A 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO owned by collector David Lee.Anthony JabinWhen you google the businessman David Lee, a half-dozen David Lee Roth's, the Van Halen rock star, come up. Keep scrolling down, though, and David Lee eventually appears.Like Roth, Lee is a rock star, albeit of a different kind. He is one of the country's foremost collectors of Ferraris.As with many passionate collectors, Lee's interest in cars started early, in third grade. During library breaks in elementary school, he would gravitate toward one particular book, about foreign cars including Maseratis and Alfa Romeos. He was so interested in the publication, which had to remain in the library, that he began to freehand draw the vehicles on paper, then take the drawings home.By 16, he had posters of Lamborghinis on his wall, and became an avid reader of Road & Track magazine. His dream car then was the Ferrari 280 GTO. It was out of reach for him price-wise, of course, so it became his motivation to work hard and someday buy one.Fast forward. After graduating from University of Southern California and making a small fortune working in his father's jewelry business, focusing on watches, in 2009 he bought first exotic car, a pre-owned Lamborghini Diablo VT. Problem was that the thing more often than not was in the shop. After trading it in for a Ferrari 355 Spider, he fell in love with Ferraris, and the rest is history.AdvertisementAdvertisementOf the more than 40 cars Lee has amassed in his collection, a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO Bianco Speciale he just displayed at the 75th Pebble Beach Concourse de Elegance near Monterey, California, is his favorite. Reportedly, in 2025 at auction he bought the rare car, restored from an accident and repainted white, for $40 million. Some estimates now put its value as high as $60 million. Not a bad return on investment if that's true.Lee believes the older, rare Ferraris like his will continue to appreciate. Beverly Hills tech investor Anthony Jabin, another well-known Ferrari collector, agrees. "The market for Ferraris, particularly older ones with a mechanical stick shift and racing pedigree like David's, is heating up," Jabin says."The newer manuale-by-wire vehicles Ferrari has introduced have not taken off the way the company expected," Jabin continues. "Purists want the feel of manually shifting gears, not having it done electronically." (Essentially, Manuale-by-wire is a computerized version of a stick shift that electronically simulates shifting gears but without the physical experience.)Lee likes to collect cars of different colors, too. Red, of course, is the preferred choice for most Ferraris. But he's also acquired yellow, green and white ones. "I've taken to naming them after food condiments," says Lee, laughing. "First, it was catchup and mustard for red and yellow, later mayonnaise for white and relish for green. My social media followers love it."What's Lee's favorite car to drive? "It depends on the circumstances. If I'm on the California coast, it's a convertible. If I go to a classic car event, I'll drive a classic car. If I'm on-track, I'll pick one that gives me the best lap times."No surprise that Lee is friends with ex-talk-show host Jay Leno, another serious car collector who regularly appears at Concourse events. Lee has known Leno for a decade, and has been a guest on "Jay Leno's Garage" television show more than a dozen times discussing exotic cars.AdvertisementAdvertisementLee, like Leno, is a member of the exclusive 200-mph club. "Late one night, heading up to Monterey with some friends on a flat deserted road, I pushed my Ferrari LaFerrari up to that magic number," says Lee, smiling. Any fear doing that? "No, more like a thrill." Spoken like a true Ferrari guy.This article was originally published on Forbes.com