Celebrity Cruise: Joe Mantegna, star of CBS's "Criminal Minds"

QUICK STATS
Daily driver: 1970 Opel GT
Other cars in his collection: 1947 Buick Special Series 41,2006 Cadillac Escalade, 2001 Mercedes S500, GEM elctric
Favorite road trip: Route 66
Car he learned to drive in: 1956 Chevy Bel-Air

When actor Joe Mantegna isn't driving his red 1970 Opel GT to the set of CBS's "Criminal Minds," he's usually at his Burbank restaurant, Taste Chicago (where Jay Leno sometimes stops by in one of his cars), or entering his restored 1947 Buick Special Series Model 41 in local car shows.

After seeing him in several roles during a multi-decade career on stage, TV, in films, and voicing animated features, it's almost as if you already know Mantegna when meeting him in person. Sitting outside on the porch of his restaurant is a perfect place to hear him spin stories of his lifelong love of cars - especially his treasured Buick.

The tale behind his camel beige 1947 Buick - the first car he ever bought -- is a 40- year saga. It was 1967. Mantegna was 19, attending Morton Junior College in Cicero, Illinois, and in a band that looked very much like the Beatles.

Initially, his father had given him the family car, a 1956 Chevy Bel-Air, the car Mantegna learned to drive in and absconded in once when he was 15 and his dad was away. "I didn't learn how to drive, I just took the car," he says, laughing. "Up until that point, I didn't have a car. I had to borrow a car. My family had no money. I had no money," he explains. "That thing was on its last legs. I mean it was like a rust bucket. My dad was very magnanimous, like, 'Oh, here, Son, take this.'"

But Mantegna owned the Bel-Air for only one day because his friend saw the 1947 Buick for sale. "He came to me and said, 'Hey, want to go halves on this car? It's this really old car I can't afford.'"

A manual-transmission model, the Buick was listed at $225 and still with its original owner. "I thought, 'Aw, that'd be cool. Yeah, that's a cool car. This '56 Chevy is junk and this thing looks in good shape." So the kid bailed on me. He didn't have the money, and I had just enough cash." Mantegna sold his dad's car for $75 by posting a small notice at the junior college. The 1947 Buick quickly became the band's transportation.

"We're four Italian guys with Beatles haircuts and wearing the suits, so we look like the mob pulling up this black Buick," Mantegna recalls.