Tom Monaghan, founder of Dominos Pizza, and car collector, had a lot of cars in his world

April 12, 2018

Tom Monaghan, founder of Dominos Pizza, and car collector, had a lot of cars in his world

The first Domino's "Javelin" official delivery vehicle being delivered to Tom Monaghan in 1969.

When Monaghan only had a few stores, he had red, white, and blue AMC Javelins for delivery cars.

When he and his brother started out in pizza delivery, they had a beat up '59 VW bug, and when his brother wanted out of the company/business/partnership... he got the car as a settlement

His dad died when Tom was four, and his mom put the boys into foster homes that didn't work out, then into a catholic nun orphanage. After 6 years she got her life together and thought she'd be able to care for her sons and found out, she wasn't parent material, then committed the boys to juvie.

In his teens, Monaghan had been a penniless car buff; then he joined the Marines, went into pizza after his discharge and dropping out of college, acquired a fleet of automobiles, including a handmade Bugatti Royale, the Type 41 1931 Bugatti Royale Berline De Voyage, and the Packard that conveyed F.D.R. to his second inauguration.

Because he liked to fly, and get to meetings about franchisees faster, he bought a Gulfstream jet and a Sikorsky S-76 helicopter.

He had at least 3 annual antique engine shows on Domino Farms, the event featured eighty-six exhibitors of steam and gas engines, related paraphernalia and other contraptions. Also featured were classic cars from the Domino's Pizza collection, two steam launches including the Olde English 'D' owned by Domino's and a steam powered boat called Steamer Telegraph, owned by the show's chairman, Jim Monaghan.

When his pizza franchises took off, he built a 244-car collection, bought the Detroit Tigers, and became the owner of the largest Frank Lloyd Wright collection in the world. He was worth 480 million.

Eventually, he decided to sell everything. He got rid of his cars, yachts, planes, and baseball team, and in 1999, he sold Domino’s to Bain Capital.

one of the cars in his collection was the Barris AMX 400