster concept was originally presented to the public. He went on to add that he had never driven one before filming this edition of his popular show.

Do you have any idea why? Jay claims that when he inquired at the Porsche booth if he could see the engine, he was told that he couldn’t since the car was mid-engined. As a result, Leno has been unconcerned about the Boxster line since. Until now that is. 

There are cars out there that beg to be used as platforms. If you’ve watched Jay Leno’s Garage on YouTube, you’ll know he has plenty of weird and cool stuff that he likes to showcase in detail. This time, he’s showing us a 1967 Citroen 2CV, but not just any 2CV. This one has a custom fiberglass body and it’s a convertible.

When we talk about well-styled classic British sports cars, the first one to come to mind is usually the Jaguar E-Type. Then there are the lightweight cars like the MGB, Triumph Spitfire, and Austin Healey. The Marcos GT is one of those “other” cars that are slightly more obscure and not quite as well-known to most. Luckily, Jay Leno once again does a great job at introducing us to what he believes is “the most unusual and prettiest sports car of all time”, and he’s not alone.

Jay Leno’s Garage is a great place to learn about all kinds of cars. There’s a good reason for the 3 plus million subscribers to the YouTube channel. In the video, Jay Leno talks about one of his personal cars – a 1999 Chevrolet Corvette C5. Although there are three more generations after it, the car was the pinnacle of sports car technology at the time, especially for its price.

When you think about Hybrid cars, you probably think about the Toyota Prius, the Hyundai Ioniq, or maybe even the Acura MDX Sport Hybrid, depending on your taste. Some might even credit the Toyota Prius for jumpstarting the hybrid movement, and I guess it kind of did, but the truth is that it wasn’t anywhere near being the first hybrid and once you learn about this 1916 Owen Magnetic Hybrid, you’re going to realize that we really haven’t come all that far in the last 100 years.

The Chevrolet Corvair Corsa was like a hipster car in the mid-1960s as far as what American car culture entailed. Thanks to an air-cooled, flat-six engine mounted in the rear, connected to a manual gearbox that helped spun the rear wheels, the Corvair cranked out 80 horsepower. The Corvair Corsa was blessed with turbocharging, so the output went up to 180 horsepower, a trait that Jay Leno describes as “impressive” during acceleration.

Jay Leno saved a 1963 Chevrolet Corvette restomod from getting hit by a wayward Lexus IS300 that musician Rick Springfield forgot to put in park.

The 70-year-old comedian and the 1980s rockstar were filming an episode of Leno’s CNBC series Jay Leno’s Garage when the mishap happened. The scene could’ve ended a lot worse for the two celebrities and their precious rides, but thanks to Leno’s quick reaction, disaster was definitely averted.

The Bentley 8 Liter came to life during uncertain times. One year before its debut, the Wall Street Crash of 1929 hit and come 1930, its effects were still rippling through the world economy. That’s why Bentley assembled just 100 units of the 8 Liter in a two-year span, between 1930 and 1932.

We’ve seen Jay Leno’s YouTube channel feature all sorts of vehicles of various shapes and sizes over the years. Somehow, we’re used to the man getting to drive every wheeled machine out there that’s destined for civilian use. That’s why seeing Leno next to a Ferret armored car just made our interest pique.

When it comes to pony cars from the muscle car era, no vehicle from GM is more iconic than the Chevrolet Camaro. Introduced in 1966 as a rival for the popular Ford Mustang, the Camaro was joined in 1967 by the Firebird, Pontiac’s take on GM’s pony. Even though it had a solid following, it wasn’t as popular as the Camaro.

But that changed in 1977 when a Trans Am version of the Firebird was featured in the "Smokey and the Bandit" film. Sales nearly doubled and surpassed 100,000 units a year in 1979, enabling the Firebird to outsell the Camaro for the very first time. Although it wasn’t as powerful as its predecessor from the 1960s, the late 1970s Trans Am is a pretty cool car. Cool enough to make a stop by Jay Leno’s garage.

Porsche’s most common sports cars are powered by flat-six engines, but the German company has made a few exceptions from this rule. The most iconic example is the Carrera GT, a supercar produced from 2003 to 2007. While some of Porsche’s modern vehicles are powered by V-6 and V-8 engines, the Stuttgart-based brand opted to drop a V-10 into the Carrera GT. And this is one of the main reasons why Jay Leno bought one. And he just showcased it in a new episode of Jay Leno’s Garage.

