15 Facts About Shaq's Custom Cars That Don't Make Sense

Buying fancy and custom cars that no one else on the planet owns is one of the greatest perks of being a celebrity. Want a 10-wheeler jeep with an alligator tank in the trunk? No problem! Better yet, no one will ever tell you that your idea isn't all that practical, leading to some ridiculous and downright hilarious celebrity cars.

This almost naturally brings us to Shaquille O'Neal. The former NBA juggernaut is well known for his sense of humor and outlandish taste. As a prankster, he showed up to practice with the Los Angeles Lakers in a birthday suit after being scolded for being late. And as a true car fanatic who has money, he owns more cars than the employees of most automotive websites combined.

His automotive history is full of exciting stories and questionable decisions. In one of his cars, the Suburban, he removed all the seats and replaced them with speakers. He became infatuated with Bentleys, buying three at once from the same dealership after the salesman didn't recognize him and questioned his ability to afford any of the cars he looked at.

Some of his custom buildings were also unusual. It's known for stretching supercars and making some highly desirable rides completely impractical. With that in mind, we snuck into Shaq's garage to show you 15 facts about his custom cars that make absolutely no sense.

15 Little engine of his Vaidora

via blog.dupontregistry.com

Early last year, Shaq received a custom Vaydor sports car built by Supercraft Custom Crafted Cars. Vaydors are custom made and built to customer specifications and options, and it was featured as the Joker's car in a recent DC movie. It makes sense that someone over seven feet tall would need a dedicated sports car. What doesn't make sense is that out of all the available engine options, Shaq didn't choose a supercharged V6 or a twin-turbo V6. Instead, he opted for a tedious naturally aspirated V6 that pumps out a sleepy 280 horsepower. Also, it will be much slower with a 350-pound basketball player in the driver's seat.

14 Defeat smart cars

In addition to being an NBA star, Shaq is known for his fun-loving sense of humor and love of practical jokes. However, no one is sure that he played a prank on everyone when he bought a Smart car as his daily driver. It just doesn't make sense that when you're rich enough to buy any car, you choose the smallest car on the market. Wanting to push the joke as far as possible, he also pushed John Cena into a tiny car during the episode. Car park Karaoke. Even though he has made some internal modifications to help him sit better, watching Shaq play a version of human Tetris as he gets in and out of his Smart car is truly a sight to behold.

13 Stretched slingshot Polaris

The Slingshot Polaris is an attention-grabbing half-car, half-motorcycle that's perfect for one-wheel riding and side-to-side fun. That is, until you stretch the frame and add two more rear seats without any engine modifications. The naturally aspirated four-cylinder makes 173 horsepower, which is very low for a car weighing less than 1,800 pounds. It hits 0 km/h in a not-too-pathetic 60 seconds, but then again, that's with one average-sized driver, not a giant basketball player and his three giant friends. If that wasn't enough, Shack also added a 5.2-speaker surround sound system with two subwoofers and an overhead soundbar.

12 Jeep Wrangler is not for off-road

One of Shaq's last builds was this Jeep Wrangler built by West Coast Customs. Shaq always wanted a Jeep, but couldn't fit comfortably into one. To accommodate its size, WCC welded two doors together and flipped the rear seat. What was odd about this build was that it had very heavy off-road parts, despite the fact that Shaq had never driven a car off-road in his life. WCC added a Pro Comp Rubicon lift kit, Pro Comp suspension and Fox Racing aluminum shocks, as well as a Rigid Industry lightbar, a Smittybilt winch and a huge crossbeam. It's perfect for off-roading, which is something Shaq never does.

11 F-650 without rear vision

The Ford F-650 is a custom truck built by Wade Ford, each one unique and built to the taste of the owner. This is one of the largest pickup trucks available and it even looks like a full size truck. So visibility is pretty bad and it's already hard enough to see the rear of the car when it's stock. Wondering how he could make this disadvantage even worse, Shaq installed a huge stereo system that obscured the remaining rear visibility, with floor-to-roof panels to house 6×15-inch subwoofers, six JL amplifiers, four tweeters, and eight C5 component speakers.

10 Aquarium speakers

When Shaq got his first paycheck, he went straight to the local Mercedes dealer and bought the most expensive SL 500 they had. He came back twice more and this story is a pretty entertaining story about how to spend $1,000,000 in one day. As with all his trips, Shaq opted to install a massive stereo, but with an unusual twist. For some reason, which is still unknown, he asked one of his boyfriends to install an aquarium in the car with speakers and subwoofers inside. Apparently, Shaq was unaware that the sound waves could damage the fish, and one of his bodyguards was tasked with replacing the fish daily.

