[ad_1]
It’s not every day that pickup trucks get lumped in with tuners and supercars on a list, but YouTube channel Donut Media somehow finds a way to do so. For context, the Donut guys Nolan and James were ranking the most surprising cars owned by celebrities, and their list was rife with the usual high-end, exclusive brands like Ferrari, Porsche, and Lamborghini.
So it comes as a pleasant shock when Nolan and James reveal that Christian Bale, A-list Hollywood celebrity and pop culture icon, drives a 2003 Toyota Tacoma on the daily. Specifically, it’s a used Tacoma TRD PreRunner V6, a car one would expect a suburban dad to own instead of a guy who’s earned millions playing Batman on the big screen thrice.
Christian Bale’s Net Worth Hardly Affects His Car Sensibilities
A quick internet search turns up Christian Bale’s net worth as of 2023, and it’s a whopping $120 million per Celebrity Net Worth. It’s safe to assume that a good chunk of that fortune came from his portrayal of Bruce Wayne, AKA Batman, in Christopher Nolan’s acclaimed Dark Knight trilogy. For perspective, all three movies earned approximately $2.4 billion worldwide.
To compare, the only celebrities on Donut Media’s list who exceed Bale’s wealth are Kylie Jenner and Lady Gaga. And yet, the Batman star is the only one driving a beat-up 20-year-old pickup. The rest sport more “conventional” displays of their status and, in some fascinating cases, a seemingly genuine investment in car culture.
For example, rapper Missy Elliot has owned some of the most sought-after cars on the planet, including a Spyker C8 Spyder and a Ferrari Enzo. Kylie Jenner has an unexpectedly tasteful collection of cars. She regularly drives a Porsche Carrera 4S while keeping a swanky classic Cadillac Eldorado in her garage.
Another celeb near the top of the list is Joe Rogan, who owns a Porsche 993 911 re-worked and tuned by Guntherwerks. All head-turners for sure, which is why the multi-millionaire Bale truly sets himself apart with his humble Tacoma.
Christian Bale Plays A Legend In This Car Movie
Who can forget Bale’s performance as racing legend Ken Miles in the Oscar-nominated movie Ford Vs Ferrari? The actor is famous for his commitment to roles, which he often takes to physical extremes (see his gaunt transformation in The Machinist or his weighty turn in the biopic Vice).
For Ford Vs Ferrari, though, Christian Bale understandably leaves the high-octane driving stunts to the professionals. The movie re-creates the gritty, innovative, yet highly-dangerous era of Le Mans races in the 1960s, after all.
However, Bale maintains the same intense commitment to acting that he does with his other films to bring Ken Miles to life. According to the Los Angeles Times, Bale spent a week learning from stunt driver Robert Nagle at the Bondurant High Performance Driving School how a real race driver behaves behind the wheel. With this genuine experience of driving a fast car alongside other fast cars, Bale conveyed a convincing snippet of what Ken Miles felt pushing the famous Ford GT40 to its historic victory.
As such, Bale’s journey in filming Ford Vs Ferrari gives him a unique perspective into one of motorsport’s earliest and most significant touchstones. It’s certainly something that’s not earned by superficial ownership of the latest supercar. Understanding and respecting how such machines came to go beyond just the price tag.
His 2003 Toyota Tacoma PreRunner Is Actually Reliable
Amusingly, Nolan points out that Bale’s Tacoma is a used TRD PreRunner that’s not even a 4×4 configuration. It’s as basic as far as basic pickups go, yet Bale continues to get maximum use out of the decades-old Tacoma, solidifying Toyota’s reputation as a reliable manufacturer.
What’s more, Bale elaborates in a 2016 Daily Beast interview that his trusty pickup lets him load motorcycles on its back (he is a noted motorcycle enthusiast). The actor further underlines the practicality of his ride, especially when he cares little about it getting scratched or stolen. Who, indeed, would put in the effort of stealing a dinged-up Tacoma from 2003?!
To hammer the point home, Christian Bale is an Oscar-winning Hollywood A-lister who prefers to keep it low-key when not in the limelight. He needs nothing more than a simple, reliable machine that can carry what he needs from point A to point B without attracting unwanted attention. Case in point, paparazzi often catch the actor going around L.A. in the nondescript pickup, which in many respects makes total sense for someone worth $120 million.
After winning Le Mans in a Ford GT40 and escaping a battalion of cops on a rocket-powered “Tumbler” Batmobile, Christian Bale has no need to explain his faithful used Tacoma to anybody!
[ad_2]
Source link