Diddy’s impressive car collection
Puff Daddy / Diddy / Brother Love / Sean Combs might be a bad boy for life, but his garage is as good as it gets
SEAN COMBS HAS ALMOST
as many nom de plumes as he does professions. The man known variously as Puff Daddy, P Diddy, Brother Love, Puffy and Sean John is a rapper, singer, record producer, actor, and an entrepreneur. He’s also a fully paid up Bad Boy… for life. Luckily for him, it pays well and as we all know, it’s all about the Benjamins. The Didster (he isn’t called that officially, but we thought we’d suggest it) is currently worth an estimated R12 billion and doesn’t mind splashing out on the right ride. Here’s a small selection of his favourites.
chevrolet corvette (1958)
Rumour has it that of all Diddy’s whips, the one he holds in highest esteem is his ’50s Corvette. Launched in late 1953, this was designed to give American ex-servicemen an alternative to the two-seater Jaguars, Alfa Romeos and Austin Healeys they were bringing back from post-wwii Europe. Puffy’s is a 1958 little red Corvette and came with a dual-quad V8 underneath that Harley-earl-styled fibreglass bodywork.
Ferrari 360 modena spider (2002)
The 360 was Ferrari’s follow up to the legendary F355 and was the car that ushered the Italian marque into the 21st century. It was Ferrari’s 20th road-going convertible and its V8, 3.6-litre engine was capable of 290km/h. Diddy liked his so much that he made sure one appeared in the video of his single “I Need A Girl (Part 2)”.
Ferrari F430 spider (2006)
There was no “I Need A Girl (Part 3)”, but there was a follow up to the 360 Spider: the F430 Spider. Again designed by Pininfarina, the F430 featured an aerodynamic all-aluminium body and chassis and took as inspiration the Ferrari 156 that Phil
Hill drove to his first F1 World Championship in 1961. (It also came with an F1-inspired paddleshift gearbox.) Diddy bought his following the release of his first album in four years, Press Play.
(Safe to say the F430 was more well-received.) lamborghini gallardo spyder (2008)
Another Italian supercar, another convertible, and another spelling of Spyder, the Lamborghini Gallardo has been the car company’s best selling model and is arguably the most civilised. The best story about Diddy’s Gallardo: he was rumoured to have given it to Justin Bieber when he turned 16. Usher was also said to have given Bieber a Range Rover. It all seems a little excessive, no? Surely, dinner at Nando’s and the latest edition of Call Of
Duty would’ve been fine.
Jeep Wrangler Unlimited (2012)
There was a time when Diddy’s daily drive was a relatively understated Jeep Wrangler Unlimited. Of course, it goes without saying that the rapper gave his four-door, four-wheel-drive off-roader a look-at-me makeover, removing the doors, the roof, sticking on a set of his own-brand Sean John custom rims and cruising around LA with his stereo set to “ear-bleeding”. It was fun, not that fast (despite the 3.6-litre V6 lump), but certainly looked the part. maybach 57 (2016)
Powered by a 6.0-litre, V12 that produces 450kw, the Maybach would be seriously fast if it didn’t weigh in at nearly three tonnes. Not that it’s a slouch – 0-100km/h arrives in five seconds and keeps going to a limited 275km/h. But this is a car for driving slowly with your own words ringing in your ears. On “Watcha Gon’ Do” he raps: ‘Big blunts and grass, Maybach on a dash. Forty carat gold Cartier on a class.’ He liked his Maybach so much he couldn’t bear to part with it, so gave it to his son as a birthday present. rolls-royce phantom (2018)
Any musician worth their salt has to have a Rolls, and Diddy has had his fair share. Not only has he been known to drive a Phantom Drophead Coupe, but he also has owned a full-fat Phantom. Costing almost R7.8 million, the Phantom people have called him the “best car in the world”. As Diddy pointed out on “Big Homie”: ‘My bellman call me Sir Combs, I’m Richard Drummond. My Rollsroyce spray cologne, the fragrance money. It’s Bad Boys Records, bitch, you know I run it.’ cadillac escalade (2019)
Unluckily for Diddy, in 2012 his Escalade collided with a Lexus RX in Los Angeles and the rapper was photographed lying by the side of the road in a state of shock and was later treated for “multiple injuries”. However, this story does have a happy ending because for his 50th birthday this time last year, his mother Janice bought her son a brand new Escalade. Quite what it is with the Combs family and giving cars as presents is anyone’s guess, but we’re sure Puffy was pleased. And to think, all GQ got him this year was this article.