The Grand Tour host Richard Hammond has recalled the moment he decided to sell his beloved Ferrari 550 to afford the rent on his family home.
The 50-year-old television presenter had to “give away” his flash 1998 Ferrari 550 Maranello in the late 2000s to pay six months worth of rent on a home he was planning to move into.
After owning the fancy motor for a few years, former Top Gear star Richard admitted he had to make the tough decision after feeling “silly”.
Richard was reunited with the pricey red vehicle during a video with DriveTribe recently and explained how he came to the point where he needed to sell it.
Speaking to hosts Mike Fernie and Harry Metcalfe, the car enthusiast recalled having to say goodbye to the vehicle for an important reason.
Richard Hammond had to “give away” his flash 1998 Ferrari 550 Maranello in the late 2000s to pay six months worth of rent on a home he was planning to move into with his family (Image: ITV)
He explained: “I had it for a few years. We were living where we’re living now. A long way from London.
“I was working at Top Gear based in London, to and from, it was just killing me.
“I wanted us to be together as a family, so we decided, ‘Right, there’s nothing for it, we’re living in a rented house. We’re going to move.'”
He continued: “So we gave up on the rented house, we rented another house closer to London and we moved lock, stock and barrel.
“So I had six cars – we shifted them all over there. The last drive I did in this [the Ferrari] was in the lashing rain to the house in Penn, Buckinghamshire. We pulled up outside the house we rented.”
The former Top Gear host was reunited with the pricey red vehicle during a video with DriveTribe recently
“We moved in on the Saturday. Three removal vans… and on the Sunday morning I’d been talking to the girls and I looked at them in this new context.”
Richard said after speaking with his daughters, Willow, 16, and Isabella, 19, who he shares with his wife Mindy Hammond, 55, he weighed up the situation and realised moving house wasn’t right for their family at the time.
“Weirdly I’d gone out to walk the dogs that night and I almost wore this sort of leathery, cowboy hat with a torch on where I live. I suddenly felt silly,” he said.
“This doesn’t work for us. We don’t fit here. So the following morning, the removal guys came to take the last few bits and I said put it all back on,” to which Mike and Harry laughed.
“So they put it all back on the truck. The house we’d been renting, let’s have that one again.”
Despite his rash decision to move back home, Richard revealed the consequences he faced.
“But, the guy I rented the house from in Penn held me to six months of rent, which amounted to what this was worth,” he said as he pointed at his Ferrari.
“I mean, I wasn’t flat broke, I had a Ferrari, but I had no income to cover it.”
Richard added: “So I had no choice it had to go.
“I had to sell it to pay the rent on a house I wasn’t living in. So, I gave it away effectively.”
Richard presented Top Gear alongside Jeremy Clarkson and James May from 2002 until 2015.
The presenters then began hosting The Grand Tour a year later.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
