At seven feet tall and 265 pounds, Hassan Whiteside has a ride that is definitely fitting for a man of his size.
The Utah Jazz center revealed in a feature this week by Andy Larsen of the Salt Lake Tribune that he is the proud owner of an insane $330,000 custom vehicle. Nicknamed “Big Shirley” by Whiteside, the vehicle is a 2020 Jeep Wrangler Sahara modded into a truck with six huge wheels.
Whiteside adds that four different car modding shops worked on the project, spending an estimated 1,800 hours in total on the vehicle. The veteran big referred to it as “a mixture of a bunch of crazy people that did a great job.”
Take a look at some pictures of Whiteside’s behemoth vehicle.
Hassan Whiteside modded a 2020 Jeep Wrangler Sahara into a custom six-wheel truck 👀
➖ Total cost: $330K
➖ 900 hp, 40-inch tires
➖ Named 'Big Shirley'The Utah Jazz center estimates that crews spent 1,800 hours of labor working on the creation.
(h/t @sltrib) pic.twitter.com/ZJr6VgUNFe
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) December 23, 2021
Larsen notes in the feature that “Big Shirley,” on top of its 900 horsepower engine and six 40-inch tires, has two cooling mods under the hood, a Dana 80 axle up front, stabilizer bars on either side, and an upgraded suspension system. Whiteside also added an additional fuel tank to the vehicle (to address the obvious problem of poor gas mileage) and customized its interior to lower the seat “all the way to the floor.”
Whiteside, who is averaging 7.4 points and 6.6 rebounds per game off the bench for the Jazz, is making $2.4 million this season. That makes the $330,000 that he has put into “Big Shirley” a real labor of love.
Pro athletes definitely love their grown-up toys. It is worth wondering how Whiteside’s Goliath vehicle compares to the custom Jeep of this fellow pro.
Photo: Dec 6, 2016; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Heat center Hassan Whiteside (21) warms prior to the game against the New York Knicks at American Airlines Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
