Z

Make
Nissan
Segment
Coupe

Tom Cruise is annoyingly talented. He rakes in millions at the box office, continues to win awards, does his own stunts, and is reportedly a nice guy. By now, it's no secret that he enjoys various speed machines, including custom-built motorcycles, fast cars, and jets. Vin Diesel may live his life a quarter-mile at a time, but Tom Cruise is permanently on the highway to the danger zone (we had to - please don't leave).

You can now buy the ultimate piece of Tom Cruise memorabilia, and we're not talking about the white socks and underwear from Risky Business. Cruise's official 1984 300ZX SCCA racing car is now for sale on Bring A Trailer, and the bid (at the time of writing) stands at $20,000 with three days left. We'd think the custom license plate would be worth more, but regardless, we'd much rather have this over the new Nissan Z, no matter how good it is.

Surprisingly, Cruise decided not to keep the car when he was done racing. It was left in a scrapyard for several years before the current owner found it and decided to restore it to Tom Cruise specification.

The Drive did some digging into the background of this car, and it turns out Cruise was turned on to racing by Paul Newman when the two were filming The Color of Money. The vehicle was initially purchased by Newman/Sharp Racing (Paul Newman and Bob Sharp's team), and Cruise used it to compete in the 1986 SCCA Showroom Stock A class.

Here's the bit that gets us excited. Apparently, Tom Cruised sucked at racing. He raced like a young Verstappen, earning him the nickname See Cruise Crash Again, which fit nicely with the Sports Car Club of America's famous acronym.

Annoyingly, Cruise got good, and his time spent racing in various SCCA classes served as the inspiration for Days of Thunder, where his reputation for doing his own stunts and driving began. Nobody knows why he gave up racing after that movie came out, but we'll hazard a guess. After starring in his famous racing movie, Cruise filmed a series of hits, including A Few Good Men, Interview With the Vampire, and the first Mission: Impossible. He was likely too busy to race.

Whatever the reason is not important. This car was raced by Cruise, and the current owner paid for a full exterior restoration. Since it was raced, only 5,000 miles have been added to the odometer. The interior is peak '80s perfection and still includes all the upgrades needed to qualify for racing.

The wooden block on the brake pedal was put there to accommodate Tom Cruise, who is what we like to call "vertically challenged."

Cruise made a quick return to racing several years after that. Red Bull invited him to drive the 2011 F1 car. Now, if you know anything about an F1 car, you'll know it's not something you can just get in and drive. For an F1 car to work, you need the guts to push the limits. The aerodynamic components only start working at high speed, and you need to keep heat in the tires. In the run-up to Top Gun: Maverick, he also filmed a short racing film in the Porsche 911 GT3.

Cruise isn't the only celebrity who partakes in a spot of racing. Michael Fassbender intends to get a good result at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which didn't go as planned this year. Patrick Dempsey and Eric Bana have also had some fun racing Porsches.