Quick stats: John Cena, WWE wrestler/actor
Daily driver: 1971 AMC Hornet SC/360 (John's rating: 8.5 on a scale of 1 to 10)
Other cars: 20 musclecars (see below)
Favorite road trip: Tampa to Springfield, Massachusetts
Car he learned to drive in: 1984 Cadillac Coupe deVille
First car bought: 1984 Cadillac Coupe deVille
WWE wrestler John Cena is not your average musclecar enthusiast. He is fiercely patriotic and his collection reflects his love of preserving the long-gone rare, classic cars in Detroit's glory days.
Cena's daily driver is a manual 1971 AMC Hornet SC/360 that caught his eye. He's had it for three years and gives it at least an 8.5 rating. "It's compact, lightweight with a huge V-8, it's a four-speed, great car," he says. "No frills, just fun. I'm a bit of a car guy. I especially have a favorite spot for American-made stuff."
Wherever he goes, the Hornet turns heads. "The Hornet's the one that I love cruisin' in because it's so very rare," he says. "It's an AMC product, and they're long since gone. It's a low-dollar car. You can still buy one for a very good price if you can find one. But it's really cool; you can pull up to any car show and everybody can have all his best stuff out, and the Hornet always gets some attention because you just never see another one."
Although he is on the road for most of the year with the WWE, Cena, who lives outside of Tampa, tries to spread the love among all his cars when he is home. While some people might not recognize him, his musclecars always draw attention.
"They always look at the car, and that's why I dig that era, the designs were so crazy," Cena explains. "I have an affection for the obscure, the crazy paint jobs, and the crazy body styling -- not necessarily the cars everyone else likes. Of course, when you think American and old, everybody goes for Corvettes, Mustangs, or Camaros. I do have a '69 Camaro, but that was one of my most recent purchases. I like the crazy stuff, like I've got a '70 Mercury Cougar Eliminator. It's a very rare package offered on the Cougar."
Cena also likes some of the more recent musclecar designs from Detroit. "They've done a little bit of it now - the Hemi Orange paint on the new Challenger and the Shelby schemes on the new Mustangs and who knows what Chevy will come out with for the new Camaro. You notice a Shelby and a Dodge Challenger when they're driving down the road, so the old stuff gets the same attention because it was cut from the same philosophy."
While Cena owns 21 musclecars, it's a contantly changing number because he's always adding to the arsenal. The other cars in Cena's impressive collection are (he rates all cars perfect 10s unless otherwise noted): two 1970 Buick GSXs?, 1971 Plymouth Road Runner, 1970 AMC Rebel Machine, 2009 Chevy Corvette ZR1, 1970 Plymouth Superbird, 1969 COPO Camaro, 2006 Dodge Viper Pickup, 1966 Dodge Hemi Charger, 2007 Dodge Charger SRT-8 Super Bee, 1971 Ford Torino GT, 1969 AMC AMX, 2006 Ford GT, 2007 Saleen Parnelli Jones Limited Edition Ford Mustang, 1970 Mercury Cougar Eliminator, Oldsmobile Cutlass Rallye 350, 1969 Dodge Daytona, 1969, 1970 and 1971 Pontiac GTO Judge.
Cena has a certain affection for each car. "I don't just buy them to buy them. I buy them because I enjoy them, and every car has a story," he points out.
...
>>next page