He readily acknowledges the fortune being a member of Pink Floyd brought him has enabled him to pursue a dream in motoring. "I've been very privileged," he said.
Mason uses the 40 or so cars in his collection in Gloucestershire as much as he can. "The trouble is now not so much having the chance to drive them but driving in the UK nowadays so much time is spent on motorways. Driving isn't exactly pleasurable," he said.
"But I'm a great believer in the cars being used, so if I'm not driving them, then my wife and kids are very happy taking them out." The Mason family has six competition licences and adding in his son-in-law "it's something like 12".
If there is a theme to his collection then its about competition. The oldest - a 1901 Panhard - is thought to be one of the original race cars.
Don't ask him to mechanically mother the collection. He describes himself very much as a "tinkerer" rather than a full-blown mechanic.
"I was brought up to do the basics. We built Austin Sevens and to some extent Aston Martins. But I became really famous for stripping cars down and then going on tour (with Pink Floyd) and someone else was left to put it back together."
Mason loves the bare-basics elements of the old cars and believes that is what makes them much more approachable for anyone who likes mechanical things. "The problem with today's modern cars is you open the bonnet and there's an engine cover and a piece of metal with a warning that if you touch the engine your warranty is immediately invalid," he said.
While his wife may not have his passion for the cars as a whole, he said she loved driving.
Mason is one of the few people in the world allowed to drive the 1936 Auto Union race cars and that probably says more about his skill as a driver than anything else.
"It's a fantastic vehicle to drive because you're sitting in history.
" But honestly I have no idea what it's like to drive at the speed it was driven at by chaps like Nuvolari. They were doing three times the speed I've driven them at. They are 200mp/h-plus cars after all," he said.
Picking any one of the cars he owns as a favourite to drive, he singles out his Ferrari 250 GTO. One of only 39 built, it is eye-wateringly valuable.
"It's the best allrounder by far. You can race it and drive it around town.
"In September it finished second in a trophy race at Goodwood with Martin Blundell driving it, then three days later it was in Italy being driven by my wife and Jeremy Clarkson's wife in a ladies-only rally.
"A week-and-a-half later it was sitting in the West End of London outside the Ralph Lauren store as part of a promotion.
"If it wasn't that then one of the Aston Martins because that was the first car I ever raced," he said.
THE MASON FILE
Born in Edgbaston, Birmingham, on January 27, 1944, he was the only constant member of the band Pink Floyd since its formation in 1965.
He competes in auto racing events and has driven five times in the Le Mans 24-hour race.
His first car was a 1930 Austin Seven Chummy.
The oldest car in his 40-car collection is a 1901 5-litre Panhard, and the newest a 2003 Ferrari Enzo.
He is president of the Guild of Motoring Writers in Britain, a trustee of the national Motor Museum at Beaulieu and a life member of the British Racing Drivers' Club.