Comedian Bob Newhart is an American icon. According to IMDb.com, Mr. Newhart has 43 acting credits going back to 1962 including his wildly popular Bob Newhart Show and Newhart which ran for several years in the 1970s and 1980s. This 1973 Cadillac wagon is said to have once been owned by “Bob Newhart.” It can be found here on Craigslist with an asking price of $20,000. Being sold in San Diego, California, if this really is the Bob Newhart’s car, you can assume it has spent most of its life in Southern California. A quick internet search for “Bob Newhart’s Cadillac” yields several discussions and Craigslist posts from the past year. It appears this car has been on Craigslist several times. There is a bit of documentation photographed in the ad. Let’s take a look at the evidence and you can decide for yourself if you think this was the famous Bob Newhart’s Cadillac and thanks to Roger for the tip on this car.
The ad does have a photo of registration paperwork from 1976 which shows the owner as “Bob Newhart” and an address in Los Angeles. According to Zillow.com, the house listed on the paperwork is a 10,000+ square foot house with a current value of almost $18,000,000. A person would make an easy assumption that whoever lived in this house was likely a celebrity and/or wealthy person in 1976.
Unfortunately, the photos in the ad don’t really do the car justice. It appears to be crammed in a tight garage and there are only a few very close up photos on the outside and a couple of shots of the engine. Mr. Newhart turns 90 this year and it would sure be nice if he could authenticate this car for the seller (or new owner). What do you think? Was this car owned by Bob Newhart the comedian or just someone who shares his name? Let us know what you think.
Well if it was Suzanne Pleshette’s Caddy you would be onto something.
10-4 on Suzanne Pleshette, Leiniedude!! Sooo hot her whole life!!!
If you want a celebrity car really bad, I know a guy who has John Voight’s LeBaron. Not Jon, John. The periodontist. Ask for George.
Hahahahaha!!!! Is the pencil with teeth marks still in the glove box??
According to Wikipedia, his legal name is George Robert Newhart. I’m thinking a car title would be in his legal name, not his stage one.
Jon Voight is not someone who’s car I would want to own. perhaps burn, but not own.
Bob had some great taste in women GPC, Where did I go wrong? Always enjoy your comments here, take care, Mike.
Professor Proton’s Caddy!
Really funny how his character on The Big Bang Theory would come alive if Penny was around.
For a more recent reference to his work consider he was Professor Proton on The Big Bang Theory.
Don’t forget about Mary Frann,his wife on Newhart, when he was an innkeeper. She was HOT!!!
Yes Mary Frann was a babe…Poor woman died young…RIP.
I assume in 1976 the only Newhart in the phone-book that could afford a house as described would be him, but so what? This is a Caddie wagon, nothing special today. Even Elvis cars are not such a big deal. Newman cars or McQueen cars, different story, they had a history of being car lovers and there is some value to that. Newhart was a nice man and a funny one, but celebrity alone should not make value. Now, if some hot present day actress was conceived in the back of the Caddie, that would spell value to me. Our present day President a while back had a Ferrari for sale, did that bring a premium? (politics aside) I do not recall so, but please correct me if I am wrong. I wonder what celebrity car(s) would bring a premium?
Actually the Trump F430 sold for $270,000, which was the highest price ever paid for an auctioned 430.
It’s an interesting and unusual car in its own right. In this case the celebrity ownership is a fun footnote to its history but probably doesn’t add anything to its monetary value.
Once again, a sketchy one-line Craigslist ad and a few pictures apparently taken with a 1980’s disposable camera leaves everyone scratching their heads, shrugging, and moving on. How serious can this person be about selling?
My guess is he has all the money he needs, so he puts out a big number and if some fool bites, he smiles, and if not, he can afford to wait. I am an old man, I have watched sale prices for decades, this is nothing new.
Here in Ontario, Canada a persons full legal name is required on vehicle registration.
Which normally would mean Robert not Bob.
The seller ain’t no Jesse Alexander.
Well…I never “got” Bob Newhart………..a bit too dry for my sense of humor.Sort of the prototypical suburbanite. I agree with the general consensus of Susan Pleshette though :)
As for the car……….Caddy wagons are somewhat interesting.but how about we roll it out of the garage and give us car porn guys something to look at!
http://oldhippiewillie.blogspot.com/2011/05/doug-youngs-1972-cadillac-wagon-way.html
Here is a link with some interesting info on this era Cadillac conversions by at least three different companies.
Just because a celebrity owned a particular vehicle doesn’t always make it worth more money. I have Jack Klugmans old ranch truck. It was given to me by the second owner. But the truck is in great shape. No rust, way low miles. Its not perfect, but I’m working on it now. But hey if somebody thinks their car is worth more because somebody famous owned it, all the better to them, I guess. They still put their pants on one leg at a time. Just like the rest of us.
