Comedy · automotive media · Documented owner · dated evidence through 2015

Jay Leno

Blastolene Special ‘Tank Car’

Jay Leno driving the polished aluminum Blastolene Special at Fort Irwin, with its exposed V12 and a military tank visible behind it.
Jay Leno driving his actual one-off Blastolene Special at Fort Irwin on June 1, 2015, with an M47 Patton tank behind it.Photo: Michael Beaton, Weed Army Community Hospital Public Affairs · Public domain. Joyride serves the original Commons JPEG byte-for-byte; no crop, recompression, retouching or generation. A responsive frame may crop displayed edges.
Jay Leno speaking into a microphone at the 2020 Library of Congress Gershwin Prize concert.
Jay Leno2020 · Identification portraitShawn Miller / Library of Congress · CC0 1.0 Universal. Joyride serves the current Commons file byte-for-byte. No crop, retouching or generation. A responsive frame may crop displayed edges.

A hand-built roadster wrapped around a tank engine

Connection
Documented owner · dated evidence through 2015
When
Purchase documented by its builder · photographed driving June 1, 2015
Identity
One-off Blastolene Special · M47-derived AV 1790 V12 · later Banks twin-turbo conversion

Randy Grubb built the Blastolene Special as a one-off open-wheel roadster around an enormous military-tank engine. The builder’s own project page records that Jay Leno purchased the car. Joyride does not turn that undated purchase record into a claim about ownership today; the dated evidence here runs through Leno’s June 1, 2015 Fort Irwin appearance with the car.

The photographed vehicle is not a similar hot rod. Army photographer Michael Beaton identified Leno and the Blastolene Special at Fort Irwin while a Jay Leno’s Garage segment was being recorded, and the unique body, exposed engine and proportions are visible. Banks Engineering separately documents the later fuel-injected, twin-turbo version of Leno’s car and its AV 1790 air-cooled V12. Those modification details belong to this individual build, not to a production model.

Follow the evidence

Sources for this story

The builder documents Leno’s purchase, Banks Engineering documents the modified individual car, and Michael Beaton’s dated public-domain photograph identifies Leno driving the Blastolene Special. No production year, chassis number, current-2026 ownership or generic model specification is claimed.

  • The Blastolene Special at the Big Dog GarageBlastolene · Accessed 2026-10-03 · external source

    Builder Randy Grubb’s project site explicitly records that Jay Leno purchased the one-off Blastolene Special.

  • Jay Leno’s Tank CarBanks Power · Accessed 2026-10-03 · external source

    The modified individual car, AV 1790 air-cooled 90-degree V12, electronic fuel injection and twin-turbo engineering.

Reviewed

Why this is the actual car
  • Photo identity evidence

    The builder’s own project page identifies the one-off Blastolene Special and records its purchase by Jay Leno.

  • Photo identity evidence

    Banks Engineering identifies and documents the later modified form of Jay Leno’s individual Tank Car.

  • Photo identity evidence

    Army photographer Michael Beaton identifies Jay Leno driving the Blastolene Special at Fort Irwin on June 1, 2015; the unique car and its tank-engine context are visible.

The matching photographer, venue, date and vehicle history establish the identification; the chassis stamp is not visible in these photographs.