Ride Me

Sources connected to the production tell us ... filmmakers went to the Volo Auto Museum in Illinois last week and BOUGHT a pair of 1929 Duesenbergs and a 1929 Packard -- both intended to be used by DiCaprio's character, Jay Gatsby.

TMZ spoke to a rep from Volo who tells us three cars are valued at anywhere from $800 thousand to $3 MILLION each -- but the rep wouldn't reveal how much cash producers plunked down for the rides.

We're told the cars are scheduled to be shipped out to the movie set in Australia in the next few weeks.

According to a lawsuit filed back in April ... in September 2010, Sean was driving a Bentley that was rented to his fiancée, Chantel Kendall. The lawsuit claims Stewart crashed the Bentley (see photos here) on Sunset Blvd. and completely totaled it.

The rental company wants the $145,000 they claim the Bentley is worth -- but they also want $72,748 they lost out on in revenue while they took the time to have the Bentley replaced.

Dennis Singletary tells TMZ he went to an L.A. Honda dealership in April to buy a 4-door Honda Civic and wanted the very same deal he pitches on national televsion -- "The Really Big Thing" ... which is 0% down, low finance rates and $190 a month payments.

Dennis qualified because his credit rate was a solid 709. Problem was -- the dealership didn't have the car he wanted. So Dennis trotted over to another dealership which DID have the car ... and that's where he endured a gross miscarriage of car justice.

Dennis claims the dealer wouldn't give him "The Really Big Thing," because according to the dealer his credit score was only 663.

Dennis protested to no avail. Finally, in frustration, Dennis called the first dealer -- put him on the speaker phone and asked him to repeat his credit score -- 709.

But the 2nd dealer was immovable -- sticking Dennis with the lower score.

Dennis finally pulled a, "Do you know who I am" ... left in a huff and fired off a letter to corporate ... saying, "How is it that I am dealing with such blatant dishonesty and unethical behavior from one of your dealerships, when my face was all over the TV promoting the very deal I wasn’t able to get? If this is the way I am being treated how is everyone else being treated?"

In the end, Dennis went to yet another dealership ... and scored a great deal on a Honda with the terms he wanted.

According to law enforcement sources, Beckham was driving a black Cadillac on the 405 Freeway near Torrance, CA yesterday morning ... when he rear-ended a gold Mitsubishi that was broken down in the carpool lane.

We're told the driver of the Mistubishi, who was inside the car and wearing his seatbelt at the time, had to be taken to the hospital -- but Beckham did not require medical attention.

Law enforcement sources tell us Beckham was not arrested or cited on the scene.

A call to Beckham's rep was not returned.

The auction -- hosted by the Volo Auto Museum in Illinois -- starts on June 8th and goes for an entire week.

Other awesome cars on the block include:

- "Herbie" from the 2005 Lindsay Lohan movie ... driven by Lindsay herself
- The Bull car from "Death Race 2000"
- Scooby Doo Mystery Machine from Hanna Barbara studios.
- The Buick from the opening scene of "Fast and Furious 4"... driven by Vin Diesel
- The jalopy from the "Beverly Hillbillies" movie
- Switch Blade ... the very first car built on Jesse James' TV show "Monster Garage"
- The Semi truck and trailer that was used by the late Heath Ledger in "Batman Dark Knight"
- The GAZ from "Indiana Jones 4"

The alleged victim filed a lawsuit in L.A. County Superior Court recently -- claiming Walker drove STRAIGHT into her car back in March ... not only destroying her ride, but causing her considerable personal injury.

The woman behind the lawsuit is now suing Walker for medical bills, loss of earnings, and car repair costs.

The 26-year-old -- real name Ruth Pineda -- claims she was on her way to some appointment on Friday ... when a semi truck slammed into her Mercedes 300 E.

The lawsuit -- filed by the other driver -- claims Brandi ran through a stop sign near her L.A. home and slammed into the back of an SUV back in March, 2010.

According to the suit ... Brandi apologized to the woman, and admitted she had been on the phone arguing with her ex-husband.

Brandi tells TMZ, "We were probably fighting about money or custody."

The plaintiff claims she was injured and her car was totaled. She's suing Brandi for less than $25,000 in damages.

It all went down during a taping for Spike TV's "Repo Games" -- a show in which down-on-their-luck regular people get a chance to win back repo'd cars ... if they can correctly answer a series of trivia questions.

We're told the man in this clip was PISSED because he lost during the trivia round ... and instead of walking away a classy loser ... he went all smashy smashy on his former ride.

Jay's 1906 Stanley Steamer stalled out in Burbank, CA Friday -- and police tell us officers driving by noticed flames and stopped to help.

Turns out Jay had everything under control ... re-igniting the steam engine with a torch. Once it fired up, Jay and his passenger went on their merry we-don't-have-to-pay-5-bucks-a-gallon-for-gas way.

Hef took his fianacee' Crystal Harris (the one on the right) to the Magic Kingdom yesterday to celebrate her 25th birthday.

Just in case you forgot -- Hef is 60 years older than Crystal.

The man doing the suing is Joel Postorino -- who claims he suffered a serious disc injury in his neck after a woman driving a 2005 BMW smashed into the back of his Porsche at an L.A. intersection last May.

In his lawsuit, filed in L.A. County Superior Court, Postorino claims the only person in the BMW during the crash was a woman named Christina Kline ... but Kara happens to be a registered co-owner of the BMW, so the man feels the former "Idol" star should have to pay up too.

DioGuardi's rep tells TMZ ... Kline used to work for Kara ... and she only co-signed on the car to help her employee out several years ago.

The rep explains, "When Ms. Kline left Kara’s company in November 2009, she was asked to remove Kara’s name from the registration, but never did. She was in a car accident in May 2010 that Kara did not know about until yesterday when she was served papers."