HOW METALLICA’S KIRK HAMMETT LOST HIS PORSCHE

As the story goes, longtime tour manager Tony Smith promised Metallica’s lead guitarist that the band's 1991 self-titled set, aka the Black Album, would someday sell 10 million copies. Hammett half-jokingly replied that if that ever happened, “I’ll give you my Porsche.”

“I told our tour manager on the Black Album, ‘If it sells over 10 million copies, I will give you my Porsche,’” recalled Hammett when the car went up for auction in 2009. “He called me up when it sold 10 million and one.”

Apparently, Hammett then surprised Tony with an envelope containing the keys to his Porsche. Of course, by then, the dude could probably buy eight more of them: the Black Album celebrated its 30th anniversary this year, and to this day it hasn’t left the Billboard 200. As of 2012, the record has gone 16x platinum — or a little more than a Porche and a half-worth of records.

Tony Smith is a British-born tour manager who worked for Metallica from around 1987 till his retirement from the road in 1999. In 1994, he founded The Metallica Club and wrote much of the early content for the official fan club magazine, So What! In a June 1996 online Q&A with fans, Smith said he was one of only two full-time employees of Metallica.

In 2003, Smith put some of his memorabilia on an online auction site, including an autographed Rolling Stone magazine, promo photos, guitar picks, and T-shirts.

The Porsche itself found its way onto eBay a few years later.

Hammett was fine with the auction. “He was having health problems. He called. ‘Is it OK if I sell it?’ I said, ‘Hey bro, I gave it to you. You can do whatever you want with it.’”

Ref: HOW METALLICA’S KIRK HAMMETT LOST HIS PORSCHE (loudwire)