8 Of The Best And Worst Modified Rolls-Royces

Why would you modify a Rolls-Royce? It's a hard question to answer because we're talking about the company that is literally the Rolls-Royce of cars. You can't name a more luxurious car brand. You can't name a brand more meticulous about design, engineering, and execution. From the wheels to the sound system, no corners are cut, and that's what you're paying for when a company's entry-level vehicle costs over $300,000. Then there are the customization options from the factory, and if you can afford to drop $300,000 on a car, you can afford to have Rolls-Royce Bespoke configure a model to your taste with the same exactitude as building the car, or you can go the whole hog and commission the luxury car of your dreams. Each Rolls-Royce is built by hand and takes around six months to be completed by 60 pairs of hands. Yet, for some reason, people do modify their Rolls-Royces, whether themselves or using a company that isn't Rolls-Royce. We've scoured the internet and found eight of the most extreme modded Rolls-Royces, for your viewing pleasure... or horror.

The famed snowboarder and car enthusiast John Olsson has since sold this car but it was still pretty cool. His Rolls-Royce Wraith was wrapped in his signature black and white camo pattern, the suspension was lowered, LED lights were added, and 24-inch Forgiato matte black wheels were fitted with Pirelli P-Zero Nero 285/30 ZR24 tires. He even had the engine messed with, so the twin-turbo 6.6-liter V12 engine got a boost to 810 horsepower and 840 lb-ft of torque. On top of Olsson's Wraith, that's a bespoke roof rack for a jet-powered, carbon fiber surfboard. Quite why he thought any of that would improve a Rolls-Royce, we'll never know, but to Olsson's credit, he did name the car George, which is perfect for a Roller.

We know little about this inanely wrapped Rolls-Royce Phantom, so we're just going to mock it and move on.

- Cost of a Rolls-Royce Phantom: $465,000.

- Cost of a crappy camo wrap: $3,500.

- Set of gaudy Amazon Basic Bitch chrome rims: $5,000.

- Your wife leaving you because you have no sense of taste: Priceless.

There are two obvious ways this could have played out. Either someone let their kid decide how this Rolls-Royce should look, and in that case, we're wrong, and it's adorable. Alternatively, someone thought this was funny and convinced a Rolls-Royce owner to help promote their new vinyl wrap business. "Don't worry; it'll come off without damaging the 22-stage $35,000 paint job," someone likely said. Then lost a friend.

If you want you're Rolls-Royce to cost more while looking and driving worse, there are several companies out there. However, if you want your Rolls-Royce Wraith to look like a Chrysler 300 crossed with an Audi RS, Spofec is the tuning company for you. Spofec is limiting the "Overdose" transformation to three examples, which is probably down to excellent customer research. No doubt, there are three crazy rich people with the required lack of taste out there to buy all three. On top of the wide-body conversion, adding 5.11 inches to the rear axle, the engine is tampered with to bump its 624 hp and 605 lb-ft to 717 hp at 5,700 rpm and 727 lb-ft, knocking a whopping great 0.02 seconds off the stock Wraith's 4.4-second 0 to 60 mph time. At speeds slower than 86 mph, a new air suspension module lowers the Wraith by 1.57 inches.

Since building the legendary "No Fucks Given" Mazda RX-7, the wonderfully silly Jettamino, and the lesser-known Trolls-Royce, Corbin Goodwin has moved into the professional automotive world as an engineer. The Trolls-Royce was born as a "what can I do with this with no budget?" project, and it's all kinds of bananas. The trunk-mounted radiator, complete with external plumbing, is there because the Silver Shadow II's 6.75-liter V8 is now turbocharged and needs an intercooler. Goodwin likes a manual transmission, so out came the original automatic, and in went a Ford Super Duty pickup truck unit. He also lived in the canyons of Southern California, so the cushy suspension was replaced with sports suspension because, well, why not? It has since been sold, and we hope it pops up again somewhere soon.

Rolls-Royce is keen to point out that the Cullinan features "Low Mode" for off-roading. In reality, it's an incredibly low percentage of units sold that will ever be used in a real off-road capacity. That hasn't stopped German tuner delta4x4 from going to town, though, and turning the Cullinan into a luxury overlander. Between a three-inch lift kit and a 33-inch bead-locking wheel and tire package, custom wheel arch extensions, and a full underbody protection pack, the Cullinan is ready to go anywhere. There's even PIAA lighting and a snorkel system added. Perfect for those the think it would be more comfortable to sleep on the roof than put the seats back in a brand-new Rolls-Royce.

If you put Justin Bieber and West Coast Customs together for a custom Rolls-Royce, the result is only ever going to look like this. The question to pose here is: How does a California-based workshop best known for its work on Pimp My Ride, a self-titled reality show, that has been found to pay just $6/hour for some employees while coercing others to work without overtime, take a Rolls-Royce Wraith and make it better? Well, it can't. What's weird, though, is that it made Bieber cry when he picked it up - and not out of sadness at so much wasted money. The full wheel covers and wide-body do have a strong art deco vibe to them, so they don't necessarily look out of place with Rolls's standard design language. But this is not what we'd term our cup of tea.

Of course, someone has converted a Rolls-Royce for drag racing. This one by the British shop WG Racing showed up in 2011 with over 2,000 hp and, we're not kidding, 4,775 lb-ft of torque generated by a 9.6-liter Chevrolet V8 with two turbos bolted to it. Of course, there's little Rolls-Royce left but the body panels, but that's about the only way to modify a Rolls-Royce with real respect - turn it into something it never was. In this case, a car born in 1978 can now complete the quarter-mile in 7.94 seconds while still being road legal.

If you think a seven-second Rolls-Royce is absurd, check out this one that is still a luxury car. The 1978 Silver Shadow was modified in Norway, and that engine poking out of the hood is a 7.2-liter GM unit with a supercharger. Upping the absurdity factor is a 200-hp nitrous oxide booster. The bodywork was restored to perfection, then put on a custom chromium molybdenum alloy tube chassis and cage. The repurposed Silver Shadow also now sports drag suspension, racing tires, and because it's a Roller, gold side pipes. Inside, it has a unique leather interior and seating for four. There's even a holder for Champagne in the back and crystal glasses to drink from.