Wondrous wheels of car-crazy celebrities

In the flamboyant world of hip-hop, the flashier the ride, the greater the street cred. 50 Cent's status went up with car geeks when he commissioned a one-off sports car from Parker Brothers Concepts in Melbourne, Fla., whose unique creations are the subject of the SyFy cable television series, "Dream Machines." The insane machine looks like a cross between a Formula One race car and a spaceship from "Battlestar Galactica."

50 Cent is a true car enthusiast. He keeps a Rolls-Royce Phantom for when he wants to be chauffeured, and a Lamborghini Mucielago for when he wants to get behind the wheel himself. He reportedly also has a Ferrari or two, a Pontiac G8 and a Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe.

2011 Lamborghini Murcielago

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This Hollywood leading man doesn't have a huge car collection, nor are the cars he drives over the top, but he has made interesting choices when it comes to what's in his garage. Clooney's quirkiest vehicle has to be the Commuter Cars Tango, a skinny electric car designed to split lanes in gridlock. It has a range of 80 to 200 miles, depending on the batteries chosen. Its two electric motors put out 1,000 lb-ft of torque and launch the car to 60 mph in four seconds.

Clooney was one of the first to own a Tesla Roadster electric sports car when it debuted in 2008. After driving it for several years, he put it up for sale at a Gooding & Co. auction in August, where it fetched $99,000. Recent paparazzi photos show Clooney in a cool, late-1950s Chevrolet Corvette. Older pics show him in an early '90s black Porsche 911 Speedster.

2013 Chevrolet Corvette

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"Grey's Anatomy" star Patrick Dempsey is seriously into motorsports; he owns Dempsey Racing. This year marks his fourth full season running a Mazda RX-8 GT race car in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series. His team also competes in the American Le Mans Series Prototype Challenge class. Dempsey used to own an Indy Car team.

2011 Mazda RX-8

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The extraordinary cars this actor drives on public roads reflect his interest in racing. His Porsche 911 GT3 RS, black with orange wheels, and Lotus Exige S are basically street-legal race cars. But he also appreciates old-school stuff: He owns a 1973 Jaguar E-Type, a 1954 Jaguar XK120 and a 1969 Mercedes-Benz 280SE.

2013 Porsche 911

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Baseball legend Reggie Jackson keeps an impressive 70-car collection in a nondescript 15,000-square-foot warehouse in Seaside, Calif. Sitting quietly among the rows of mostly 1950s and '60s vintage metal, both domestic and foreign, are gems such as a bright red multimillion-dollar 1967 Ferrari GTB/4 NART Spyder.

One of Jackson's favorite cars, according to a Sports Illustrated profile of the baseball Hall of Famer, is a 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air. It's burgundy with a tan leather interior and nearly identical to one he bought for $500 when he was 16 years old. His everyday driver is also American, but newer — a white Cadillac Escalade.

2013 Cadillac Escalade

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Former Fugees frontman turned music producer Wyclef Jean has a fleet of cool cars as colorful as his personality. A drop-top 1957 Cadillac Eldorado in hot pink with a matching mink interior, a Hummer H2 with a fish tank inside, and a Spiderman-themed custom motorcycle made by Orange County Choppers.

2009 Hummer H2

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On the upper end of this musician's amazing mix of vehicles is a Bentley Arnage with a platinum-trimmed interior and a Mercedes-Benz G-Class military-grade sport utility vehicle. But the two vehicles that will really make car nuts swoon are his McLaren F1 and Pagani Zonda supercars.

2013 Mercedes-Benz G-Class

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Among these exceptional celebrity car collections, Ralph Lauren's stands out as perhaps the most amazing of all. Every vehicle in it is a holy grail to collectors, such as his 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO. The American fashion designer doesn't just have unique, old and rare machines; he has the most exquisite, priceless and hard-to-find cars from just about every major sports, luxury and exotic automaker, past and present.

From a 1930 Mercedes-Benz SSK to a 1955 Jaguar XKD, every car in Lauren's collection is remarkable and, according to him, an inspiration for his own designs. But perhaps most exquisite of all is his 1938 Bugatti 57 SC Atlantic Coupe. Only four were ever made, and his is one of only two still in existence.

Comedian and talk-show host Jay Leno's vast collection takes up three adjacent warehouses in Burbank, Calif. But it's not the number of vehicles in his garage that makes him the consummate car guy. It's the sheer variety, coupled with the fact that he regularly drives many of them rather than letting them collect dust, even superexpensive and rare ones such as his 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing. The very red car Leno is posing with here is in fact a 1908 White steam car.

Leno is an indiscriminate car lover who owns just about every type of car imaginable. He appreciates this sexy orange McLaren MP4 12-C or a 1967 Lamborghini Miura as much as a quirky Saab 93B or an obscure 1909 Stanley Steamer. The Tonight Show host seems to have particular affection for American automobiles, and among the most impressive in his collection is a 1927 Duesenberg Model X, of which only 13 exist.

It's hard to imagine a more avid Porsche fanatic than Jerry Seinfeld. He bought his first Porsche, a 911 Carrera, in 1988, which was the first year he was able to afford one. Since then, the comedian has amassed an impressive collection of classic and contemporary Porsches. At the pinnacle of his collection is a Porsche 959, one of only 337 built. Some value it at upward of $700,000.

2013 Porsche 911

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Seinfeld owns run-of-the-mill Porsche Boxsters and timeless classics, such as a 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder. In a documentary that Porsche filmed for its Panamera website, Seinfeld says he appreciates the minimalist design and engineering of a Porsche. He also enjoys the simple, childlike joy the cars bring. "It transports you to that feeling of, 'This is not a grownup world, it's still a fun world,'" he says.

2012 Porsche Panamera

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Megastar rapper and producer Jay-Z has been photographed with megastar wife Beyoncé cruising around Manhattan in a tricked-out silver Jeep Wrangler Unlimited, at times even without its removable doors and roof panels. It's an interesting choice for someone who can afford any car on the planet.

2013 Jeep Wrangler

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When not slumming it in the Jeep, Jay-Z rides around in a Maybach 62 S. This Mercedes stretch limo on steroids costs more than $430,000. The Maybach shown here was chopped up for Jay-Z's music video 'Otis,' and sold at auction for a paltry $60,000. But that price tag pales in comparison to his $2 million Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport, which Beyoncé gave him a few years ago for his 41st birthday. Consider it recompense for the 1959 Rolls-Royce convertible he gave her on her 25th birthday.

Matthew de Paula wanted to be an automotive journalist ever since reading his first car magazine in grade school. After a brief stint writing about finance, he helped launch ForbesAutos.com and became the site's editor in 2006. Matthew now freelances for various outlets.