Celebrities love to drive around in unique vehicles. After all, if you’ve got enough in the bank to buy any car you want, converting them into the most outlandish rides ever probably keeps things interesting. Many of them do, from pop stars to athletes. From NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal in his custom vehicles to pop star Will.i.Am in cars he designs and mods himself, there’s no shortage of over-the-top, eccentric vehicles when it comes to artists and celebrity personalities. Cars and celebrities are always an interesting combination, with plenty of examples of celebs also getting into trouble for their rides.
However, we’re here to check out weird and whimsical rides that pop stars, athletes and other celebrities ride around. There are certainly examples of tasteful modifications, but there are far too many instances where an artist or celebrity has gone over the top in their rides. Take a look at some of the weirdest celebrity cars that got people scratching their heads on these rides.
10 Will.i.am’s 1958 Custom Corvette
American rapper Will.i.am has found more than one way to express his creativity as he has invested a lot of time in modifying cars and turning them into futuristic projects. His 1959 Chevy Corvette is an example of this. While there’s a Chevy underneath, the car is virtually unrecognizable. A celebrity customizer, West Coast Customs built this car, dubbed the “Willvette.”
The ‘Willvette’ has the interior of a C6, but Will.i.am made things fairly futuristic on the inside with a massive touchscreen and custom sound system, and on the outside there’s an equally large grille to match. The design of this bespoke Corvette is downright polarizing, and while it’s fairly uncertain what the artist really intended, one thing is certain: it’s a special driving experience.
9 The Pink Lobster by Britney Spears
Whether or not what Britney Spears did to her Hummer can be called individualization is up for debate. Some would even go so far as to call it an outright slaughter of the SUV. Like many other celebrities of her day, Britney brought home a Hummer and went overboard with the modifications she made.
The pop star even got in trouble with the law when luxury brand Louis Vuitton slapped her with a $300,000 lawsuit for embroidering their logo on their Hummer’s dashboard and showing it around in the music video for their 2004 single Do Somethin’.
8th Flo Rida’s gold clad Bugatti
Flo Rida is known for his rap songs, not his taste in cars. He loves the fast life because Flo Rida spent a lot of money to get a Bugatti Veyron. However, having one of the fastest and most exclusive cars of all time wasn’t enough to sate Flo Rida’s appetite as he went ahead and got what was then the world’s fastest car wrapped in gold chrome.
So much so that even the rims of Flo Rida’s Bugatti Veyron are made of 24k gold. Incidentally, the design was taken over by the Florida-based customizer MetroWrapz. Flo Rida wanted to stand out from the rest by modifying his car and writing it in the history of the most unusual designs, and the rapper succeeded.
7 Justin Bieber’s leopard print Audi R8
Here’s an auto customizing job that truly can be described as animalistic. Global pop sensation Justin Bieber has many exotic cars in his collection and his Audi R8 is one of them. While the regular R8 is enough to make any geared turbofan stop and take notice, Bieber’s German supercar is perhaps even more of a head turner considering he had it completely clad in a leopard print.
Justin took one of the best looking high performance sports cars in history with a timeless design and turned it into this head turner monstrosity. Sure, the R8 houses a V10 and makes north of 500 horsepower, making it a certified beast under the hood, but we would have much preferred you kept the animalism under the hood itself, Justin.
6 Shaquille O’Neal’s Custom Polaris Slingshot
Legendary basketball player and four-time NBA champion Shaquille O’Neal has an extensive car collection and most of his vehicles are custom designed. A fan of modified wheels, Shaq also had his Polaris Slingshot modified and enhanced by adding two extra seats to the trike.
This gave rise to the ‘Sling-Shaq’ and O’Neal also fitted it with a heavy sound system. The Polaris isn’t even the only trike in Shaq’s garage, as the man also has a Vanderhall Venice Roadster. However, the trike only makes 180 horsepower, which at all 7 feet and 320 pounds from Shaq just isn’t enough.
5 Will.i.ams Volkswagen Beetle Bug
Say what you will about Will.i.am’s taste in cars, but he’s original. Another collaboration between the American rapper and West Coast Customs, the “Bug” was built from the ground up on a 1958 Beetle. It costs even more ridiculous than it looks, at a whopping $900,000.
The powertrain for the Volkswagen Beetle Bug comes from a Corvette LS3, and in keeping with everything Will.i.am does, the cabin is pretty futuristic. A single iPad controls all interior functions, from door operation to climate settings.
4 The game’s leather-wrapped Ferrari
It is no coincidence that many music stars appear on this list. With a life in the music world come some quirky choices and tastes. Take rapper The Game for example. In 2012, the rapper bought a $200,000 Ferrari on a trip to France. All well and good… except that his Ferrari is completely wrapped in leather.
The Game has always been a fan of cars, and his collection at one time included a Bentley, a Dodge Charger SRT, and a Lamborghini Murcielago, all from 2006. He even added a Range Rover, Chevy Corvette, and Can-Am added Spyder to his collection, although the Corvette was repossessed after three years. However, the leather Ferrari is the most shaky vehicle of them all. Boy, that leather case has got to keep that game warm in there without a heater, right?
3 Will.I.Am’s Custom DeLorean DMC
Staying true to his futuristic design choices, Will.i.am built this car himself. Of course, this Delorean might just be the most futuristic car of them all, considering the car has now been “back to the future” twice (wink, wink). Painted all white, there’s a single brake light covering the rear of Will.i.am’s custom DeLorean, and the only bit of black you see is from the rubber of the tires, grille, and exposed pieces on the side and on the bottom of the car.
The car houses a GM LS3 E-Rod V8 unit and its interiors have been completely redesigned and re-equipped for maximum comfort and luxury. Also, it’s built entirely out of aluminum, which makes the car pretty light. Apparently, the rapper parted with $700,000 for this build, and while it looks decent and futuristic, no one could ever have fathomed DeLorean’s actual futuristic Alpha5 car. For our money, we’d say the latter looks a lot better, as Will.i.am’s Custom Ride is one of his more tastefully designed cars, but still odd.
2 Deadmau5’s Rule-Breaking Ferrari (Purrari)
No one can fault a versatile music producer like Deadmau5 for wanting to bring home a Ferrari 458 Italia. We could have even understood a bit of modification to make his ride stand out, but would the artist have adapted his Italian Prancing Horse after being inspired by an internet meme? Deadmau5 custom wrapped his 458 Italia in a sky blue colorway with the internet meme “Nyan Cat” on the car. He even called the car “Purrari”.
However, the people at Ferrari never took the design idea kindly and hit Deadmau5 with a cease and desist letter. After all, those in charge at Maranello have strict rules when it comes to modifying their cars. Deadmau5 eventually had to restore the car to its original white color.
1 Justin Bieber’s Rolls Royce “Uriel”
West Coast Customs certainly makes cars you can’t take your eyes off. Of course, as you stare at her, you’re still trying to decide whether you like what you see or not. Justin Bieber, inspired by a futuristic concept car design by Rolls-Royce, wanted the same car in his driveway. However, he learned that what he saw was only a prototype and not even roadworthy.
That’s where West Coast Customs came in, and Bieber commissioned a car just like the concept for himself. Based on a Rolls-Royce Wraith, this is a one-off. WCC shortened the Wraith by 8 inches and widened it by 12. You really can’t be sure if this car is tastefully designed or not considering it’s a Rolls-Royce Wraith after all. However, the car called “Uriel” is so strange that you just can’t take your eyes off it.
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