"Iron Chef America's" Michael Symon is all about American musc

Quick Stats:
Michael Symon
The Newest Iron Chef on Food Network's "Iron Chef America"Daily driver: 2008 Expedition King Ranch
Favorite road trip: Driving to Lake Chautauqua from Cleveland
Car he learned to drive in: 1975 Ford LTD
First car owned: 1975 Ford LTD

If you try to guess what kind of car the new bold, brash, good-natured bad-ass "Iron Chef America" Michael Symon drives, you'll probably guess right. He is all about American muscle and horsepower.

The newest member of Food Network's "Iron Chef America" series drives a 2008 Ford Expedition King Ranch. He is as personable on the phone as he is on TV, and seems like the kind of guy you'd want to kick back and have a beer with at the local dive.

Before food became his life-blood, there were cars. And Symon knows his cars.

That's because, interestingly, Symon's dad worked at and retired from the Ford Brook Park plant in Cleveland, so cars were always part of his life.

When I commented on the size of the Expedition, he replies with his distinctive laugh, reminiscent of Mozart's laugh in "Amadeus." "It is a large car, I'm a large man. I've actually had a lot of cars."

He's not kidding. To start, he once owned a seafoam green 1957 T-Bird. "Yeah, it was pretty cool," he said. "We used to road trip in that a little bit, but that's gone because I had to buy another motorcycle." (He has a 1948 Panhead and a 1999 Custom Harley, which started out as a Night Train.)

"Other than that I've always had trucks, I've always had some form of truck," Symon said. "I'm always a truck guy, I'm most comfortable in a truck."

The List

Symon is very clear about all the cars he's had and how long he had them for. The first car Symon bought was a black 1987 Jeep Wrangler. He owned that until 1993 then got a new black Ford Explorer, which he kept for two years. "After that lease was up I bought an old 1988 Range Rover, then I had that for three years and then I bought a Land Rover Defender which was 1995. After the Defender I had a Dodge Ram 2500 with a V-12. That was fun."

And then came the Hummer. "My wife made too much fun of me for that car. I had the Hummer for two years and wasn't a big fan of it. I thought I'd like it but I didn't. Now I have the Expedition King Ranch."

He said he gave up the Hummer because of the statement it made when he drove it. "You know what it is, I loved the way the car rode and performed, it was just people look at you funny in those cars. You can't really fly under the radar with that."

"Probably the favorite car I ever had was the Defender for off-road and just something general, but it ran like s--t," Symon said. "So I thought the Hummer, because it was the Hummer with the little flat bed in the back, I thought it would be like the Defender except it would run good. And it ran good, but I think people perceive you like a millionaire when you have a Hummer for some reason. So I just didn't like the whole perception of it."

"Even if you are (a millionare), you don't want people to know that," he says, laughing. "I'm an under the radar kind of guy."

Really, Iron Chef? Ok, if you say so. But he does admit he is now getting noticed for his new found fame on "Iron Chef America." "Tons" he says, adding, "All over the place, it's pretty crazy."