Star Cars: Janis, Jimi and Jim
They’ve become engrained in our cultural mythos for rocking hard and dying young, each at the age of 27. But what most don’t think about when it comes to Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison is that they all shared an affinity for cars, each having a surprisingly discerning eye when it came to their ride of choice.
The Lizard King himself, James Douglas Morrison, was well known for alcoholic excess and his penchant for leather pants. It may come as a surprise to some, then, that his taste in cars ran strictly American. Following the 1967 success of The Doors’ single “Light My Fire,” Morrison was given a potent new ’67 Shelby Mustang GT500 by Elektra Records head Jac Holzman.
Affectionately dubbed “The Blue Lady,” Morrison’s GT500 came with a parchment interior, Night Mist Blue metallic body, a 428 Police Interceptor with dual quad Holley carbs, and four-speed transmission. Along with everything else in his life, Morrison was rather hard on the car, as evidenced in several short film clips showing him tearing through the desert and down lonely stretches of highway shortly before his death.
