Author of Raise the Titanic, whose fictional hero ran a selection of niche cars that mirrored his own collection
WORDS DELWYN MALLETT
CLIVE CUSSLER WASN’T the first author to have his hero drive an unusual car. Ian Fleming gave James Bond a supercharged vintage Bentley followed by a custom-built Bentley Continental convertible and then an Aston Martin DB MkIII, all painted battleship grey. In the James Leasor spy novels, Dr Jason Love drives a 1937 Cord convertible, as the author did in real life. But Cussler took his hero’s taste in automobiles to a new level. No other character has had the eclectic taste and variety of mounts (motorised mounts, this is not James Bond!) as the marine engineer, adventurer and government agent hero of Clive Cussler’s series of novels featuring Dirk Pitt.
An Allard J2X, AC Cobra and a Jensen are among the less surprising bolides for an action hero, but a 1912 Renault Landaulette or a 1921 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost are far from what one might expect. As are a Cord L-29, 1929 Model J Duesenberg, 1932 Stutz, 1932 Auburn V12, plus the odd Talbot-Lago and Delahaye. A 1936 Voisin, Maybach Zeppelin and Pierce-Arrow with its matching Travelodge trailer also border on the esoteric.
What’s more, when not on the high seas, Dirk lives in what many would consider the ultimate man-cave: a converted aircraft hanger that houses his car collection as well as his World War Two Messerschmitt 262 jet, a Ford Tri-Motor and a Pullman railroad dining car.
Cussler didn’t just pluck Dirk’s cars out of the air: he owned them himself, and over the years built up an impressive collection of classics. The author was born in Aurora, Illinois, on 15 July 1931 but was raised in Alhambra, California, and recalled sitting on the kerb as a five-year-old watching passing cars – so far, so normal for a small boy, but it was the car that impressed him most that set the young Clive apart from his chums. What knocked off his socks was a chauffeur-driven Town Car (Sedanca de Ville), that peculiar configuration that left the hired help in the open while the owner was cosseted in a luxuriously upholstered cabin.
Flash forward 30 years and that little boy was on the brink of becoming one of the world’s biggest-selling authors.
Like many Californian youngsters, Cussler bought his first car wh