Klugman, a great actor. RIP Mr K.
May be a tough sell with those pictures.
The seller claims “only one in the world.” Which of course is not true, although the conversions were low volume. Although if low mileage and excellent condition, the price may not be out of whack.
Only 6 of them were made in the world, and Bob Newhart’s was custom made!
Actually seller claims in the description it’s “only one in WORD”. sigh!
Sketchy deal all the way around!
There were only 6 of them made, haven’t seen/heard of the other 5. Plus Bob’s is a custom make.
The ad has been updated, and the car is being auctioned on eBay with 9 watchers already!
New images coming very soon.
I live in Yew-tah and occasionally we’ll see a car that is listed as belonging “to Brigham Young’s great-great grandson.” Doesn’t add any value, at least for me. A couple of years ago, I was at a car show in Lehi, UT, about 20 miles south of Salt Lake City with a slight mormon pioneer history (as every small town in UT has) and there was big old Chrysler, I think it was a 1963 Chrysler sedan(not Imperial) that belonged to Bruce R. McConkie, a man who revered by mormons but not anymore. Most of the people who would have enjoyed owning that are dead, as is BRM and most of his family.
First of all the most important part of the car is not shown. We need to see what kind of rear door they put on it. Was it the clamshell or was it a swing out door.
As far as the registration, the car is registered to Bob Newhart C/O Dave Capell Co.
That is how celebrities register their cars so they don’t have their home address on the documents.
I am willing to bet Dave Capell was his manager at the time.
The license plate is interesting. NODON
I am not sure what it meant though.
https://contactanycelebrity.com/trial/do/celebrityView?name=Bob+Newhart
Shows Dave Capell as a past manager. .. The plot thickens, or thins ;-)
A guy from Fox News Autos is reaching out to a rep of Bob Newhart, I’ll link it if he gets to posting it :D
There’s already a comment here clearing everything up:
SSPBill
“So,my wife happens to be very good friends with Bob Newhart’s oldest son. She texted the CL add and the immediate response is yep, that’s Dad’s car.
He added the original CA license plate should read “NO DON”. He said Don Rickles had a Rolls at that time and he wouldn’t let anyone drive it. He said Dad got the plates to say Don can’t drive the car. Comic genius is a 24/7 job. Can’t turn it off.”
Hey Miguel, I always like your cars and your comments. My guess would be that stands for Not a Don……as in a Don which is the high boss of the Mafia….so people wouldn’t think that Big Caddy Wagon wasn’t a Dons car?? But just my guess buddy.
That’s my brother Daryl and he’s me other brother, Daryl
The seller gets the Barn Find award for the worst set of pictures ever.🤔
So,my wife happens to be very good friends with Bob Newhart’s oldest son. She texted the CL add and the immediate response is yep, that’s Dad’s car.
He added the original CA license plate should read “NO DON”. He said Don Rickles had a Rolls at that time and he wouldn’t let anyone drive it. He said Dad got the plates to say Don can’t drive the car. Comic genius is a 24/7 job. Can’t turn it off.
That is so cool and clears this up…
I figured that it had to be a reference to Don Rickels in some way.
A perfect car for someone with bad taste and a lot of money to waste . Also would be great for dump runs .
Dean Martin had one too, Bobs a nice guy, but I always preferred Suzanne Pleshette, I don’t know, something about her clothes
Obama’s Hemi Charger (or was it a Chrysler 300?) that he traded in on a Prius when he had be politically correct to run for president. I don’t remember the details but the car didn’t bring the premium the seller thought it should. Last I heard it hadn’t sold.
Yes, the car was genuinely owned by Bob Newhart (it would be cool to get him to confirm that! – one could only dream). It belonged to my dad and $20,000 is the price he set on the car before his passing. There is a photo of a photo in the ad showing the car when he already owned it (I’ll attach it here).
Only 6 of them were made in the world, and Bob Newhart’s was custom made! My dad would talk about it all the time. The car is in fair shape, it also runs but needs an electrician due to a few cables being uncovered.
Contact me at kevin.44@hotmail.com if you’re interested. I’m looking into posting it on eBay but need higher selling limits :O
I probably can identify it as I many trips in the far back truck area and know why the car had the license plate “No Don”
Rob, how are you doing! This is Heather’s husband Bill.
I’ll vouch for Rob as he shares half his genes with Bob Newhart.
Hi!
Are you interested in the car? We still have it! It would be great if it was back in the Newhart family!