Top Gear’s Top 9: infamous custom supercars of the 2000s

The ‘McMerc’ SLR was one of the supercars of the early 2000s. Over 600bhp, a carbon-fibre chassis masterminded by Gordon Murray, steampunk Batmobile looks and, well, a pretty confused character really. Part track-ready supercar, part deluxe heavyweight Benz. It was an odd car. But it didn’t deserve this. 

Emerging in 2009, the 999 Red Gold Dream was the work of a Swiss entrepreneur called Ueli Anliker. Mr Anliker decided what the SLR needed was a Hot Wheels body kit, 600 inset rubies, 5kg of gold leaf and a hole cut in the roof panel. Some say he spent $3million on the project. Other reports suggest $8million, or that it’s now valued at $11 million. Gold is an investment, right?

And this was more than just cosmetic. Gordon Murray, noted road car and F1 design supremo, has spoken at length at how tricky it was to package the SLR’s side-exit exhausts just behind the front wheel. This complex arrangement saved weight and kept hot gases away from the back of the car where they would interfere with the diffuser. 

Anliker decided he knew better than Professor Murray and had his – gold, naturally – exhausts rerouted to exit just ahead of the rear wheels, about where your legs would be if you had just climbed out of the 999 Red Gold Dream. Can anyone smell burnt hair?

Ahh yes, Mansory. Rich pickings for anyone fascinated by taste crimes against supercars. This will not be our only visit to their German workshop. 

The Cormeum, revealed in 2011, is Mansory’s take on the Mercedes SLS AMG. Because, what the modern gullwing needed was, of course, a carbon fibre widebody kit, an enormous centrally-supported rear wing, a sort of SLR / Enzo-ish front beak, and an upgrade from 563bhp to 731bhp. 

Oh, and headlights from a Ferrari 599. Obviously. Why have a collection of supercars, when you can just cram features from all of them onto one poor unsuspecting super-GT?

The annual Geneva motor show was, on the face of it, nothing more than a giant showing off contest between the likes of Volkswagen, Peugeot-Citroen and Mercedes to see who could wire the most lights onto a stand and then fill it with all the cars you’d forgotten they made. 

But the real reason we’re upset Geneva has been cancelled during the pandemic has been stuff like this. Where else could you gaze upon the angular work of Nimrod?

Yes, Nimrod. A Slovakian tuner with a penchant for paying tribute to the Ferrari FXX. With a 458 Italia, some cardboard, the budget of a school nativity and the artistic skills of the juvenile actors playing the donkey. 

We haven’t heard much from Nimrod since the Katyusha appeared way back in 2014. Perhaps they’re really busy with all the demand.  

To Bavaria next, where Novitec, a tuner famed for big power hikes usually applied to Ferraris, has had a go at mating a McLaren Senna with a prosthetic leg.

In fact, the N-LARGO is a widebody 720S that’s 2 inches wider up front and 5 inches wider at the back than standard.

All the new panels are carbon fibre, while a fresh exhaust apparently liberates another 86bhp. Power, of course, is the last thing the 720S needed more of. But, much as we love it at Top Gear, it’s fair to say not everyone was a fan of that ‘eye socket’ design at the front.

So, now you know what it looks like when it’s all painted body colour. Better?

West of Tokyo in Nagoya, Japan lies the lair of one of the most infamous tuning houses on the scene. Liberty Walk was founded by Wataru Kato-san when he was merely 26 years old, and spent its early years concentrating on domestic Japanese kei-cars. 

It wasn’t until he provided a few Lamborghini body kits that the Liberty Walk as we known it today really exploded into life, and it was the bandsaw/MASSIVE riveted arches treatment given to delicate European exotica like the McLaren 650S and Ferrari 458 Italia that really got the internet live-and-frothing. 

Those trademark huge arches, exposed rivets and outrageous negative camber are now Liberty Walk’s signature style. Never change, Japan.

Fibreglass bodykits? Where we’re going, we’re going to need all the fibreglass body kits.

The IAMAUTO is the brainchild of Black Eyed Peas front man and hit-making architect of That Song You Used To Like When You Were Tipsy, William 'will.i.am' Iam. 

Mr Iam is actually a big fan of custom cars, having asked West Coast Customs to sort him out with a widebody Tesla Model S apparently modelled on a Stormtrooper’s head, a bizarre VW Beetle-based hot-rod, and this gullwing creation. Apparently there's a V8 in the back. 

Once upon a time, this was a DeLorean. Now, we’re not really sure. But I gotta feeling Will is pleased with it, even if it’s not very good over speed humps speed humps speed humps. Check it out. 

Okay we’ll shut up now.
 

Back to Mansory for this recent effort in succeeding where Ford’s class-win at the Le Mans 24 Hours so obviously failed. Of course a tuning house knows more about aerodynamics and downforce than a team which created a supercar specifically to succeed in an endurance race. 

The LeMansory is, of course, a Ford GT-based concoction. It’s got new headlights, a vast rear wing, an extra exhaust pipe because three is more and therefore better than two, and chequerboard-pattern carbon fibre. Only three will be produced. Gutted.

In fairness to LeMansory (geddit?) the 3.5-litre EcoBoost V6 has been elevated from a stock 647bhp to 710bhp, so it’s got a fighting chance of dragging all those extra appendages through the air fast enough to make them do…something. 

Back in 2010, German tuner Gemballa – usually content with applying power, wing and deep-dish rims to Porsches – announced it had created an upgrade package for the 499 Ferrari Enzo hypercars sold by invitation only to Ferrari’s most trusted, discerning clients. 

Bold move.

Like half of all the cars on the planet, it seems the MIG-U1 was inspired by fighter jets. Hence the name – MiGs are a family of Soviet fighter aircraft tracing their roots back to the Second World War.

Instead of guns, the U1 was fitted with a bizarre suit measuring 80mm wider up front and 100mm wider than stock at the rear. The kit was said to add 35kg of extra front-end downforce, with 85kg more negative lift at the rear. At just 75mph, the MIG presumed you were done with cornering and folded the wing flat. Right. Good-o.

A roof-mounted air-intake and new exhaust apparently lifted the 6.0-litre V12’s output from 650bhp to 691bhp, while lighter wheels apparently saved 16kg in overall weight. Gemballa said he would only ever sell 25 examples, but so far as we can tell, only one white example was ever produced. 

Thankfully, Gemballa Junior appears to have applied his custom-car talents to a more fitting cause…

Odd thing, to mod a Pagani. After all, there are few original Zondas left. Pagani does a nice line of business in shipping cars back to the factory when they change owners, and rebuilding them from scratching with upgraded AMG V12s, wilder wings and more glossy carbon bodywork than you can shake a bank cheque at. 

To go unofficial, you’ve got to fall squarely in the IDGAF camp. And that’s where we find Yamada-san’s Zonda, as reimagined by his car-modding haus of excellence, Anija.

The car’s constantly evolving through different guises, having sported several exhaust set-ups, ribbed and ridged blue bodywork as well as a white/black two-tone livery, and various configurations of angular headlight. 

Even in the rarefied pool of Paganis, this one is unique. Wonder if Horacio approves?

Photo: Mark Riccioni