Shaquille O’Neal has always done things big. Big plays, big business moves, big laughs—and apparently, big car problems too.
Standing over 7 feet tall and weighing in at well over 320 pounds, Shaq doesn’t exactly fit into your average sports car. So what happens when one of the world’s most dominant NBA players sets his sights on a Ferrari? Well, if you’re Shaq, you don’t just squeeze in—you build your own.
In a recent interview, Diesel revealed what he considers one of his all-time worst purchases—and it’s one that only someone like Shaq could make.
“I bought two Ferraris,” he said. “I bought a real Ferrari. I bought a salvage Ferrari. Cut my real Ferrari in half, took pieces of the salvage Ferrari to stretch it, and then realized I couldn’t fit.”
Yep. You read that right. The man literally cut a Ferrari in half and fused it with another just to try to make it Shaq-sized.
The crazy part? It almost worked.
Shaq said the real challenge was headroom. So, after the fusion project, he went even further and permanently removed the roof, gaining an extra five inches of space so he could actually sit behind the wheel. “It worked out good,” he said. At least, until Mother Nature stepped in.
On one sunny Florida day, Shaq cruised from Fort Lauderdale to Miami in his custom convertible Ferrari. But on the ride back? The skies opened up. “I didn’t read the weather report,” Shaq admitted. “It started raining, and the whole car got flooded out.”
So just like that, Shaq’s Franken-Ferrari became a very expensive sponge.
Auto fans are now wondering whether Shaq was referring to his silver-on-black Ferrari F355, which popped up for sale a few years back on Bring a Trailer. That car had an unreported salvage history, and given Shaq’s storytelling, it could very well be the same one. If so, its current owner might be driving around in the most legendary “Shaqmobile” ever built.
Of course, this Ferrari experiment is just one chapter in Shaq’s wild car history. His garage has featured everything from custom Cadillac Escalades on 26-inch wheels to stretched-out Lamborghinis, custom vans, and even a topless Mercedes S-Class with suicide doors.
The man doesn’t just collect cars—he reinvents them.
And sure, maybe Maranello wouldn’t approve of slicing up a Ferrari like it’s a pizza, but if you’re Shaq, you play by your own rules. It’s part of the charm. It’s also why, despite the rain-soaked Ferrari fail, he doesn’t regret it.
“When you’re my size,” he once said, “you gotta get creative.”