LOS ANGELES -- Shaquille O'Neal took it to the extreme to pimp his ride: The 7-foot-1 Miami Heat basketball star cut off the top of a Ferrari so he'd fit inside.
O'Neal shipped dozens of his vehicles -- he reportedly has 44 -- to Florida after leaving the Los Angeles Lakers, including his 2003 Rolls-Royce with 24-inch "Superman" wheels, his 2004 H2 Hummer with matching Man of Steel logos and an armored Ford Crown Victoria.
The stable of cars also includes a Mercedes-Benz CLK Cabriolet that he customized to look like the sportier Mercedes SL55. It was too small to accommodate his huge frame, he told Celebrity Car magazine.
It wasn't as dramatic as when Shaq "chopped the top off a Ferrari coupe" so he'd fit.
"Shaquille O'Neal may have to modify his vehicles to make them fit, but he's on the cutting edge of a customization trend that's sweeping the auto industry," said Tom duPont, publisher of Celebrity Car parent duPont Publishing.
A brooding O'Neal sits on the fender of a custom Mercedes for the Celebrity Car cover picture. The fall issue of quarterly Celebrity Car magazine arrives on newsstands Tuesday.
Inside Celebrity Car, Shaq leans on his blue Rolls-Royce.
"This is not my everyday car," O'Neal said. "It's my most expensive car and I'm the only person silly enough to put 24-inch `Superman' wheels on a $300,000 Phantom.
"I want people to see the detail, the chrome shining, and say, `I understand whose car this is.'"
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