There's a long history of celebrity fashion and beauty companies, and of celebrity startup investors, but a car venture?
Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am took his new project for a test drive on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, showing the host his self-designed futuristic white automobile. (Watch the interview.)
His plans for IAMAUTO, as he calls the car, is to create more jobs in the East Los Angeles neighborhood where he grew up.
"I'm a big technology freak and a geek and I invested my money in building my own vehicle 'cause I want to bring jobs to the ghetto that I come from," said will.i.am, who will release his solo album #willpower later this year. "I invested in making a demo to start the Black Eyed Peas; now I want to invest to have a car company in the neighborhood where I come from."
The low-slung car was built using "a whole bunch of parts" from Chrysler. (Using the Chrysler chassis, as he did, means the car already is certified as street-legal—saving will.i.am from a long approvals process.)
“I went to Chrysler and got a whole bunch of parts to where it's still certified as a legal vehicle on the streets. So I don't really mess with the airbag configurations or things like that. Kept the chassis and we create the shell, which is the body and the interior and the audio interface," he said.
It also features a Beats by Dr. Dre sound system.
"It's sick, it's really fresh," will.i.am said.
Leno, whose website, Jay Leno's Garage, details his car collection (some 100 vehicles), volunteered to test drive the car.
So far picking apart the car has become a bit of a sport among car enthusiasts. Some say it is a modified DeLorean, a.k.a. the early 1980s car developed by former General Motors executive John DeLorean. (As The Wall Street Journal points out, the reference could prove appropriate, since the car was a "rolling testament to how difficult it is to start a car company.")
Another car blogger dismissed it as will.i.am's body kit on a Northern Irish car. "It may look cool to some, especially if you were around in the '80s or more specifically if you watched Back to the Future as a kid," wrote Oisin Collins. He added: " So why is will.i.am saying this car is his creation? God only knows."
Photo credit: Courtesy rap-up.com