There have been plenty of cars in Aaron Paul’s life, and not simply because he played the lead in Need for Speed’s failed bid to transition from game consoles to movie theaters. The Breaking Bad star briefly owned a royal blue 1969 Ford Torino. Technically, he still does, but he hasn’t seen it in years, and he doesn’t know where it is.
Friend of The Drive Brett Berk recently interviewed Paul for Car and Driver, and turned the subject to the actor’s lost Ford. Paul was gifted the Torino by DreamWorks after rolling up to the Need for Speed premiere party behind the wheel of it, as his character from the film, 10 years ago. Naturally, sometime later, he sought to have some work done to the vehicle. As you’ve probably guessed by now, that’s where the problems began. From the interview:
“It’s been my baby, and I love it. But it’s been in the shop for close to three years,” [Paul] says. Sadly, this isn’t a shop that is simply taking its time. “Any time I said, ‘I want the car back,’ the mechanic would say, ‘Right. Well, I was thinking, what do you think about adding this?’ And I was, like, ‘Well, you already have it. Yeah, sure. Why not?'”
After Paul had been shelling out cash for years, he reached a breaking point. But when he tried to get in touch with the mechanic, the guy wouldn’t answer or return his calls. Finally, he drove down to Long Beach, where the shop was located, but couldn’t find it. Eventually, he received a phone call from another guy saying that he’d taken over the shop, as the original mechanic had vanished.
That’s just about the worst-case scenario: being given the run around for years, only to eventually have your worst suspicions confirmed. Paul added that the whereabouts of this “mechanic” are still unknown, and the individual supposedly performed none of the work he was paid for. The Torino sat outside for three years, accumulating rust and looking much worse for wear. “He was a full-on con artist,” the actor said.
Today, Paul’s family fleet consists of a Mercedes-Benz EQS electric sedan and a Shelby Cobra continuation car, built by Shelby American itself. Paul said because it’s a replica and not an authentic example, he doesn’t have to “be worried or too precious about it.” Somehow I get the sense he must still be pretty protective, given his bad luck. Go check out the full interview over at Car and Driver.
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