Celebrity Rides - Kobe Bryant and Ludacris

Kobe Bryant, a.k.a. the Black Mamba, is a shooting guard for the L.A. Lakers. He is the highest paid athlete in the NBA and the third-highest paid player in history.

Bryant’s athletic career has spanned 17 years. During that time, he has accumulated a large number of luxuries that total more than $150 million.

Just how well-off is Bryant? In November of last year, he gave his teammate Steve Blake a lift to his doctor’s appointment—literally. Blake was given a free ride on Bryant’s personal helicopter. When he isn’t flying his family and friends around on their errands, he takes his copter to home games at the Staples Center.

If that doesn’t impress you, this definitely will: Bryant walked into a Ferrari dealership in 2011 and dropped $329,000 on a 458 Italia. He also has a Lamborghini, Bentley and Range Rover in his arsenal of hot wheels.

Like Bryant, rapper Ludacris has a Ferrari 458 Italia. He also has a Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe and one of only two Chrysler ME 4-12s that were ever made. His favorite car, however, is his 1993 Acura Legend. Its Kelley Blue Book value is just $2,600, but he enjoys driving it around. He once tweeted that it has more than 230,000 miles on it and is “still running strong.”

He has just completed filming for Fast and Furious 6, the highly anticipated sequel to 2011’s Fast Five. To celebrate, he bought an electric blue Bentley coupe.

Ludacris is known for his large car collection. In 2011, he said he would try to scale down his expensive hobby, but his most recent vehicle purchase shows that he is still an active collector.

“I’ve always had an affinity and a passion for cars and that whole car culture,” he said to the UK’s Metro newspaper. “There was a time when I had more than 15, but now I’ve brought that way down. I love everything from old-school cars to whatever the latest muscle of luxury vehicles are.”

In a new interview, Ludacris said his new flick “kind of takes up from where we left off [in Fast Five].” He revealed that there is “a whole new batch of surprises” and added, “The crew that is in Fast Five, we are going up against a rival crew, so it’s almost like Justice League up against the Legion of Doom.”

* Kobe Ferrari image courtesy of TMZ
* Ludacris Acura image courtesy of Acura-Legend.com
* Ludacris Ferrari image courtesy of DoingDonutsWithBernie.Blogspot.com