You Can Bid On Bruce Springsteen’s 1969 Chevrolet Chevelle Convertible

Bruce Springsteen and cars – it’s as perfect as peanut butter and jelly.  Think about how many songs he’s written that mention cars, or classic photos of him in, or leaning against, a car. Now, the ultimate Bruce Springsteen fan can bid on the 1969 Chevrolet Chevelle convertible that Bruce actually owned!

Bruce bought the car, with a 396 big block V-8 and 4-speed manual transmission, in 1981, and kept it until 1987, when he gave it to his longtime recording engineer, Toby Scott, for Christmas.  In addition to getting the car if you happen to bid, there’s even a letter of provenance written by Bruce himself!

The car came out of the factory colored LeMans Blue, but Bruce changed it to Midnight Black while he owned it.  The car was refurbished just a few years ago, including the color returned to its original LeMans Blue.  One quirky feature of the refurbishment was the installation of what the auction notes says is a “period radio,” which is likely an AM or AM/FM receiver, and it hasn’t been hooked up yet!  For the final nice touch, it’s got those light blue and gold New Jersey license plates.

The car is being auctioned through Mecum Auctions, a Wisconsin-based auction house that specializes in automobiles of all types.

The auction starts in May, and you can check out everything you need to know about this amazing piece of rock and roll history, including Bruce’s letter of authenticity, and the complete description of that sweet vehicle here.

Andre Gardner's Top 5 Favorite Bruce Springsteen Songs

• 5. Spirit In The Night

  I confess that I first heard Manfred Mann’s cover of this song (as with “Blinded By The Light”), but it can’t match the groove of the Bruce original. This song contains, in my opinion, the prettiest chord Bruce has ever played, a rare major 7th. It’s right at 3:47 with the line, “Janey said it was TIME to go…” Kills me every time.

• 4. Pink Cadillac

  It was our first taste of what would be the Born In The USA album.  Released as the b-side to “Dancing In the Dark,” one month before the album came out, “Pink Cadillac” was Bruce’s homage to the sound of the 50s and 60s, right down to the slapback echo on his vocal, and the fact the song was mixed in mono!  It ended up being replaced by “I’m Going Down” on the Born In The USA, and got its first digital release in 1998 with Bruce’s Tracks outtake collection.,

• 3. State Trooper

  Without a doubt, Nebraska is my favorite Bruce Springsteen album.  The starkness of the production, the intensity of the song lyrics and their characters, and the haunting sound of a man alone in a room with a guitar made this a riveting listen for me. Of all the songs on the album, “State Trooper” ranks as my favorite. It starts out so very quietly, and ends with Bruce yelping and howling, totally distorting on the recording, and that’s what give the songs its charm. Every time I drive up to New York City, I always give a nod to those oil tanks along the NJ Turnpike, just south of Newark airport, thinking of the line that says, “‘neath the refineries glow, out where the great black rivers flow.”

• 2. Streets Of Philadelphia

  In looking at my list, it’s pretty clear I prefer Bruce’s songs that don’t have a whole lot of production built in.  From the powerfully devastating movie, “Philadelphia,” and featuring just Bruce and background vocalist Tommy Sims, this song matched perfectly with the film’s script, and earned Bruce an Oscar for Best Original Song, as well as four Grammy awards. When I was program director of 92-3 K-Rock in New York, I got an advance tape of the track and we were one of the first stations in the country to play it. To this day, I can’t listen to it without wiping away a tear or two.

• 1. The Fever (original mix)

  I remember hearting this for the first time on Ed Sciaky’s radio show on WMMR. It was literally one of those “stop everything you’re doing and listen”-type of songs. It totally captivated me and, only later did I realize it was 7 1/2 minutes long! It flew by. Again, the production was sparse, Danny Federici’s piano playing was slick, and The Big Man’s sax and backing vocal work was so incredibly tasty. The story goes that Bruce’s old manager (the one he sued) slipped cassette copies to a few DJs without anyone’s permission and, thus, a legend was born. It finally appeared on the Tracks collection in 1998, but I didn’t like that mix as much as the rough mix on that cassette (too much organ and reverb on the remix!). Unfortunately, I can’t find that original mix online, so the Tracks remix will have to do.