Rod Stewart: The day a thief stole his Porsche at gunpoint and asked for something unusual

Rod Stewart’s $50,000 Porsche was stolen at gunpoint. And Sunset Blvd. She was with her 3-year-old daughter and her assistant.. But the nightmare, which shocked the singer, it didn’t end when he handed over the car keys to the thief. The thief asked him something else.

Already in 1975, at the age of 30, Londoner Rod Stewart – from a Scottish family – had become a billionaire rock star. This year He moved to Los Angeles and bought his first mansion in Holmby Hills: nine bedrooms, nine bathrooms, a tennis court, a fountain… This is where it took root and ever since, “Los Angeles has been my home.” There he married his first wife (later he would do it twice more), Californian actress and model Alana Hamilton, and his second daughter, Alana Kimberly Stewart, was born there in 1979 (she has 8 children) .

In addition to football, Stewart has another great passion: cars. Already at the end of the 60s, when things were starting to go well for him and he had money in his pocket, he bought his first sports car. A V6 Mark GT. Over the years, he has continued to acquire luxury vehicles. His favorites are Lamborghini, although he also had Ferrari and Rolls-Royce.

April 26, 1982Rod had an icon Porsche 911 Turbo Carrerawhom he had fallen in love with a few years earlier, and had planned to have a good Christmas day shopping with her little Kimberly, 3, and her assistant, Martha Baher. He left the car parked on Sunset Boulevard, the main street in Holmby Hills.

Already laden with bags, they headed for where the black Porsche was parked. There, in broad daylight, an armed man was waiting for themWho brandishing a gun, he asked for the car keys. Obviously, Stewart didn’t argue and did what the caco asked him to do. What concerned him the most was to protect everyone. They left, fear in their bodies, thinking that the nightmare was over. But it didn’t happen like that.

Rod Stewart and his children Kimberly and Sean in 1983. / Dave Hogan/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

“Friend of Stranger Things” got off the Porsche and he chased them gun in hand. Again, Pointing his gun at the singer, he asked something that left him dumbfounded. He already had the car, his wallet and several bags with the purchases they had made. Everything was over $50,000. What the hell did he want now?

The thief did not know how to start the vehicle. “He came back and said, ‘I can’t start the car'” the singer told Access Hollywood years later. “SO, at gunpoint I had to walk down a side street, with a gun to my back, and get to the car and start it for him. It started with the push of a button. Luckily for Stewart and his companions, the ordeal ended without any of the three suffering any harm.

When Rod recovered from his shock, he called the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Office to report the theft. “Everything seems to indicate that the thief did not know his victim was Rod Stewart,” Sheriff’s Deputy John Radeleff told the New York Daily News. “The make of the car is highly coveted in this area. Mr. Stewart has been very cooperative.”

Rod Stewart and Sunset Boulevard, and 1987. / Ron Galella Collection/Ron Galella via Getty Images

Stewart went for a while without speaking to the press. His deputy relayed:He is still in shock. Wouldn’t you be?” The terrifying incident bill the artist, who was very touched. The robbery, combined with other armed robberies suffered by his neighbors in Los Angeles, made him fear for his safety and that of his family. “After getting robbed not too long ago, I feel the violence in America is getting worse.”Stewart said in The New York Times a month later.

It wasn’t the last time Rod Stewart’s car was stolen. In 2004, the singer told the press: “Someone stole my Viper. I’m not amused.” that someone turned out to be your gardener, who worked at the singer’s property in Palm Beach, and decided to take Rod’s yellow Dodge Viper when he got fired. It crashed a few miles away and Rod recovered his vehicle with damage over $15,000. And what happened to the gardener? They caught him at a nearby motel and were sentenced to 11 years in prison for the robbery and other accumulated crimes such as attempted sexual assault.