Mike Lovell is similar to many car lovers whose collections we’ve featured in GreatGarages. The vehicles aren’t just high-dollar valuables: They represent childhood, dreams, aspirations and treasured joys. For example, the passion meant reclaiming at least two automobiles. One is a 1967 Camaro he had to sell to go off to college; his dad reacquired it and had the classic pony car restored by friends. Now it sits in the purpose-built garage just south of Camelback Mountain in Phoenix. Another is a 1987 Buick Grand National, which he sold shortly after buying it. But America’s quarter-mile production-car king that year had engaged his daughter's interest; she chided him for the sale without her sign-off. Now, with velvet stanchions guarding it, the GN is safe at home. When she's 16, it's hers. A classic joy.

In this GreatGarages, to honor the 100^th anniversary of Bentley, I worked with a variety of gracious marque experts and fans worldwide for about five months. The home office of Bentley in England connected me with Frank LaVerda, Customer Relations and VIP manager, and Jon Simons, Product Marketing manager, for Bentley Motors-USA. Here, in Scottsdale, Beli Merdovic, general manager of Aston Martin, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Rolls Royce, a Penske Automotive Dealership, was also helpful. Thanks as well to Phil Brooks, Williamsburg, Virginia; Graeme Cocks, Australia; Simon Hope and Julian Roup, England; Colin Dougherty, Keswick, Virginia; and Bostonian Bruce Male. Cheers!

“We all watched in wonder, with Walter Cronkite.” But I watched my father, too, July 20, 1969. Outside it was a muggy evening, and everyone had vacated the rowhouse stoops, where neighbors gathered on summer nights to chat and listen to Philadelphia Phillies games on transistor radios. Tonight, they were watching black-and-white TVs as window air-conditioners whirred. I watched him: the sense of amazement and awe (a Great Depression boy, he was not easily overwhelmed) at Commander Neil Armstrong’s historic hop out onto the moon. This was Jules Verne, Flash Gordon, H.G. Wells, Tom Swift and Commando Cody and the fulfilment of World War II victory. This July 20, I will be thinking of the moon, the stars and the look in my father’s eyes that magical summer night.

We particularly enjoyed the Lexus LC 500 luxury coupe for a weeklong test drive a couple of months ago. The company flagship brought thumbs-up signs with its potent 5.0-liter normally aspirated DOHC 32-valve V-8 producing 471-horsepower/398 lb/ft-torque engine. We were especially impressed with the car’s graceful 10-speed automatic transmission and wheel-mounted paddle shifters. The powertrain delivers 0-to-60 mph runs of 4.4 seconds. The LS500 is equipped with a 3.5-liter, twin turbo DOHC 24-valve V-6, also paired with the 10-speed automatic. The family-oriented sedan is not quite as quick as the two-door LC, but you’ll still handle most of life’s road challenges very capably with 4.7-second 0–60 times. The LC500h Hybrid completes the line-up of fine 500 models.

Michael Furman is one of the world’s premier studio car photographers, that is, for showcasing stationary classics in garages and museums. But, because of his skill and perspective, his cars seem to move. I knew Michael when we were growing up in the Philadelphia area almost a half-century ago. Even then, he had a camera, and you knew what his life focus would be. Even among quality photographers, his work stands out. Look at the Horch and the Delahaye, even the Scarab, in the story: They have a motion and life even in park or neutral. Great car museums such as the Simeone in Philly and the Mullin in California have turned to him to celebrate their stellar collections. And, he was just honored to discuss his work during Monterey Car Week 2018 in California. Please enjoy his superlative work, as I have. His images, indeed, are worth a thousand words.

Terry Larson knows how to take care of historic Jaguars. For moving on five decades, he has restored, raced and stewarded examples of the great marque with finesse and passion, in recent years from his hand-crafted garage in the foothills of Mesa, Arizona. He and his wife Darlene have a 1938 Jaguar SS 100 3 ½ litre; an XK120 roadster; a 1952 Hangsen Jaguar; a 1952 C-type; a 1958 ‘Knobbly’ Lister that was a factory team car; two XKE roadsters and a coupe; a few Italian cars; and a 1967 Corvette. The couple are also proud of their motorcycle collection, highlighted by a 1924 Brough Superior SS80 purchased new by the founder of Jaguar, William Lyons, which he raced on English beaches. “These cars are an important part of automotive history, and, as owners, we are their caretakers,” Larson says.

Seven years ago, comedian Jay Leno invited us into his  mega-garage/museum in Burbank, not too far from the NBC studio where he once taped "The Tonight Show." Everyone knows he's very serious about his cars but, at the same time, he's also just a kid enjoying his Matchbox miniatures every day, now in retirement: steamers, tire-screeching muscle cars, a Duesy or two, exotic European racers, electrics, turbos to turbines. Jump up on his century-old farm tractor for Mardi Gras, Hollywood style: The multi-ton steam behemoth turns on car alarms and turns fans out into the streets in pursuit of cell phone images, book signings,and autographs. Gee Whiz and Wow: Heeere's Jay!

