NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal spent years trying to make a series of exotic cars fit his giant 7-foot-1 frame.
"I've wasted so much money trying to get these $300,000 luxury cars, stretch them and fit them. Never end up keeping them," said O'Neal.
Now, having finally conceded that modifying normal-size cars doesn't quite work, O'Neal has gone fully custom, having a unique Corvette Z06 built to his specifications by Effortless Motors of Riverside, California.
"[The] Corvette's under $100,000," said O'Neal. "And he made that thing look so good."
The custom Corvette kept the standard mid-engine 5.5-liter LT6 V8, but the rest of the car was heavily modified. Shaq was given more legroom, there was custom interior work, a specialized steering wheel, and the superstar's
signature Superman branding was front and center.
It's a car built around O'Neal and his love for all things automotive, which includes an ambition to race.
At the GRIDLIFE Summer Apex motorsports and music festival at Watkins Glen International in New York, he teamed-up with his rap partner T-Pain for a ride-along that could lead to something bigger.
"Me and him was drifting in one of his cars," O'Neal said. "So I called him the other day and I said, 'We should do a show where we do a celebrity race.'"
The proposed cross-country event would start and end in Atlanta, and include several legs running through Miami, Dallas, El Paso and Los Angeles, with a $2 million prize for the winner.
Whether the race ever happens, the idea is pure Shaq, a celebrity who's renowned for indulging his passions, of which cars are near the top of the list.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why car-crazy Shaq built a supersized custom Corvette
