Billionaire Ted Turner Once Budgeted His Cash By Daily Driving A Toyota Cressida

Ted Turner, the American media titan, billionaire, environmentalist, and philanthropist, died Wednesday at 87. Turner created CNN and a restaurant chain focused on conservationism, and he had one of the biggest personalities of any American businessman. However, despite all of his enormous wealth and success, environmentalism was always among his biggest passions in life. So much so that he drove frugal, fuel-sipping cars for most of his adult life. In recent years, Turner was known for driving a Prius, but his automotive frugality goes back to the '70s and '80s, when at one point he drove a Toyota Cressida. 

He didn't only drive fuel-sipping economy cars, though. Turner owned all sorts of stuff over his many decades of driving life, including a Ferrari that he might have even towed a boat with. But aside from the occasional splurge, Turner mostly chose to save money and fuel with his cars. So it's ironic that he used to drive a car that gets him certified car-nerd cred, since the Cressida was a cool, rear-wheel-drive luxury sedan that enthusiasts do 2JZ and LS swaps with. 

It isn't uncommon to see famous rich people buying hybrids and EVs. For a time, the Prius was the it car in Hollywood, but Turner was driving in fuel-sippers long before the Prius came out. He was driving his cheap little Cressida in 1988, according to the New York Times, during the decade perhaps best known for its exuberance and excess. It was an era in which cops on TV drove Ferraris but Turner, someone much richer any cop from Miami or Hawaii, didn't daily such an Italian exotic. 

According to Turner's own website, it was in 1973 when he traded in his Cadillac for a Toyota Corolla, following the oil embargo, and he seemingly never looked back. In 2010, Turner was an honoree at the Toyota-hosted 20th Environmental Media Awards in California, celebrating TV and movies that pushed environmentalist messages. That same year, during an interview with Stanford University, Turner proudly admitted his Prius ownership. "That's my main car and I'm a billionaire still," he said, "and I don't have a gigantic house, so I don't feel guilty about living there."

Turner leaves behind a frankly ridiculous legacy. The man created one of the largest media empires in history, was the largest land owner in America at one point (with 1.9 million acres), owned and temporarily managed the Atlanta Braves, founded Cartoon Network, and was even married to Jane Fonda for a decade, to name only a few achievements from his highlight reel. But for us car nerds, he'll also be known as the billionaire who used to rock around in one of the coolest classic Toyota sedans of them all.