Primp my ride: How some extreme enthusiasts have personalised their cars

More than 60,000 coins adorn this luxury SUV, collected by the brothers Ali and Ahmed Al Showaihi in every GCC country. Jeff Topping / For The National

In the UAE a car is often far more than a mode of personal transport — for many it’s a statement about who you are, what you’re like and how successful you’ve become in life. But this doesn’t stop with the purchase of a new Ferrari, Bentley, Mercedes-Benz or Rolls-Royce because for ultimate bragging rights you need to make your car totally unique — something the UAE’s motorists do better than anywhere else in the world.

Modifying, customising, personalising, pimping — call it what you will, but it’s been around for as long as the automobile has existed. It really got into its stride in the 1950s and 60s in America, where four-wheeled hot rods and two-wheeled choppers became a familiar sight, all of them made unique by their talented and often visionary owners. The desire to make a car stand out as individual has never gone away. Khloe Kardashian recently wrapping her Range Rover in black velvet is evidence of that.

The desire to stand out is stronger today than ever, and enthusiasts in the Gulf are getting increased exposure due to the sheer audacity of the things they have done to their cars. Take a stroll around Jumeirah Beach Walk, and it won’t be long before you see cars with leopard-print bodywork or dazzling, mirrored panels, some coated with crystals or gold-plated adornments. Granted, some might cause you to call the taste police, but there’s no denying their star appeal.

• We’re not sure sticking thousands of coins all over your car will actually increase its value, but this Range Rover, owned by brothers Ali and Ahmed Al Showaihi, certainly grabbed attention when it was unveiled in November 2013. More than 60,000 coins adorn this luxury SUV, collected by the brothers in every GCC country — how the local car wash deals with it, though, is anyone’s guess.

• This Ferrari 458 Spider has become a regular sight on the streets of London’s Knightsbridge area and is owned by kickboxing world champion, Iraqi Riyadh Al Azzawi. But don’t be fooled by its golden exterior — it’s actually a foil “wrap” that is applied by specialist companies over a car’s bodywork and is entirely removable once you’ve had enough of it, without damaging the paint underneath. It’s cheaper than a paint job (Al Azzawi reportedly paid just Dh24,000 to have his Ferrari transformed) and the only limits to what you can do with such wraps are your imagination and your country’s lawmakers.

• A treatment by the tuning company Hammann and another gold-foil wrap, this Range Rover is owned by a Saudi enthusiast who also takes it to Knightsbridge for the summer. Definitely a “love it or loathe it” example of extreme modifications, it’s called the “Mystere”, although there’s nothing mysterious about it, and Hamann charges approximately Dh300,000 for the conversion, which is available in finishes other than gold, should you be interested.

• You might think that rare supercars would be flashy enough without the need to go crazy with modifications, but you’d be wrong, and this Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren is a perfect example. Just 1,400 of all variations were made, although most have been left well alone and are prized by collectors. This one, however, is another Hamann special, and is known as the Volcano. Apart from the outlandish body kit, Hamann increased the power output to 700hp, making it one of the quickest cars out there and, when this one came up for sale in Dubai recently, its owner was asking Dh1.1 million for it.

• Last year, a wealthy Russian student, based in the UK, thought it would be a good idea to cover her Mercedes-Benz CLS with Dh120,000 worth of Swarovski crystals. Daria Radionova received the car as a 21st birthday present and had a team from Russia apply (by hand) one million gems to the Merc's bodywork, a process that took two months' worth of 12-hour day shifts. "I'd like to encrust everything in crystal," she told The Sun, adding that "the car cost at least £50,000 [Dh279,000], then I spent £20,000 on the Swarovski crystals for it. It cost me another £15,000 to fly in my team from Russia to put them on the car for me."

Proof that the modifying bug can bite absolutely anyone, Jaguar’s design director, Ian Callum, unveiled his personal classic Mark 2 Jag last year — an example of how to do things with slightly more panache. The 18-month joint project between Callum and restoration specialist company, Classic Motor Cars Limited, endeavoured to retain the integrity of the original Mark 2, while packing in a little more excitement. Callum said at the time: “This is a very personal statement. A long-held notion that, although the Mark 2 has always been a beautiful car, it could be even more exciting in shape and performance. Whilst maintaining the purity of the car’s form, I wanted to add a number of modern twists to the design. Simplification and clarity was my objective.” He certainly achieved that.