Ride Me

The sudden death of Davy Jones today has re-opened the greatest mystery in television history -- what the hell happened to the infamous Monkeemobile??? And TMZ has the answer ...

For those of you under 55 ... the Monkeemobile is the modified Pontiac GTO made famous on the 1960s Monkees TV show -- and the second Davy died ... it became THE hot topic in the Monkees fan world.

Famed car customizer George Barris -- who built the car for the show -- tells TMZ, he's been getting calls non-stop ever since Davy passed away ... bombarded with questions like, “Where is the car? Is it still available? Can we see it? Can we take a photo with it?”

But there's one problem ... George doesn't have the car anymore -- he sold it at auction back in 2008 for roughly $500,000 ... to a Michigan man by the name of Mel Gutherie.

And Mel tells us, he's always open to fans taking pictures with the car -- but they better be willing to travel to the Midwest ... because he doesn't feel comfortable driving it very far. In fact, he had to have it TRUCKED to a Davy Jones concert in 2010, where Davy signed the hood (above).

Fun fact -- in approximately 40 years, the car has only racked up 8,000 miles.

DISCLAIMER: We are not saying women are worse drivers than men -- BUT ... Mark Ballas' girlfriend totally just destroyed the "Dancing" pro's Audi SUV ... and TMZ has obtained pics of the wreckage.

The 3-car pileup went down Saturday night on the Sunset Strip in L.A. -- sources tell TMZ, Mark's Pia Toscano replacement Tiffany Dunn was driving his Audi and accidentally rammed some dude's Porsche from behind ... sending him careening into another car.

Thankfully, everyone was fine ... and the damage on the other two cars wasn't too bad -- but that's a heckuva lot more than we can say for Mark's poor Audi, which was left in undriveable condition in the middle of the road.

We're told the car was eventually towed to safety -- and Mark's insurance company is taking care of everything else.

So -- now that we got that out of the way -- we gotta ask ...

Miley Cyrus can go from 0-60 in 5.3 seconds ... without a top on ... and all it cost her was a cool $127,000 ... TMZ has learned.

Cyrus dropped by a Mercedes Benz dealership in Encino, CA last week ... and drove off the lot in a brand new white 2012 SL550 convertible.

Sources close to Miley tell us ... the former Disney star paid for the entire thing up front ... because she can.

The best part ... Miley didn't even turn in her old car ... a bodyguard drove it back to her pad so she could joyride in her new toy.

The lesson -- it's good to be rich.

After his health scare a couple of weeks ago, Nick Cannon is back on his feet and in the driver's seat.

Decked out in a sweatsuit, the 31-year-old was spotted getting out of his black convertible Ferrari in L.A. on Tuesday.

Earlier this month, Nick underwent surgery after being hospitalized with "mild kidney failure during his holiday vacation with wife Mariah Carey in Aspen, CO.

Screw laughter ... clearly a sleek, black, purring Ferrari is truly the best medicine of all.

Dwyane Wade got a SICK $230,000 sports car at his 30th birthday party in Miami this weekend -- but the most impressive part of the gift is how it was AIRLIFTED into the hotel pool without a scratch.

The car is a brand new 2012 McLaren MP4-12C -- given to him for FREE by the owner of a local luxury car dealership. Wade is the brand ambassador for that particular dealership.

The guy wanted the presentation of the car to be super-fancy -- with the McLaren waiting for Wade on a platform in the middle of the hotel pool. Problem is, you can't just drive that thing inside the hotel.

Instead, the car was loaded up onto a crane in the alley next to the pool area ... hoisted above the hotel wall ... and carefully lowered onto the waiting platform, positioned inside the pool.

Props to the crew -- because the whole thing went off without a hitch ... and D-Wade accepted his present in front of famous friends like Usher, Common, T.I., LeBron, and Chris Bosh.

D-Dub even got a shout from Vogue chief Anna Wintour ... who said, "I hope we'll see you back at NY Fashion Week in September, because you're my favorite person to sit next to at the shows."

The rich get richer.

Boy toy extraordinaire Casper Smart is really cruising into Jennifer Lopez's life ... and rode around on a yacht with the pop icon and her two kids in Miami on Friday.

