will.i.am’s Custom 1958 Volkswagen Beetle Proves Success Doesn’t Bring Taste

If you pay any attention to celebrity car news, you might remember the wacky white Delorean-looking (if not Delorean-based)…thing musician will.i.am was rolling around in last year. The former frontman of The Black Eyed Peas claimed he hoped to use it as the starting point for his own car company, IAMAUTO. However, some registration issues and the not-insignificant matter of the car being stolen put an end to that dream (Delusion?).

But Mr. i.am hasn’t lost his interest in custom cars. Oh, far from it. These days he rolls in the radical lavender contraption you see here. Would you believe this baby started life as a 1958 Volkswagen Beetle? Well, it did.

Work reportedly started on this classic VW project back in 2009, but word is will.i.am was constantly changing his mind about the direction for the build. Apparently he would see a styling cue on one car and ask for it to be incorporated into the Bug, blissfully unaware of what impact it would have on the project’s timeframe and cost. Eventually, he managed to settle on a design he liked.

And we’re glad that at least one person likes it. The extended nose reminds us of a Morgan Aeromax, while the shapely tail is reminiscent of the one found on a ’63 Chevrolet Corvette (complete with a rear window split down the middle). And speaking of Corvettes, a 6.2L LS3 V8 (inhaling pressurized air through a supercharger) sits within the lengthened snout and provides the motive force.

So how much did will.i.am end up spending on this rolling freakshow, er, sculpture? Roughly $900,000. Yeeeeah, for that kind of money he probably could have gotten something built from the ground up. Had he chosen that path, we wouldn’t have to be mourning the death of a classic VW Type 1…

Source: Zimbio via autoevolution