Mark Kramer, Phoenix, loves his Ferraris. His teenage heart leapt up when he saw his first Prancing Stallion, a 250 Spider, in Rome, and he’s been looking in his GreatGarage since, morning, noon and sometimes just before sleep, for quick-paced stylish dreams. Last year, 2017, was the 70th anniversary of Enzo Ferrari’s first supercar, the Ferrari 125, powered by a 1.5-liter V-12 engine, producing 118 horsepower. That won its first race out of Enzo’s Workshop and by the end of the year had secured five more victories. Kramer’s joys are a 1972 365 GTB/4 “Daytona”; 1981 308 GTSI; 1984 512 BBI “Boxer”; 1995 F512M; 1996 eight-cylinder F355 GTS; 1999 550 Maranello and 2003 575M; 1995 308 GTS QV; a 2009 California, with an automatic. Wish list? A California Turbo, an F430 16M, 458 or a 488 Spider. “And, I always wanted a 275 GTB4 and could have had one once for $30,000. I just love everything about it, especially the sound. You know when you hear one coming.”

The founder of Harrah’s Hotels & Casinos and Harrah’s Automobile Collection, Bill Harrah, was also one of last century’s most famous car collectors. Opened in 1989, the National Automobile Museum (The Harrah Collection) in Reno features more than 200 vehicles, most of them American-made vehicles from his great collection. The marquee vehicle is one of the most famous American cars ever: the 1907 Thomas Flyer, winner of the following year’s landmark New York to Paris Automobile Race. Others: a 1937 Airomobile Experimental Sedan, styled by John Tjaarda; a 1934 Dymaxion Model 2 4-D Transport, created by Richard Buckminster ‘Bucky’ Fuller (1895−1983), inventor of the geodesic dome and the Dymaxion™ House, a car that was found dilapidated in a Mesa, Arizona, backyard. And, one of the world's most beautiful vehicles, a 1936 Mercedes-Benz Type 500K Special Roadster, was purchased new by Princess Nina Mdivani, wife of Denis P.S. Conan Doyle, son of author, Sir Arthur.

Nov. 22, 1963. Dallas, Texas: Fifty-three years ago, the Earth stood still as a fanatical sharpshooter, perched inside a sixth-floor warehouse window, murdered a young president who represented the hopes of a new generation of Americans. The Henry Ford Museum® in Dearborn, Michigan displays the Lincoln Continental in which he was assassinated. In addition, the museum showcases tens of thousands of Americana artifacts, such as the bus on which Montgomery, Alabama’s Rosa Parks stayed seated and stood tall; technological innovation (Henry Ford’s history-shifting racecar); and social and political revolution, including one of the few hand-written copies of the Declaration of Independence. Motor on inside this great hall and see why you’re so proud to be an American.

Jim Sandoro’s Pierce-Arrow Museum in downtown Buffalo showcases classic automobiles, automobilia and motorcycles, including a 1912 Pierce-Arrow cycle, perhaps the best earliest original from the company anywhere. He and wife Mary Ann are well-known collectors of the great Pierce-Arrows, which were produced in Buffalo from 1901 to 1938. Their museum displays 25−45 cars, 1903 to the 1960s. By the expected build-out in 2020, they hope to have approximately 300,000 square feet under roof with more than 100 cars. In 2001, Sandoro found Frank Lloyd Wright's 1927 drawings for the Buffalo Filling Station, which had not been built, and 13 years later the museum unveiled a full-size replica.“People just love the museum,” Sandoro says. “This is our gift to Buffalo.”

In Tooele, Utah, Miller Motorsports Park showcases perhaps the greatest collection of Ford-specific race and street cars in the world. Until his death in February 2009, automobile dealer and Utah Jazz owner Larry H. Miller maintained a lifelong passion for cars built by the Ford Motor Company and, in particular, those built by his friend, the great Carroll Shelby. These include the CSX-2299 Daytona Coupe, the blue No. 13, considered by some authorities as the most valuable American-built car. It finished first in the GT class and fourth overall in its debut race in 1964 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, co-driven by Dan Gurney and the Valley’s Bob Bondurant, slapping Enzo Ferrari with his first defeat in the GT class at the race since it was established in 1959. This is pedal-to-the-metal fun, start to finish.

In Seattle, Wash., Greg Boehme has loved cars since he was a boy, beginning with a 1969 Z28 Camaro. His grandfather Charlie was his biggest fan. Granddad had a service station downtown. He was a racer, too, traveling all over the West midget-racing in the late ‘40s and ‘50s. The two and Greg’s father Joe always watched televised racing. When Parnelli Jones' STP Indy turbine car visited the nearby Firestone tire store in Renton, he even persuaded his mother to drive him there to see it. “From an early age I was able to identify the brand, model and year produced of most cars on the road. What intrigued me about cars? Everything: the style, shape, color, and, most of all, their specific performance capabilities.” Step inside Greg’s big boy’s garage today.

