Pimp My Ride – Chapel Hill Edition

General Headscratchers UNC Scandal24

Tip of the hat to Brakk on the Pack Pride message boards for finding the website for Dreamworks Motorsports in Roxboro. Why would we be interested in a car customizer that has worked on cars for local athletes, including several former NC State football players?

Let’s have the host of Pimp My Ride, Mr. X to the Z, Xzibit explain.

“Welcome to Chapel Hill, check out this pimped out Ford F-150 owned by 2011 NFL 1st Round draft pick Robert Quinn. It has “Custom Painted 28″ Dub Doggy Style” rims and an upgraded sound system”

So you might have a question for Xzibit, “Since Robert Quinn was a first round pick he must have gotten an advance from his agent and bought himself a brand new 2011 model truck, right? I know that’s what I would do.”


“No, it’s a 2009 model”

Then you might have a follow up question. “Xzibit, can you explain how a college student, one that got himself declared permanently inelligible for taking jewelry and trips by the way, has the money for a truck with an original MSRP of $19,000-$41,000 that is also pimped out? No wonder it took a judge to force UNC-CH to turn over parking ticket information.”

Let’s take a look at two cars that belong to former UNC-CH basketball player and Toronto Raptor Ed Davis. The first is a 2009 Maserati Quattroporte that had an original base price of $124,000.

Ed Davis also has a 2009 Range Rover that had an original MSRP of $78,000 to $93,000.

So Ed Davis has two very nice vehicles that are 2009 models. He must have been drafted in 2009 right? Nope, he was the first round pick of the Toronto Raptors in 2010. You’re telling me that an NBA first round draft pick opted for the used car? Twice? Really?

Keep in mind this is the same Ed Davis who who was listed as a client of a sports agent while still at UNC-CH. Of course the agency claimed their website was “hacked”.

While the majority of the cars listed have dates that line up when guys were already pros, there was one more car that stood out.


That is former UNC-CH center Brendan Haywood getting posterized by Kevin Durant. Haywood has a 2000 Mercedes S500 that had a base price of $75,000-$85,000.

Since Haywood has a 2000 Mercedes you might guess that he was a 2000 NBA draft pick. Nope, Haywood was drafted in 2001. Again, he got his new contract and/or and advance from his agent and headed for the pre-owned lot? Really?

There very well may be a reasonable explanation for all of these vehicles. But with those questionable dates, top secret parking tickets, players receiving illegal benefits and various vehicle rumors over the years you can’t help but ask questions about these cars.


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Note from the editor:

Readers who enjoy this excellent entry might also be interested to read some similar pieces we have put together on the UNC-CH football scandal.  A good place to start is Marvin’s pictorial journey that started the whole thing.

This piece from April 27th is a decent recap of the progress of the scandal events of this spring.  This piece from last October about the Kendrick Burney matter provides a good example of the academic-prong-related shenanigans UNC-CH is willing to pull to keep kids eligible.  Also from last October, this entry explores and explodes an early version of Butch’s “Sgt. Schultz defense.”

For those who are interested, here is an archive of UNC football scandal entries we have done.

Stay tuned.

About WV Wolf

Graduated from NCSU in 1996 with a degree in statistics. Born and inbred in West "By God" Virginia and now live in Raleigh where I spend my time watching the Wolfpack, the Mountaineers and the Carolina Hurricanes as well as making bar graphs for SFN. I'm @wvncsu on the Twitter machine.

General Headscratchers UNC Scandal

24 Responses to Pimp My Ride – Chapel Hill Edition

  1. Wolfman 9806 05/25/2011 at 9:03 PM #

    Who the he’ll pimps out an F-150! What an idiot. Great article.

  2. Old MacDonald 05/25/2011 at 9:13 PM #

    This will all be over by Friday. Everybody does it.

  3. Wolfy__79 05/25/2011 at 10:04 PM #

    my favorite pic is of course haywoo getting dunked on.

  4. sequoyah 05/25/2011 at 10:21 PM #

    now, now…they’re just savvy shoppers… don’t you know ed davis scored the world’s only masterati program vehicle? … 000989 miles (and WTF, 97 degress at 9:21 pm!? damn hot in roxboro)

    http://www.dreamworksmotorsports.com/index.php?pr=Celebrity_Vehicle_Gallery&act=prev&vid=532

  5. logarithm 05/25/2011 at 10:43 PM #

    At least Quinn’s F-150 is a handsome color.

