Quick Stats: Billy Dee Williams, actor Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Daily Driver: 2017 Mercedes-AMG C43 (Billy’s rating: 10 plus on a scale of 1 to 10)
Other cars: See below
Favorite road trip: to Malibu
Car he learned to drive in: 1956 Buick Special
First car bought: 1966 Austin-Healey 3000 Mark III
Billy Dee Williams finally got around to updating his 1984 Jeep Grand Wagoneer recently, because it turns out Lando Calrissian needs his GPS. That was one of the main reasons Williams wanted to redo his now-classic Jeep.
“The Wagoneer back in those years was pretty popular … and it was just very well built and it rides beautifully,” he tells MotorTrend. “I’ve taken it on long trips and it’s a great ride. Like from Los Angeles to San Diego, it’s a really nice drive. I don’t travel that much in cars anymore. I don’t like the freeway, to tell you the truth.”
Now that his Jeep has been refreshed, he might not mind driving it to San Diego. “The engine was still pretty good, it’s only got 92,000 miles on it. I had it repainted, I had the interior done. I added some new technology into it, like GPS and a satellite radio,” he says. “I just wanted to update it with new technology. First of all, I love GPS. I can’t live without GPS because I have no sense of direction whatsoever, but I also put a sunroof into it, too.”
Williams is in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, marking Calrissian’s first appearance in a Star Wars movie since 1983. But fans have recognized him in the Jeep in the years since he bought, which was just a year after his last Star Wars film. Although the old Jeep is a rare sight these days, with Williams at the helm, the four-wheel-drive Wagoneer turns heads.
“It’s really unique. They’re still working on it, putting new seats in it, it’s almost all finished now. So when they complete it, I’m going to take it for a nice drive,” he says. “It used to have a wooden panel, like the old woodies. I changed that. It’s just one piece right now. It looks great.”
It’s now a beautiful brown, he says. He also plans to keep the car in the family. “This one is rare. It’s vintage now. I’ve had more people who wanted to buy it, but I would never want to sell it. I told my grandson it’s his. He’s just a little boy now, but when he’s older he’ll have it,” Williams says.
2017 Mercedes-AMG C43
Rating: 10
The 2017 Mercedes-AMG C43 is Williams’ daily driver, and he gives it a perfect 10. He has just one small complaint. “The only thing, it’s a two-door and there’s not a lot of space in the back. That’s the only thing. But I expected that,” he says.
Williams likes sedans and prefers coupes. “I like big cars, but it’s easier when you’re driving a smaller car. It’s got the torque and everything, so you can always make it a little bit [sportier] and noisier,” he says with a laugh. “I’ve always pretty much driven Mercedes or Jaguars.” He got his first Mercedes and Jaguar after his big break in the movies with Lady Sings the Blues in 1972. “I bought a secondhand Mercedes, because I always wanted one. I bought two Mercedes—a 1971 Mercedes convertible and a Mercedes sedan. I think it was a 450S. Both secondhand cars,” he says. “They were just cars that I liked. I don’t know a lot about cars, there were just certain things that I saw that I liked and decided to buy.”
Car he learned to drive in
Williams learned to drive in his father’s 1956 Buick Special in New York City, where he grew up. He found it wasn’t hard driving on the city streets around Harlem.
“Back in those days, you didn’t have as much traffic as you have these days,” Williams says. “It was a lot easier back in those years.”
Williams’ father taught him how to drive and found an interesting way to instill the importance of focusing on the task at hand when behind the wheel.
“When I left New York to come out here to California, instead of lecturing me about being careful about driving, [my father] put in my suitcase without me knowing, a photograph of somebody who had gotten decapitated in a car accident,” he says. “I started laughing because my father was a man of few words. I guess he believed that a picture spoke a thousand words. That was his attitude.”
First car bought
Williams was already a major actor on stage when he bought his first car—a 1966 Austin-Healey 3000 Mark III, which he said was a beauty. He saved up money and decided he didn’t want to take public transportation anymore.
“I was doing a play on Broadway at the time with Leslie Uggams, Hallelujah, Baby! I was on a subway and I was going to give my seat to a little old lady, and she pushed me out of the way and took the seat. I said, ‘I’m not doing this anymore.’ So I decided to buy myself a car.”
Williams was so in love with the Austin-Healey, he decided to buy it when he first saw it. “The Austin-Healey 3000 Mark III is a beautiful little sports car, and I just fell in love with it. It was white with a black top and red interior,” he says. “Once I was with James Baldwin, who was a good friend of mine, and we were driving through a street in New York City one summer and the top was down. The kids were playing in the street with the fire hydrant on, and we thought that they would allow us to get by without spraying us. And we got drenched.”
Williams brought the Austin-Healey out to Los Angeles when he moved. In an indelible moment, he also had a close call in that car.
“My wife and I were driving a friend of hers to the airport, and this reverend who ran a red light, who was drunk, totaled my car. Almost killed her,” he says. “That was right after Lady Sings the Blues, and I recall I had just bought a brand-new suede jacket, and the front of the car spun me around, hit the back of the car. If he had hit me directly, he would have killed me. The first thing that came to my mind was that song of Peggy Lee, ‘Is That All There Is?’”
Favorite road trip
These days, Williams mostly just drives to restaurants, but he used to drive from Los Angeles to San Diego frequently in his Jeep.
“At the time I did my driving to San Diego, I was doing a series out there, called 18 Wheels of Justice, so I used to drive back and forth. I would take drives. I like driving, but I don’t like driving as much anymore because people are totally insane,” he says. “As a rule I always found driving relaxing, listening to the music and taking a nice drive out to Malibu and back. Malibu is always pleasant, driving by the beach.”
He always enjoys the scenery along the coast. “It’s a nice afternoon drive, listening to music and enjoying nature—the California shoreline,” Williams says.
Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker on December 20
For those excited for his character’s return to Stars Wars, Williams can’t share much about his role in the new movie. “I think it’s pretty formidable. I think there’s a depth to the character that you never saw before,” he says.
He says it was fun to be back in the franchise after more than three decades. “Judging by the trailer and certainly because J.J. Abrams is involved, he’s such an extraordinary young man, a great, great film director. It’s going be spectacular. Epic,” he says. “There’s no question about it, especially working with J.J. Abrams, who’s really just incredible.”
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