What Do Billionaires Drive? Does the car make the man?

ForbesAutos.com has a story about the vehicles owned by some prominent billionaires.

If your pockets were as deep as Bill Gates’ what would you drive? A new Porsche or a seven-year-old one? Each year, Forbes magazine compiles a list of the world’s wealthiest people. While awaiting the release of the 2006 list, which will be published in March, ForbesAutos.com wanted to give you a look at the vehicles driven by the billionaires at the top of the 2005 list.

A few of them own brand new fancy vehicles but what caught my attention is the fact that these guys who can definitely afford to buy a new car every year are driving older vehicles. Yes, maybe nice older vehicles in most cases, but still older vehicles. My dad had the same frugality drilled into him. We never had a new vehicle but the car he was most proud of was a 78 Lincoln Continental that he bought very used – and of course for cash.

Here are the billionaires that caught my attention:

• Bill Gates (Microsoft Co-Founder)
  • 1999 Porsche 911 Convertible
  • 1988 Porsche 959 Coupe
• Paul Allen (Microsoft Co-Founder)
  • 1988 Porsche 959 Coupe
  • 1988 Mazda B-Series Pickup
• Steven Balmer (Microsoft CEO)
  • 1998 Lincoln Continental
• Warren Buffet (Investor Extraordinaire)
  • 2001 Lincoln Town Car Signature Series with licence plate “THRIFTY”
• Jim Walton (CEO of Arvest Bank, Youngest son of Walmart founder Sam Walton)
  • 2002 Dodge Dakota Pickup
  • 2000 Acura Integra
  • 1998 Mitsubishi Montero Sport
  • 1999 Chevrolet Silverado Pickup
  • 1959 Cadillac
• Ingvar Kamprad (Founder of the Swedish furniture and home goods company IKEA)
  • 1993 Volvo 240 GL

It seems that for these guys who are not ‘celebrity’ super-rich, a vehicle is not a status symbol to them.

Status is something that these billionaires need not prove to others. In many cases, the people on our list prefer to live inconspicuously, avoiding the limelight at all costs.