Plenty of rock stars buy nice cars. Billy Gibbons orders them built. The ZZ Top guitarist has spent decades commissioning some of the most famous hot rods and customs ever made, and a few got more airtime than his beard. Some of the stories about those cars are true. Some just sound true. We sorted the verified from the rumors.Billy Gibbons in Tours, France, 2011. Photo: Tilly Antoine, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)The Eliminator: The Hot Rod That Conquered MTVThe Eliminator on display at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Photo: Whpq, crop by RosePickfair, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)If you grew up in the '80s, you know this car. The candy-red chopped coupe with the "ZZ" graphics showed up in three straight videos like a fourth band member.Verified: The Eliminator started life as a 1933 Ford three-window coupe. Gibbons was inspired by the '34 coupe in the 1974 TV movie The California Kid. Pete Chapouris oversaw the build, with Don Thelan's Buffalo Motor Cars doing most of the work, and it took about five years to finish. Powered by a 350 Chevy V8, it debuted in 1983 on the cover art of ZZ Top's Eliminator album and starred in the videos for "Gimme All Your Lovin'," "Sharp Dressed Man" and "Legs." It has since been loaned out for display, including at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.Rumor Mill: Car fans have long whispered that more than one "Eliminator" exists. Tribute cars and replicas have muddied the waters, and every few years a clone surfaces claiming a connection to the band. As far as anyone can verify, there is only one original.CadZZilla: The Custom That Changed CustomsCadZZilla. Photo: Supermac1961, CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)If the Eliminator made Gibbons famous in the hot rod world, CadZZilla made him a design icon.Verified: CadZZilla is a heavily reworked 1948 Cadillac Series 62 Sedanette, completed in 1989 by Boyd Coddington's shop. Metalwork was led by Craig Naff, and the design came from Larry Erickson and Jack Chisenhall. The car has a chopped roof, a sectioned body, frenched lights, a big-inch Cadillac V8 and a deep purple House of Kolor finish. It has been exhibited at museums including the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, and Gibbons has driven it on real road trips, including to the Goodwood Festival of Speed in England.Rumor Mill: The build price is often quoted at around $900,000, a jaw-dropping figure for a custom in 1989. Gibbons has never publicly confirmed the number. Legend also says the first design sketches were scribbled on a bar napkin.Whiskey RunnerVerified: Whiskey Runner is a 1934 Ford three-window coupe built with So-Cal Speed Shop. It's a stripped-down traditional hot rod that shows Gibbons still loves the classic early-Ford formula.KopperheadVerified: Kopperhead is a 1950 Ford business coupe turned into a slick custom with So-Cal Speed Shop. It has a smooth, low profile and a coppery finish. Hence the name.Mexican BlackbirdVerified: Mexican Blackbird is a 1958 Ford Thunderbird customized by So-Cal Speed Shop, part late-'50s luxury barge, part lowrider. It appeared alongside Whiskey Runner and Kopperhead in ZZ Top's 2012 video for "I Gotsta Get Paid."SlampalaVerified: Slampala is a 1962 Chevrolet Impala on air suspension, slammed to the ground and kept surprisingly close to stock otherwise. After CadZZilla and the Eliminator, it's proof Gibbons also knows when to leave a car alone.The Rumor MillCadZZilla at the Petersen Automotive Museum. Photo: TaurusEmerald, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)Rumor Mill: Word is Gibbons almost never sells a car. Unconfirmed, but his garage keeps growing, which fits.Rumor Mill: The full size of the collection is a moving target. Fans have estimated dozens of cars stashed between Texas and California, but Gibbons has never published an official list.Rumor Mill: Fans assume every new ZZ Top video means a new build is coming. Unconfirmed, though his track record doesn't argue against it.The Bottom LineGibbons is less a collector than a very demanding client. The Eliminator and CadZZilla changed what a hot rod and a custom were supposed to look like in the '80s. If you could take one home (Eliminator, CadZZilla or Slampala), which one, and which do you leave to someone braver?Images via Wikimedia Commons under the licenses listed in each caption.⚡ Read the full article on Backfire News