Behold The Giant Spider, The World’s Oddest Custom Jeep
If we were to build a ranking of the world’s greatest car collectors, Sheikh Hamad Bin Hamdan Al Nahyan would start near the top. Part of the ruling family of Abu Dhabi, with a net worth estimated in the tens of billions of dollars, the “Rainbow Sheikh” has a massive passion for all things motorized, whether it’s a different colored Mercedes for every day of the week or the world’s largest pickup — a Dodge Power Wagon taller than most houses.
Today, we want to highlight one of the Sheikh’s more personal creations, the kind of automotive patchwork that only massive wealth can turn into reality. The vehicle you see above is know as The Giant Spider, the answer to the question: “Could someone build a car with the proportions of a 1930s Rolls-Royce that ca also climb sand dunes?”
The body began with a Jeep Wrangler, placed over a Ford F-550 frame. For the proper formality, the grill comes from an International LoneStar semi. There’s a 394-hp V-8 behind that fancy cover, enough to power the Spider on long desert trips. For trips in more urban locales, the massive whitewall tires have spider-themed spinner wheels.
It might not be your taste, but when you have 400 cars and the resources to buy any vehicle in the world, there’s some logic in customizing a few to such a degree that they only have to be beautiful to one set of eyes.
