Here’s How Uriel, Justin Bieber’s Floating Rolls-Royce, Was Made

Much has been said about the latest addition to Justin Bieber’s already-packed garage: a futuristic-looking ride that’s been dubbed a floating Rolls-Royce. The car, of course, doesn’t really hover so no, Bieber doesn’t get to live out Elon Musk’s dreams first. But it comes close to it, at least if you believe Ryan Friedlinghaus, CEO and founder of West Coast Customs.

Since the car was first spotted at the beginning of the month, it was assumed that it had been built by West Coast Customs, using a body kit, as they’d done before. Confirmation came shortly after that first, quite accidental sighting, along with a teaser video promising more content soon. One thing you could never hold against WCC is not keeping this particular promise: at the weekend, a full video of the build process was released. You will find it at the bottom of the page.

The car, in case you missed it the first time, is called Uriel: The Light of God. Friedlinghaus doesn’t explain how they came up with the idea for the name, but Uriel is one of the few archangels who are allowed into the presence of God; he is an angel of presence. Bieber is a newborn Christian, and it could be that the moniker was his own choosing.

That sounds about right, considering he came up with the general idea for the project. When he first saw the Rolls-Royce 103EX Concept, which was initially introduced in 2016, he fell in love with it, much like the rest of the world. He immediately called Friedlinghaus and told him to make inquiries into buying it.

Friedlinghaus did his best, but Rolls-Royce never planned to make the 103EX into a drivable car, so he then proposed to the pop star that they create a “re-imagination of what this car would look like” in real life. With no fake modesty, he says he wanted WCC to create a car that would look like something Rolls-Royce would be building in 25 years’ time. He believes they did just that with Uriel.

After deciding to use a 2018 Rolls-Royce Wraith as a base, they cut it up to get started on Uriel. It was shortened 8 inches (20.3 cm) and widened 12 (30.4 cm), and Musa Tjahjono, the lead graphic designer, created a rendering of how the body kit would look. They wanted it to be infused with futuristic-style design cues, but the highlight would be the wheel covers. On the original concept, those turned with the wheels but this wasn’t possible here. As a result, they had to go wider to allow for some, presumably minimal turning radius.

Vehicle data specialist Matt Cordato scanned the base vehicle and did a 3D rendering, to which they added the rendering of the body kit. The scan data was then fed into the 3D modeler to cut the first pieces, which became the molds for the panels. Friedlinghaus says that, once the panels were taken out of the molds, the most challenging part began: putting everything together on top of the base.

After “months” of work and “hundreds” more hours polishing the body, it was ready for the paint job. They opted for a two-tone scheme of gloss silver and matte gray because they didn’t want to distract too much from the design, and then moved to create a matching, two-tone leather interior.

“You don't wanna take away the greatness that Rolls-Royce is, we wanna add our touches to it so they look at this car and they're like, Man, they did a good job with it!,” Friedlinghaus says of their motivation during the process.

The final touches were in the custom, tiny details: the custom rear bumper, their own custom LED lights, the custom door panel pieces, and the state-of-the-art JL Audio sound system, which is exactly what a successful pop star like Justin Bieber would expect from his dream car. Of course, what people will first notice from the outside is the futuristic design (there are no door handles and no mirrors for the sleekest form factor), and the wheel covers with LED lighting that, during nighttime drives, create the impression that the car is riding on air.

Friedlinghaus says the whole project took three years to put together, from the moment Bieber first contacted him to the day when he took delivery of the finished product – and cried actual happy tears when he saw it. He doesn’t mention a price tag because that would be unprofessional, but it was probably something eye-watering and positively outrageous.

Uriel, he says, is a testament to the kind of skill and dedication West Coast Customs is capable of. That is, if you happen to fall in the category of those who find it gorgeous, which probably counts fewer people than the category of those who find it an eyesore and an abomination with the RR badge – and an illuminated Spirit of Ecstasy.

“West Coast Customs is always pushing that envelope of doing stuff that doesn't exist and I think this is a perfect example of that,” he says. “We’ve got everybody's attention: we're still here, we're building amazing cars and this is just the beginning.”