GoDaddy founder Bob Parsons loves his custom cycles –– all celebrating in some way his service in the U.S. Marine Corps. He even once kept a camouflaged two-wheeler in the corridor just outside his Scottsdale, Arizona, office, sans gasoline and oil. Just a work of art, a nod to esprit de corps, he says. But all of them are beautiful, and powerful: Hang out riding with Bob for a few minutes, and  hang on!

Soon after they married, Larz and Isabel Anderson purchased an 1899 Winton Phaeton Runabout, a true horseless carriage, and through 1948, the New Englanders acquired at least 32 additional more cars and carriages. As the cars became obsolete, the couple didn’t sell them but retired the vehicles to the Carriage House. By 1927, the couple had opened it for tours of their “ancient” vehicles –– the beginning of today’s “America’s Oldest Car Collection” in the original Anderson Carriage House on the grounds of the Weld Estate, now Larz Anderson Park, in Brookline, Massachusetts. Fourteen of these original 32 vehicles remain in the collection today to enjoy. Since 1927, the Carriage House has also hosted lawn events and other automotive activities and continues to schedule 25 car shows every year.

Legendary racer, Paradise Valley, Ariz., resident Bob Bondurant has trained Navy SEALS, NASCAR legends, teen drivers and everyday moms at his world-famous driving school just south of Phoenix at Wildhorse Pass. He’s also collected powerful classic cars during a lifetime of race-driving and teaching. If you see him turning hot laps at the school, you'll find that this high-octane octogenarian still handles the hair-pins. Third gear: It's all right, but hang on tight! Bob celebrates 83 this year and will enter the National Corvette Hall of Fame in September, adding still another podium win to his superb career.

Next time you’re in the City of Brotherly Love, before you altruistically cruise over to Pat’s Steaks, ascend Rocky’s favorite art museum steps and grab a hot pretzel on a cold street corner, stop in at the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum. One of the world’s great collections of racing sports cars has been meticulously assembled during 50 years of collecting by Philadelphia neurosurgeon, Dr. Frederick Simeone. The eponymous museum contains approximately 65 of the rarest and most significant race cars, 1909 to the mid ‘70s, including a 1912 National Speed Car powered by a 7-litre engine which, in a similar car, powered the only stock car model to win the Indianapolis 500, in 1912.

Carroll Hall Shelby, 89, died May 10, 2012. Born Jan. 11, 1923, in Leesburg, Texas, Shelby was a championship racecar driver, wartime pilot, philanthropist, entrepreneur, car manufacturer and world-championship racing team owner. He is the only man to win Le Mans as a driver, team owner and automotive manufacturer, and his racing team won the Manufacturers’ World Campionship in 1965, besting Ferrari and his unbeatable GTOs. Shelby created the legendary Cobra as well as the Daytona Coupe and King Cobra, and his Carroll Shelby International outputs muscle cars, including the Shelby GT500 Super Snake and continuation Shelby-badged cars. Hop in to celebrate the legend.

The Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee, Wis., is owned by the 110-year-old company — and it’s a two-wheel thrill ride into hogs and history. The 130,000-square-foot museum complex is just a mile from the Santiago Calatrava-designed Milwaukee Art Museum. More than 500 vehicles and thousands of artifacts comprise the motorcycle museum’s collection, including Harley-Davidson Serial Number One — the oldest known Harley in the world, with a  clearly stamped “number one." “This isn’t just a piece of Harley-Davidson history; it’s American history, too,” says Bill Davidson, vice president of the museum and the great-grandson of co-founder William Davidson. Jump on, stop in.

The Shelby American Collection in Boulder, Colorado, showcases the heritage of Shelby American. Founded in 1997 by Steve Volk and fellow Cobra enthusiasts, brothers Bill and Dave Murray, the nonprofit museum offers guests approximately 25 classic Shelby racers as well as other marques with unique histories: small-block 289 Cobras; the potent 427s; and the Pete Brock-designed champion Daytona Coupe. In addition, the museum collection includes the Ford GT40, Shelby GT350; GT350R and the 428-powered Shelby GT500; the Cobra forerunner, the AC Bristol; and a 1958 Ferrari Testa Rossa. High-powered rides inside: Have Vrooom for a minute?

Jews and hogs just doesn't sound kosher, but these Phoenix-area groups prove that on the streets and highways, God indiscriminately parts the Red Sea or, more accurately, the Reed Sea, for all cyclists. Let there be open road: Make a quick exodus with this group. And, mazel tov for no rain!

Paradise Valley, AZ, resident Greg Winn maintains one of the finest Corvette collections anywhere, and it's in his climate- and dust-controled warehouse-style basement, with a service station, a media room, workshop, bar and billiards and lots of automobilia. This neoned man cave runs second to none. Rev on down!