Introduced back in 1992, the Dodge Viper remained on the market until 2017, with short breaks from 2006 to 2008 and 2010 to 2013. One of the coolest U.S.-built sports cars, the Viper was discontinued for good in 2017 due to poor sales but mostly because it was unable to comply with new safety regulations. But while the car is dead, the legend lives on and the Viper still enjoys a cult following.

Jay Leno is a big fan of the V-10-powered Dodge and owns not one, but two early Vipers. And he just showcased his 1996 Viper GTS, one of the first coupes built.

One of the most iconic luxury car brands that no longer exist, Packard was established in 1899 and disappeared in 1959, five years after it purchased the failing Studebaker Corporation. Packard rolled out its final Detroit-built cars in 1956, and the Caribbean was one of them. A 1955-model-year version was recently featured by Jay Leno’s Garage, and it’s a great reminder of how cool the Caribbean is. Not to mention how it doesn’t get the recognition it deserves nowadays.

The Chrysler Airflow was supposed to be Chrysler’s forward-thinking hit that would re-write the book on automotive styling and, in the process, teach people that an aerodynamic car is the way to go. Only it didn’t. All that the Airflow did do was to buck the trend and almost tanked Chrysler. With its steel body and fountain-esque grille, it shocked customers rather than appeal to them but now, 86 years since its release, it’s universally accepted that the Airflow is among the very first mass-produced aerodynamic cars in the world.

There are a couple of companies offering jaw-dropping restomodded vintage Broncos (not on the cheap, though) but nothing beats a Shelby GT500 powered 1968 Ford Bronco unicorn like the one that found a new home inside Jay Leno’s car collection.

Named after the company’s founder, the Ferrari Enzo was produced in only 399 units and it’s one of the most desirable modern supercars. Currently valued at more than $2 million on the auction market, the Enzo isn’t the type of car most of us can afford.

But while we’re happy with just seeing it at car event or in YouTube videos, some guy took matter in his own hands and built an Enzo from a Pontiac Fiero. As you might have already guessed, the result is horrendous. But there’s a twist to the story and Jay Leno reveals it in his latest video.

The Tesla Model Y is a pretty good vehicle and slots in perfectly between the Model 3 and the Model X, although it is much closer to the Model 3. Some folks even call it the crossover version of the Model 3, given the amount of part sharing between the two. The Model Y has had positive reviews generally, but it has a few flaws, just like any other vehicle. However, Jay Leno didn’t have anything bad to say about the electric crossover. It looks like the Model Y has impressed the man who generally dislikes crossovers.

The Chevrolet Corvair is mostly known as a rear-engined compact car that GM built from 1959 to 1969. It was a somewhat innovative car for the era and even though it had handling issues that sparked more than 100 lawsuits, it’s now a prized collectible. But Chevrolet also used the Corvair name for a line of vans and trucks it produced from 1961 to 1965. The Rampside truck just stopped by Jay Leno’s Garage and the TV celebrity explains why it’s an important piece of American history.

The trend that had non-car manufacturers taking a stab at building a car is not a modern affair. Way before Apple was reportedly working on Project Titan or vacuum maker Dyson laid out plans to build an all-electric hypercar or Sony unveiled the Vision-S concept, Briggs and Stratton, a company known for its lawnmower engines and washing machines had a stab at building a car that used both electricity and internal combustion power to get around.

It was called the Hybrid prototype and came as an answer to the 1970s gas crisis as well as an attempt to move away from fossil fuels – at least partially. Oh, and it also sat on six wheels and had a full-fiberglass body.

After being out of the limelight for some time now, the Tesla Cybertruck is back in the news. The Cybertruck was spotted with two big shots of the automotive industry seated behind the bulletproof glasses.

Riding shotgun was Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, and behind the wheel was the face of none other than Jay Leno. A short video showing them cruising in the Cybertruck was uploaded on Instagram. The drive is for a segment of Jay Leno’s Garage. Imagine sitting in the Cybertruck and listening to these two talk!