The Best Custom Cars of 2013

What qualifies a custom car as being successful or cool is completely up to the person looking at it. Somebody could have a thing for aero canards, another could look purely at how it performs on on the drag strip, another person might have a thing for vinyl camo wraps. If you've dreamt about it, chances are that it's been built somewhere in the world by somebody. Whether it was done well or not is another story. You only have to take one trip to SEMA to know that tuners can get way out of hand with their customs, and there has been a lot of garbage that has popped up this year. Nonsense aside, this list is full of cars that show a distinguished level of creativity, innovation, insanity, beauty or power. Peep the The Best Custom Cars of 2013.

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Tuner: Woo Automotive and Hamann

The face you just made of seeing a pink chrome car on a list of the best customs is hilarious. Hate all you want, but there's an awesome element of of a color that can be deep and bright at the same time all on cars that could humiliate you in the streets.

Tuner: Autokandy

Color-changing by way of chameleon paint is old news. This car adapts to the weather (through heat-sensitive paint), basically making it the moodiest mod of all time.

Tuner: Prior Design

The Audi R8 is already one of the most photogenic cars we've ever had the privilege of shooting, but Prior Design still wanted to kick the in-your-face element up a few notches. It's orange, but it's not a bad orange. It's not a carrot-top orange *cringe*. The matte paint paired with the black accents might remind some of Halloween, but to us, it just looks like a car ready to play chicken with the sun.

Tuner: Strand Craft

It's weird to look at this car knowing it's automatically outdated by the new Mustang already

Tuner: Glacius Creations

It's as real as Santa Clause and a healthy Derek Rose (I can say that, I'm a Bulls fan trying to swim out of my own tears). Still, just the thought of a Bugatti SUV is so ridiculous we have to entertain the idea as long as we can. Is it attractive? No, not really, but who cares, it's a Bugatti SUV and it still looks better than the Bentley EXP9.

Tuner: West Coast Customs

GTAV was one of the biggest video game launches of the entire decade, and it's only 2013 (not for much longer). Its popularity was on display when you realized the person you were throwing a molotov cocktail at online was actually your grandma. West Coast wanted to celebrate this with a real-life model of one of the most popular cars in the game, the Banshee. Nevermind the fact that it pretty much already existed as a real car (ahemViperahem), this is awesome.

Tuner: Vilner

Customs don't always have to be brand new tuners. Vilner proves that by showing love to some old-school American muscle, with this luxified '73 C3. It added a new head, shafts and two twin carburettorsto the 5.7L V8 and a completely upgraded interior, making it look like something we could live in. We'll just keep our clothes in that beautiful carmel leather suitcase on the rear.

Tuner: Gazoo Racing

There is a Supra successor coming, but it probably just won't be called a Supra. I will also probably be a hybrid. Gazoo Racing didn't feel like waiting for that car, whenever it eventually does come out, so they built this, the GRMN Sports FR Concept Platinum. Based on an FR-S, it's been crafted to look like an updated version of the old cult car. In addition to the exterior alterations, it's been outfitted with both a supercharger and a turbocharger, a sport exhaust system, an upgraded braking system and a lowered suspension.

Tuner: Mansory

Mansory creations don't usually fare too well over here. The company is typically disrepectful to the original design of the cars it customizes (in our humble opinion), but an all-carbon-fiber Aventador is pure fire. Ferocity at its lightest.

Tuner: Laraki Motors

The Laraki Motors Epitome isn't a custom in the traditional sense of taking a previous car and altering it, but it's a company that came out of nowhere with this car that could very likely see a production run of one. Packed under that satanic-looking exterior that's reminiscent of the Aston Martin One-77 (the Epitome is like, "oh, you thought you were rare?") is a 7.0L Chevy twin-turbo V8 that pumps 1,750 horsepower on 110-octane fuel. It also costs $2,000,000, so there's that.

Tuner: Team Galag

Most entrants into a Gumball Rally simply wrap and slap their rides with crazy designs that they'll take off shorty following the rally. Not Team Galag. They went all out, completely building 100-percent one-of-one cars, including an insane supercar based on the Nissan GT-R and a real-life Batman Tumbler. They won that race before it even started.

