The Car Zsa Zsa Gabor Owned and Was Driving When She Slapped The Cop In 1989.

One of the most infamous cars on the planet, the Rolls Royce owned and driven by one of Hollywood's biggest Diva's, Mrs. Zsa Zsa Gabor. If you were alive in 1989, you couldn't escape the story... You know the one, the one that involved a Beverly Hills officer and the palm of Zsa Zsa Gabor's hand.

June 14th,1989, Zsa Zsa Gabor was pulled over in Beverly Hills for expired tags, she became quite frustrated when the officer didn't recognize her Hollywood status and provided her with no special treatment. This lead to Zsa Zsa slapping the officer and ultimately to her arrest. The story made headlines around the world. Zsa Zsa took full advantage of the incident booking interviews including an appearance on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, Phil Donahue and more. The incident even made a cameo on the big screen in the blockbuster movie Naked Gun.

A 1979 Rolls-Royce Corniche convertible, the ultimate status symbol of its time. Bought new by Zsa Zsa Gabor but what really makes the car special is how long she owned it. Typically the rich and famous do not keep their cars for any substantial period of time. Almost all of the car's miles were put on by her, only about 300 have been put on after she sold it. It is still titled in her name and is wearing her personalized plate. Zsa Zsa knew that it was a good time to sell her car because of all the publicity it was getting. Taking full advantage of the situation she decided to send it to auction which she attended and represented the car personally. It sold for top dollar at the time to a very delighted collector of celebrity owned cars. The car was proudly displayed in his collection from 1990 until 2012. We acquired the car from him and put it on display in our museum. The car has been a huge attraction to our museum gaining attention from the public, media and even Zsa Zsa herself when she learned the car was on display in our museum. It's time to rotate the car for new exhibits and let another caretaker enjoy it.

Picture #4 depiction: "Zsa Zsa Gabor sits in her Rolls-Royce Corniche convertible as she leaves court at a lunch break of her cop-slapping trial on Sept. 28, 1989, in Beverly Hills, Calif. Gabor threatened to call police on a mob of reporters who surrounded the car as she awaited a jury verdict. "Don't scratch the car," she told the media mob."

Arguably the ultimate 1970s and 1980s status symbol of wealth and success, the Rolls-Royce Corniche was a car sought after by many but one only the fortunate few could afford. Designed and intended to be enjoyed by their lucky owners in warm-weather climates, each Corniche took four months to be hand built, with two weeks spent on the convertible top alone. With a list price of well over $100,000 each car utilized only the finest materials Britain had to offer, including Wilton wool carpeting, Connolly leather, and carefully selected burl walnut veneer. First introduced in 1971, the Corniche remained in production for nearly 25 years and over this time, these cars were periodically updated to keep them both modern and relevant. In 1977 new rack-and-pinion steering, alloy and rubber bumpers which replaced the earlier chrome bumpers, along with an oil cooler, aluminum radiator, and bi-level air conditioning system. This car is a very well reserved example. It lived a plush life in Beverly Hills and has only 49,300 actual miles. other than maintenance it is all original. The cars shows really well. No rust or accident history. Overall it runs and functions very well. It has been on display in climate control environment since 1990, it may need some service to be a regular driver. We did rebuild the carbs, set the timing and replaced the fuel sending unit. Our mechanic recently put a few miles on it and said it drove fine. These are not considered an outdated car, they are now nostalgic collectables going up in value. Especially the ones that have something special about them which this one certainly does!