Bradley Cooper is now much more likely to seriously injure himself on the road -- because TMZ has learned ... the actor just got his motorcycle license in L.A.

Sources tell TMZ, Cooper hit up an L.A.-area DMV earlier this month -- where he successfully passed his test for a motorcycle license ... permitting him to hit the streets on whatever overly-priced vintage chopper he inevitably decides to buy.

But he better be careful -- according to some random motorcycle crash statistics we looked up, "Motorcyclists were 39 times more likely than passenger car occupants to die in a crash ... and eight times more likely to be injured."

Shoppers in London were bloody shocked to see a ridiculous cherry red stretch Ferrari Limousine parked outside Harrods department store the other day.

The ultra-luxury vehicle is 20 feet long and seats eight comfortably.

Cameron Diaz spent her weekend going full throttle ... or at least as much as one can behind the wheel of a go-kart.

Diaz was spotted in Carson, CA at a place called Go Kart World. We're told Cameron was there serving as a chaperone to a group of about seven boys and girls.

According to our spies, Cam picked up the tab for everyone ($25 a piece) and was quite the skilled racer. She seemed to take it quite seriously ... winning the first race and finishing second in the next.

Justin Bieber was pulled over by the LAPD today -- after cops say he performed an illegal maneuver in his tricked out "Batmobile" ride ... TMZ has learned.

Cops tell TMZ ... Bieber made an "unsafe left turn" at an L.A. intersection.

But fear not Bieberettes ... Justin was let off with a warning after he promised to be more careful in the future.

Banging Jennifer Lopez has some HUGE perks ... (besides just banging Jennifer Lopez) ... TMZ has learned her new boy toy is now driving around town in the pop star's pimped out BENTLEY!!!

Sources close to Casper Smart tell us ... the world's most famous backup dancer isn't just using the car to chauffeur his meal ticket around when she's in L.A. ... he gets the car for personal use too.

Besides car privileges ... dude has already flown across the world on a private jet ... gone on tropical vacations ... and as we previously mentioned, he gets to bang J.Lo.

Looking a tad less confident than he did on TV, former "MacGyver" hunk Richard Dean Anderson, 61, got stuck in a bit of a jam when his car broke down in Malibu on Monday.

Not only was Jermaine Dupri's mega-expensive Lamborghini repossessed recently -- now, the people who fronted him the cash to pay for it are out for blood ... claiming the producer still owes them $80,000 for the car.

Premier Financial Services filed new legal docs in Georgia Superior Court, claiming Jermaine financed the white 2005 Lamborghini Murcielago in 2006 -- worth $330,000 -- and agreed to make 58 monthly payments of $4,323.

According to the docs, Jermaine dropped $70,000 up front for the car and successfully made the majority of payments -- but for some reason ... he dropped the ball in 2009, and failed to pay the remaining handful.

As a result, PFS repossessed the car and sold it off for $115,000 -- and now they're out for the difference ... insisting they hemorrhaged $79,095 in the deal-gone-wrong, and they're suing Jermaine for their losses.

Jesse James is in a bike building war with the guys from "American Chopper" -- and it's getting so intense that Jesse claims things could get violent between him and Paul Teutul Jr.

The gear-heads are all at the Hard Rock Hotel in Vegas for a Discovery Channel event called "American Chopper Live: The Build Off" -- airing live tonight at 9pm ET.

James was setting up his big red machine today when we asked about the rivalry -- and he told us, "The senior is cool but the kid's like wound up tighter than a watch ... I think he's gonna want to fight me."

So, we gotta ask ...

Tom Selleck's 22-year-old daughter Hannah Selleck has serious horse sense -- representing the USA at an international equestrian competition in Paris this weekend, alongside the best riders in the world.

She didn't take home a top prize at the Gucci Masters -- but she still did pretty damn well for herself ... placing in several events.

"Jersey Shore" cheeseball The Situation finally got what was coming to him ... when cops pulled over his $200K red Ferrari in Miami Beach on Thursday.

While usually guilty of fashion violations, this time law enforcement officials tell us the alleged 29-year-old was stopped and cited for speeding.

Gym. Tan. Lawyer.