Tuner: mcchip-dkr

The SLS AMG is one of the entire Complex team's favorite cars, so a custom beefing up the power and giving it flat black is pretty much a guaranteed banger.

Tuner: Galpin Auto Sports

Galpin's take on the classic GT40 is capable of "225+ mph," a 3.1 second 0-60 time, and a 6.8 second 0-100 time thanks to a 5.4L twin-turbo V8 that puts out 1,200 hp and 739 ft-lbs of torque. And it only costs $1,024,000. Just put it on your VISA.

Tuner: Overdrive AD

Even though it's not an over-the-top overhaul, the fact that it's a custom XJ220 makes it worth it. A chameleon paint job, that mixes green, brown, and gold, was added, offset by the ADV.1 alloy wheel. OVERDRIVE installed new alcantara, carbon fiber, and a new system on the inside. Performance wise, the XJ220 now has an Akrapovic exhaust system, "complete revision of the engine" and an "improved braking system."

Tuner: Switzer Performance

You can't just name a car Goliath and not be able to post one of the most mammoth performances of all time. In late October at the Moscow Unlimited Standing Mile event, the Switzer beast made history, becoming the fastest GT-R in the world. It has a full interior, putting it at more than 4,000 lbs. and was built for a customer, so it's completely street-legal. Yet the 1,800hp Nissan hit 250mph in only 22.6 seconds; pure organ-curdling speed.

Tuner: Gullwing America

Inspiration from a 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SC and a wonderfully powerful base from an SLS AMG is a combination would be pretty hard to screw up. Coincidentally, this model doesn't have the gullwings any longer, but the modern take on the smooth and curvy classic is beautiful.

Tuner: A Kahn Design

Before reports hit that the Defender's production run was coming to an end, Afzal Khan's team was having some fun with the boxy legend. Kahn and company was able to amp up the toughness, blacking out everything, while giving it a more refined and luxury touch inside with black leather and tweed outlined in silver stitching.

Tuner: DMC Customs

This is one of the sexiest cars we've seen all year. It was the first custom to really catch our eye way back in January, and that deep blue is still just as mesmerizing. DMC put a carbon fiber kit on the F12, boosted power just a bit with a titanium exhaust and added a roof scoop, extended side skirts, and a 599XX rear wing.

Tuner: Gemballa

Sadly, this car will now forever be known as the car Paul Walker died in. However, before that happened, Gembalal was showing off its tenacity with a color scheme and custom theme that we could see Zeus rolling in, leaving the lightning bolts back in the cloud.

Tuner: Ford

Of all tha lunacy that happened at SEMA this year, this is the car that stood out most. A collaboration between Gene Simons, his wife and Ford, the "Snakebit" F-100 pays homage to the Mustang Cobras with a set of fangs that somehow smoothly fit into this classic pickup.

Tuner: Bulletproof Automotive

You're looking at an entry-level Toyota that's been juiced up so much that it has a better power-to-weight ratio that the rare Lexus LFA supercar. How impressive is that? It has 500hp and weighs less than 3,000 lbs. and still managed to look incredible both inside and out.

Tuner: Hennessey

Looking like it belongs in the air force, the Hennessey GT beat out a Bugatti Veyron at the Texas mile this year for a record speed of 267.6 mph.

Tuner: Carlsson

You'd think a car with that has 610 horsepower and weighs 1,720 lbs. would just float away, launch into the air and never come down. That's why the Judd has the carbon kit and gigantonormous wing to make sure the downforce keeps it on the blacktop. The hill climbs never stood a chance.

Tuner: Heffner Performance

The original Ultima GTR had 640hp and weighed 2,182 lbs, giving it a better performance spec than the Bugatti Veyron, Ferrari Enzo and Koenigsegg CCX. But the Heffner people were like, "meh, let's add two turbos to that." Now the car has 1,000 horsepower. Soooo, all those big-name supercars out there can suck big fat exhaust pipe.

Tuner: Callaway

The C7 Corvette might the most important and best American sports car of all time. The only problem is that you can't carry anything with you in it, aside from one person. The AeroWagon doesn't allow you to take any more company along for the ride, but it will give you space to actually haul some groceries or a suitcase or whatever equipment you need. The package is set at $15,000, can be put on any stock or Callaway C7 and begins rollout next month. Winner, winner, chicken in the fuckin' trunk dinner.