9 Stretched Lamborghini Gallardo

Lamborghini takes aerodynamics very seriously. Part of the design of every vehicle is the study of every detail of the bodywork to maximize aerodynamic efficiency for greater acceleration and faster cornering speeds. The quickest way to destroy the aerodynamics of such a finely tuned car is to change the look, which is what Shaq did with his Gallardo. The roof, doors and windows had to be widened to allow Shaq to fit inside the supercar, adding a total of 12 inches to the Gallardo's overall length. At the very least, seeing how the NBA's huge center gets in and out of the Gallardo makes it all worthwhile.

8 Rolls-Royce is made for two

As you can see, one of the nicest places on earth is the Rolls-Royce showroom. The rear passenger space is particularly chic. Once you step inside, the doors will automatically close behind you. The bottle cooler and flutes are hidden but easily accessible. The roof is adorned with stars, and passengers can keep up to date with the latest news through separate TV displays. Picnic tables slide out at the push of a button. The back seat of the Phantom is pure wealth. The owners of this luxury car love to be driven, so it's not very clear why Shaq removed the back seat completely. In one of the interviews, he admitted that he also could not understand this.

7 Shakilak

The Shaquillac was a 2007 Cadillac DTS that West Coast Customs built for longtime customer Shaq. He was playing for the Miami Heat at the time and had to travel all the way to Los Angeles because he didn't trust anyone to build his cars. At first, he didn't know what kind of car he wanted and specified that he wanted something trendy and casual that would allow him to go unnoticed. Admittedly, West Coast Customs did a pretty good job, but for unknown reasons, the car was fitted with front police lights. It's not exactly ideal when you want to blend in with the crowd and have no one pay attention to you.

6 Mercedes-Benz with rear doors

Shaq has always been a big fan of Mercedes, and throughout his career he has owned and modified several vehicles from the manufacturer. When he skipped the troubled 2007 McLaren and settled on the S 550, he chose one of the cars that will ever leave the Mercedes factory. Again, he trusted West Coast Customs to modify it, and it's fair to say it didn't turn out very brilliantly. He asked the WCC to turn it into a convertible, which, given the initial pitch of the windshield, just doesn't look right. But the most confusing modification was the addition of swing doors at the back. Due to the new layout of the front seats, there is no way for rear passengers to open them.

5 Lincoln Navigator with Lambo doors

The Navigator that Shaq bought is one of his most famous and recognizable cars. He parked it on Collins Avenue in South Beach when he was training with the Miami Heat and it became a local tourist attraction with hundreds of people taking pictures of it every day. The Navigator has been heavily modified with a massive sound system, remote TV, body kit and, going back to 2003, $10,000 DEVIN spinners. Given Shaq's massive build, one would assume he would like to make the car as easy to get in and out of as possible, so it's still a mystery to everyone why he chose to equip his Navigator with Lambo doors.

4 Louis Vuitton Inside

The early 2000s were a crazy time for NBA stars. Pimp My Ride was in its prime, and there were few financial advisers. This has made it possible for celebrities to squander their money in mind-numbing ways, such as the Louis Vuitton interior that Shaq installed in his 2001 Chevrolet G1500 van. Louis Vuitton may make fantastic suitcases and bags, but their car interiors are, frankly, nauseating. He also lowered the van to the ground so that Shaq had enough time to contemplate his terrible choice of car modification while he couldn't drive anywhere. It would also be remiss of us to point out that the front bumper doesn't fit properly either.

3 Chameleon Ford Mustang

This time, Magazine Dub was commissioned to build a new Ford Mustang for Shaq. He'd always loved Mustangs, but he just couldn't fit into any of them. He gave Dub Magazine the freedom to do whatever they wanted, but after he bought a black Mustang to start with, he called them and asked them to change it to a white one. Soon after, he changed his mind again and asked to change the color of the car to burgundy. Burgundy wasn't a factory color for the Mustang at the time, but there was a color that was close, called Ruby Red, that made sense to start with. When it comes to building cars for Shaq, you can always expect the unexpected.

2 Mo Wheels, Mo Problems

In a sign that Shaq has grown a bit (obviously not in stature) and has acquired a more refined taste, he recently bought a Dodge Ram 1500, which he left mostly in stock. Compared to his previous rides, the big Ram seems pretty bland, except for one thing. As soon as he bought the truck, he fitted it with 26-inch Forgiato Concavo wheels and low profile tires. The tires look like rubber bands and likely provide the same amount of protection for $10,000 rims as regular office tires. While he can definitely afford to replace them in case a pothole damages them, it certainly confuses him as to why he hasn't opted for something more practical.

1 Dodge Demon with glowing wheels

This ailing Dodge Demon was bought on the cheap, which is surprising given the modifications Shaq made to it. Upon receiving the car, he had it repainted white, and shortly thereafter repainted and changed to a two-tone black and red with custom graphics adorning the sides. He installed huge aftermarket wheels and an aftermarket lighting kit to change the color of the headlights to red. The only thing that left us scratching our heads were the backlit wheels. It has not yet been decided whether they look good or not and what possible function they can perform?

Sources: Jalopnik, Dub Magazine, The Drive and Complex.