What is Danny Koker's Net Worth?
Danny Koker is an American car restorer and reality TV star who has a net worth of $13 million. Also known as "The Count," Danny Koker is most famous for running Count's Kustoms, an automobile shop that specializes in customization and decoration. Count's Kustoms is the focus of the long-running History Channel reality show, "Counting Cars." Prior to his focal role on "Counting Cars," Danny Koker frequently appeared on the show "Pawn Stars" as an expert. Outside of Count's Kustoms, Koker owns a number of other businesses throughout Las Vegas. This includes Count's Vamp'd Rock Bar and Grill and Count's Tattoo Company. During his time in Vegas, Danny Koker also founded a rock band called Count's 77. The semi-successful band had one major hit called "Summer of '77."He is also known for his extensive collection of 50 cars and 70 motorcycles.
Danny Koker has managed to squeeze a lot of living into the first 50 years of his life. From performing as a touring gospel musician to teaching himself to fix cars, to hosting a television show, to opening his own car shop, to starring in a reality series, to running a bar and tattoo parlor, to rocking out with his own band, Danny Koker is anything but the run-of-the-mill used car salesman. His route to design and reality show stardom may have been circuitous, but his experiences have definitely influenced his work. Rather than choosing show business over cars or focusing on car design and leaving music behind, he has managed to make a life that combines everything he loves. His car and motorcycle redesigns are recognized for being functional, tough, and beautiful, and his work is often described as being "full of heart." Those accolades are not surprising when the designer has clearly lived such a full life.
Danny Koker (Theo Wargo/Getty Images)
Early Life
Danny Nicholas Koker II was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on January 5, 1964. He grew up in both Cleveland and Detroit, Michigan, in a family that was a mix of Ford Motor Company employees and show business professionals. He was always fascinated with cars and taught himself how to repair and retrofit vehicles. He fell in love with old cars and knew that he wanted to have his own collection someday. However, many of his early years were spent on the road – singing. His father was a singer and pianist. A classically trained baritone and pianist, he toured with the Cathedral Quartet throughout the 60s and performed with the Weatherfords and the Foggy River Boys.
As a child, Danny and his family also toured without the Rex Humbard Singers for years. He sang with his father and grew up around music. As much time as he spent around cars, he also spent in concert halls around the world. Danny was immersed in a world of black and Southern gospel music growing up and still considers gospel his favorite type of music despite his gearhead/heavily tattooed image.
After all those years on the road, his family settled in Las Vegas, Nevada, where his father began running a local television station. Danny first became known for hosting "Saturday Fright at the Movies," a B-grade horror movie series in which he appeared as "Count Cool Rider." He eventually left the show and performing behind and decided to focus on his other love – cars.
Getty
Counts Customs
Danny Koker went on to found his auto shop, Count's Kustoms. Over the course of the last decades, Count's Kustoms has become one of the most famous custom houses in the US and abroad. With a staff of nine, Count's Kustoms is known for finding/buying old cars, creating amazing redesigns, and then reselling the vehicles consistently and successfully. Their expertise in vehicles of all types is respected worldwide. Danny Koker's love for old cars has led him to collect more than fifty vehicles, and he is tenacious about buying cars and motorcycles that catch his eye. He prefers working on old vehicles and often turns away requests to rework or retrofit newer cars.
Long loved in the car world, wider audiences became familiar with him when he began appearing on the History Channel reality series "Pawn Stars." He was brought in as a car and motorcycle expert beginning with the series' third season. His popularity on the show led to History offering him his own program.
Counting Cars
A number of years went by before he started appearing in "Counting Cars," but during this period, he was featured heavily on "Pawn Stars" as an automobile expert. Eventually, he was given his own show, "Counting Cars." "Counting Cars" has been airing since August 2012, and the show is immensely popular. It follows the day-to-day activities of Danny Koker's shop and chronicles his car and motorcycle design gigs from start to finish. The show has made him a star worldwide and has increased interest in his shop exponentially.
Salary
For his role on the show "Counting Cars," Danny Koker reportedly receives a salary of $100,000 per episode. The number of episodes for each season varies, but from 2016 to 2018, there was an average of 16 episodes per season. Based on this number, Danny Koker earns roughly $1.6 million per year for his role in "Counting Cars."
(Photo by David Becker/Getty Images )
Other Businesses
In addition to owning Count's Kustoms, he also owns Count's Vamp'd Rock Bar and Grill and the Count's Tattoo Company, a tattoo studio located in the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino. Though he loves building cars, he has not let go of his musical roots. He performs with the band Zito77. The group was founded after Danny and a group of musician buddies performed an impromptu set at an open mic night at Vamp'd. The performances proved far more successful than anyone expected.
Relationships
Danny Koker is marred to Korie Koker, and the pair have been a married couple since 2015. During their relationship, a false rumor claimed that Korie Koker had passed away. This was later exposed as a hoax.
