Calif. lawmaker drives — and parks — in style

Rep. John Campbell, an avid car collector, is showing off where he keeps his fleet of more than two dozen vehicles on a television show that claims to showcase garages that “cost more than the average American house.”

The California Republican’s garage, which comes complete with custom-built underground lifts and a stone exterior, is no ordinary shed.

{mosads}”You wonder why, if you have a car collection, why make the garage special? And not everybody does. A lot of people want the cars to shine, so they make the garage very, very plain,” Campbell tells the “Best Garages” cameras for a Reelz channel special that aired recently. “You’re not just walking into a car collection, you’re walking into a museum.”

A former manager and owner of car dealerships and one of the 50 wealthiest members of Congress, Campbell, who’s retiring at the end of his term, explains of his 26-vehicle-strong collection: “I don’t collect all of one thing. I like things that are different and I like sports cars and I like luxury cars. I like big cars and I like small cars.”

The 59-year-old lawmaker’s opulent car hangar — which houses a Ferrari, a variety of vintage vehicles and other elite hot rods — is made to look like the rest of his Italian-style estate. Campbell says he had a sort of car elevator installed to create enough space for all his automobiles.

“There actually wasn’t enough room on the flat for two cars, so I started looking around,” Campbell says, noting that he had a company design custom lifts.

“To me, cars have three things: They’re art, they’re history, and they are engineering,” Campbell exclaims with a smile.

Reelz calls “Best Garages” a special that “shows the most outrageous garages money can buy.”

A description of the program says, “The best garages in Hollywood cost more than the average American house, and when a house is one of the biggest trophies a Hollywood star buys, in the land of cool cars it’s the house for the car — or in this case car collection — that really defines big money.”

A Campbell spokesman, who said he was initially unaware of his boss’s car-centric television interview, later confirmed the segment was taped at the congressman’s Irvine, Calif., home in August. The aide said Campbell called the interview a great “showcase for his garage.”

Campbell’s Capitol Hill ties weren’t important to the “Best Garages” lenses, said the staffer: “They don’t really care about who you are, what you do. They just want to see your cars.”

“Part of having stuff like this is to share it with people, with friends, with people you know — share it with people,” Campbell says on the show. He describes a typical reaction from guests when he brings a car up on the lift: “They’re like, ‘Woah!’ It’s pretty impressive.”