Celebrities with money to burn love nothing more than to splash some cash on an extravagant and expensive collection of cars. Rappers are notorious for their outrageous vehicles, while the Kardashian-Jenner family have even been known to gift each other sports cars for Christmas and birthdays.
For some celebs, however, it isn’t enough to own a stylish supercar or a retro classic; they want to stamp their personality on their vehicle by making custom modifications. This is fine if we’re talking about someone who has an appreciation for automotive design and a sense of style, but there are too many stars who unfortunately have neither…
10 Best: Dax Shepard - Lincoln Continental
Some Hollywood stars have demonstrated that they have both good taste and a love for all things automotive with their modified cars. Actor Dax Shepard, probably best known as being Mr. Kristen Bell, is the very proud owner of a 1967 Lincoln Continental which he has customized himself.
He has swapped the engine in favor of a more powerful one from Ford Racing and has restored the exterior of the car to its former glory. Shepard starred in the film Hit and Run with his beloved Lincoln, and even did all his stunt driving himself.
9 Worst: Will.i.am - Volkswagen Beetle
Rapper and producer will.i.am has acquired a reputation for ruining perfectly good cars with his over-the-top modifications. By the time the former Black Eyed Peas artist finished his Volkswagen Beetle and his iconic DMC DeLorean, they were practically unrecognizable.
The transformation of the 1958 Volkswagen Beetle into a 1920s style sedan is particularly creative, even if the result is going to attract attention for all the wrong reasons. The team at West Coast Customs was behind this automotive abomination, and it apparently cost $900,000 to build.
8 Best: John Lennon - Rolls-Royce Phantom V
Some modified cars may be described as works of art, but in the case of John Lennon’s Rolls-Royce Phantom V Touring Limousine, this was literally true! The former Beatles member took delivery of the vehicle in 1965, complete with tinted windows (an early example of this, no common modification), a record player, and a telephone.
However, it is the exterior artwork that makes this car stand out from the crowd. The colorful paintings were created by artist Steve Weaver in 1967 when the Beatles released Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
7 Worst: Hulk Hogan - Dodge Viper
The world of wrestling is not renowned for its subtlety, so it is perhaps unsurprising that a wrestler should end up on a list of celebs who should never be allowed to modify a car.
WWE legend Hulk Hogan ruined a perfectly good 1994 Dodge Viper RT/10 when he gave it a custom red and yellow paint job to match the colors he always wore in the ring. This automotive eyesore did, however, manage to raise $75,000 for charity when Hogan auctioned off the car at the start of 2020 s – so we guess it wasn't all bad?
6 Best: Kanye West - Lamborghini Aventador
Rapper Kanye West and his relatives by marriage in the Kardashian family are not really renowned for their good taste. The Kardashian girls have made some truly terrible decisions when it comes to car modifications, such as the black velvet wrap on Kourtney’s Range Rover.
Kanye made a much more aesthetically pleasing choice when it came to customizing his Lamborghini Aventador. The car was a gift from his then-girlfriend Kim Kardashian, but Yeezy gave the car a stylish matte black finish and added tinted windows to make it his own.
5 Worst: Nicki Minaj - Lamborghini Aventador
Kanye West showed that it's possible to improve on the perfection that is a Lamborghini Aventador by giving it a low-key matte black finish, but there are plenty of celebrities who have ruined their Lambos with over the top custom wraps.
Chris Brown has ruined two Aventador models with hideous wraps, but even his bad taste pales in comparison to the bubble gum pink vinyl wrap that rapper Nicki Minaj inflicted on her Lamborghini Aventador, complete with matching pink rims and a custom white leather interior.
4 Best: Zac Efron - Ford Mustang
When Zac Efron started working on his 1965 Ford Mustang that had seen better days, it was as much a labor of love as it was a project to rebuild an iconic car. The car had once belonged to his grandfather, and when it came up for sale, the Greatest Showman star was first in line to buy it and restore the vehicle to its former glory.
It took him two years to finish all the work that was required, but he did a lot of the restoration himself.
3 Worst: Sonny and Cher's Ford Mustangs
It might be difficult to believe, but singer Cher was not only old enough to drive back in 1966, but she was also old enough to be married. For her and her then-husband, Sonny Bono, they got matching cars.
Before an acrimonious Split, the couple were gifted the Mustangs by Ford, with Cher’s in a garish pink and red and Sonny’s in very 1960s shades of yellow and tan. Along with tacky personalized number plates, the cars also had hideous interior upholstery made from real fur.
2 Best: Lady Gaga - Chevrolet El Camino
The biggest gearheads in Hollywood have traditionally been men, but singer and actress Lady Gaga is determined to give the guys a run for their money with her impressive collection of stylish vintage cars.
Perhaps the highlight of the Gaga garage is her customized Chevrolet El Camino, a pickup truck that has become something of a cult classic. A stylish black paint job and silver rims have turned this workhorse into a thing of beauty, and the Chevy’s door handles have also been shaved to create smoother lines on the exterior.
1 Worst: Justin Bieber - Audi R8
Teen idol Justin Bieber’s lack of good taste can probably be blamed on the effects of fame at a young age. How else can you explain why anyone would give the stylish Audi R8 sports car a tacky leopard print wrap? This may be the worst of Bieber’s automotive crimes, but it is hardly his first offense.
He modified a Smart car to give it a matte black finish and even changed the badge to read “Swag Car” while his beautiful Fisker Karma sports car was soon ruined with a silver chrome vinyl wrap.