Pimp your ride for Bentley bling

The most iconic hip-hop car of all time is not the Benzo, Beamer, Cad or Rolly. No, it's the 1964 Chevrolet Impala convertible.

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AS you bros know, the most iconic hip-hop car of all time is not the Benzo, Beamer, Cad or Rolly. No, it's the 1964 Chevrolet Impala convertible. Well before the boys from the 'hoods starting rapping bout their rides, I used to have to drive the boss's '64 Impala up to the petrol station to fill it up. This trip, which should have taken 15 minutes, could last for an hour, as I drove by the train station trying to look cool to the young ladies streaming out after work.

These days, my homies such as Swizz Beatz, Xzibit, T-Pain and Jermaine drive Lambos, Ferraris and pimped up Astons. But Jay-Z, the lad formerly known as Shawn Corey Carter, is the man. In his early music vid Shawn drove an old Saab 900 turbo, but today the person better known as Beyonce's squeeze (baby named Blue Ivy) has the best car collection in hip-hop history.

In fact, Jay has a better collection than Teddy Mangue. You remember my homie Teddy. Teddy, the Second Vice-President in Equatorial Guinea, the son of the President, has had a couple of governments investigating how he built up his collection of Benzos, Beamers, Rollys and Fezzas on his less than $100,000 wage.

No worries bout Jay Z. Jay is worth half a bil' dead presidents (US dollar bills) and has invested in Maybachs, Bugattis, Ferraris, Rolls-Royces and Porsches.

You're probably wondering why I am telling you all this. Well, last month Bentley announced it was introducing a new SUV to try to break into the rapper market. I really love the Bentley brand so why would Volkswagen try to stuff it up with an English Cadillac Escalade? Of course, we know the answer. They need to ramp up volume to bring unit costs down even if the bling Bentley will cost five hundred thousand dead presidents in Australia.

On the other hand the eminently sensible Nissan boss, Carlos Ghosn, was in India announcing the return of Datsun. Don't get too excited. The new five-door, front-wheel drive, 1.2-litre engine Datsun Go is only 3.7m long and will be available only in India, Indonesia and Russia.

Who would have thought the company would have turned out a car that brought motoring and romance to so many young persons (including your columnist)? Yes bros, the Datsun 120Y didn't go all that quick, didn't stop and occasionally things dropped off, but lay down those seats and Jay-Z and Bentley would be wishing they were there.

But wait, there's more. There's an intimate connection between Datsun and Holden. Laurie Hartnett! Yup, the same Lozza that made the first Holden in 1948, saw the Datsun Bluebird at the 1960 Melbourne Motor Show and became the first importer of Japanese cars to Australia.

What would Jay-Z, the Notorious B.I.G. and Swizz Beatz have been using as their rides in the late 70s? No need to wonder. Mecum Auctions is selling them in Santa Monica this weekend. There's Steve McQueen's 1952 Chevrolet 3800 pickup camper conversion in which Steve went on his last ride. Also on sale is Elvis Presley's Cad, Frank Sinatra's Jag and a replica Fezza 250 GTO used in the movie Delirious. Yes synchronicity fans, the Fezza is built on a Datsun platform. Pimp my ride indeed.