This is the opportunity to own excellent cars from an iconic collection.
Especially for automotive enthusiasts, cars, whether modern masterpieces, youngtimers, or carefully kept antiques, serve as symbols of history, of times in our own lives or as a glimpse of a more distant past. The James Gilstrap Collection is full of automotive icons like these both modern and classic, which are not only celebrated now but will be revered even more as the years pass.
As a professional musician who had a young Elvis Presley open for him at a show, and as a friend of the late automotive legend Bruce McLaren, Gilstrap has incredible stories to tell, and so does his amazing collection of cars. Ahead of the auction of some of his collection’s cars on Sotheby’s Motorsport, duPont REGISTRY talked to James Gilstrap about his lifelong passion for the automotive world.
Gilstrap’s stories about cars begin with a 1938 Dodge, and before trading it for a bicycle as a teenager, he learned how to repair and maintain it to make it run. In fact, Gilstrap maintains the cars in his collection to this day. Today, he daily drives a 2011 Porsche Panamera and is steadfast in his preference for Porsches as driver’s cars.
A Porsche was the first exotic car he ever owned, while a 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air was the first car he acquired after longing for and working towards it as a goal, after admiring Chevrolets that were at a service station in New Boston, Texas. While he doesn’t have it anymore, he still admires pictures of it to this day.
With hopes to downsize his collection, Gilstrap has turned to SoMo to put some of his most interesting cars up for auction, and they will be available to bid on online in an easy and convenient process. The vehicles being listed on SoMo from the James Gilstrap collection are a 2024 McLaren 750S Spider, a 2022 992 Porsche 911 Turbo, a 2015 Lamborghini Aventador Roadster, a 2022 Lamborghini Aventador Ultimae, a 2021 Ferrari F8 Spider, and a 2023 992 Porsche 911 GT3 Touring. If you’re interested in being the next custodian of an excellent car from a storied collector, stay tuned to bid on cars from the iconic James Gilstrap collection on Sotheby’s Motorsport.
duPont REGISTRY: It’s an honor to speak to you and get a preview of this collection. Someone has actually mentioned that you once had Elvis Presley open up for you?
James Gilstrap: There was a radio announcer in Texas who called my football coach and invited us to play for seven weeks in a row. We jumped at that and were excited. Also playing were three other people, Jim Edward and Maxine Brown. And when I asked who number one was, they said it was just some kid. That kid turned out to be Elvis.
dR: So how did you get into car collecting?
JG: I was eight years old when my father passed and my mom was off with someone else, so I left to live with my grandfather. It was me and him in a small town. At eight years old, I was plowing behind a wheel, but I knew I could do better. So that was kind of my goal in life, to do better. I like to work and even now at 88-years-old I still like to work. I ended up going a little bit crazy. I got up to around 50 cars around a year and a half ago. I always took care of the cars and made sure they were in good order because I didn’t want a car that didn’t start and run. I started off with classic cars, but they don’t do that. So after a while, we started getting into the exotic cars.
dR: What was your first exotic car?
JG: It was a little Porsche convertible. It was a beautiful car. I got pictures of that one with my wife – that’s how I captured her!
dR: So are you saying you maintain all of the cars in your collection?
JG: Yes I do, that’s why I’m down to 27 and I’m trying to take it down to around 12. That’s the reason why I called duPont REGISTRY and Sotheby’s Motorsport. If you look at them (Sotheby’s Motorsport) and see how they’ve grown in just a couple of months, they’ll be changing this industry.
dR: Do you have one special car that you are particularly attached to?
JG: Well you know, I did, because that’s how I got into cars. I had a 1938 Dodge. I became a mechanic trying to get that Dodge to run. That was back when I was about 15. I ended up driving for a bootlegger. He made the whiskey and I made the runs in North Carolina. My grandfather didn’t like me doing that, but it gave me fun and excitement. Police turned their heads and they even wanted some of the moonshine. I ended up trading in that Dodge for a bicycle because it wouldn’t run well. Recently, I had a 2011 Porsche Panamera that I loved to daily drive. It was the best car I’ve ever owned, even today. I’d say the 2011 is better than the newer ones. But Porsche is still the best driving car today.
dR: What car were you most proud of acquiring?
JG: It was a ’55 Chevrolet and I couldn’t afford it at first. I worked in a service station in Texas and I worked right next door to the Chevrolet dealership. I would always stick my nose in to get a look at those beautiful cars. During that time, there were about six or seven guys that would play dominoes at the shop and that meant I had to do all of the work. After about a month or two of that, my boss came up to me and said, “You like those cars don’t you?” I said, “Yes, sir.” He then asked which one I liked most and I pointed to a Chevrolet Six V with a Powerpack. He told me that if he bought the car and raced it, I could have it after it was fully paid for. I eventually got it and loved it.
2024 McLaren 750S Spider
2022 Porsche 911 Turbo
2015 Lamborghini Aventador Roadster
2022 Lamborghini Aventador Ultimae
2021 Ferrari F8 Spider
2023 992 Porsche 911 GT3 Touring