  6. turfpack 05/25/2011 at 11:18 PM #

    There is nothing to see here…. move along…everyone has nice cars at UNcars….damn gave it away!

  7. PackMan97 05/25/2011 at 11:38 PM #

    Everyone knows that the biggest depreciation hit a car takes is when you drive it off the lot. Those boys in Chapel Hill are just getting some solid financial advice to buy a car a year old. Major props for buying used. I wouldn’t have thought they’d be able to resist the temptation of buying new, but it looks like I was wrong.

  8. MrPlywood 05/26/2011 at 1:34 AM #

    Next thing you know we’ll find out that the guys were getting food stamps, then all hell will break loose.

  9. WolftownVA81 05/26/2011 at 6:00 AM #

    I imagin the DMV records showing when the cars were purchased would be available to the public. This should be easy to check unless Butch and Dickie save everyone the trouble. This is great stuff. Keep up the good work.

  10. OldWuf 05/26/2011 at 7:27 AM #

    Wonder if Quinn’s nearly Wolfpack Red F150 has “0-4” on the front license plate?

  11. HaxPack 05/26/2011 at 8:10 AM #

    You can view tax bills for vehicles owned over the last 10 years for Wake County online. I don’t know if other counties have the same option, but they might if someone has the time.

    https://services.wakegov.com/ptax/main/billing/

  12. section2chuck 05/26/2011 at 8:15 AM #

    Ok, so I will play devils advocate here…..maybe they bought used cars after they were drafted..just saying…people buy used vehicles all the time, even professional athletes….

  13. NSFwolf37 05/26/2011 at 8:51 AM #

    Maybe haywood and davis actually paid for theurs but there is no possible way that Quinn paid for his ride. He hasn’t been able to sign a contract because of the lockout.

  14. tann84 05/26/2011 at 8:58 AM #

    @NSFwolf37, you’re exactly right, which puts the others in question too, if Quinn did it then why wouldn’t others before him have done it? More digging has to be made of this for it to be anything but maybe he got a cash advance from his agent to get it?

  15. mikeD 05/26/2011 at 9:12 AM #

    HaxPack, I tried searching Orange County’s site for some info:
    http://web.co.orange.nc.us/PublicWebAccess/BillSearchResults.aspx?action=return

    The only person I could find was Butch (Search Davis Paul. His middle name is Hilton).

    Tried finding Ed Davis, Robert Quinn, and Haywood. Even tried Ed’s dad Terry, but nothing showed up. It would be interesting to search the families of athletes whose parents supposedly got jobs while being recruited (just can’t remember who that is right now).

  16. Wolfman 9806 05/26/2011 at 9:24 AM #

    Where’s the pictures of Ed Cota’s pimped-out Yugo!

  17. TruthBKnown Returns 05/26/2011 at 9:52 AM #

    There’s no doubt some stuff was going on with these players. The problem is proving it. They COULD have bought used cars after they had signed their contracts, especially if they were only a year old at the time and immaculate condition. But car registrations are a matter of public record, so these records can and should be pursued. I agree that there is no wonder Carolina doesn’t want their parking ticket records made public.

    It’s really sickening to think all this stuff is going on, and they could find a way to get away with it. It’s also sickening when you hear the continual denials from their fans that would be all over this story if it was happening at NC State. And the story would be even more widespread, because the local news media would be going after it, not just SFN.]

    Keep up the good work, guys. SOMEONE needs to keep the heat on them.

  18. ShavlikLeague 05/26/2011 at 10:15 AM #

    Dreamworks _Motorsports_? There’s no motorsports going on here. If anything, they’re making all of these vehicles slower and the drivability & handling worse than when they rolled in.

    I’m in the wrong business.

  19. PackHooligan 05/26/2011 at 11:59 AM #

    Ed Davis’ “injury” his final season at UNC could not in any way be related to this type of thing.

  20. GAWolf 05/26/2011 at 1:25 PM #

    I was able to attend a Pro Day at UGA to watch some buddies work out for scouts and NFL Coaches. The first round guys all rolled up in ridiculous cars. The agents buy them the cars. I asked about that since they hadn’t played in the NFL yet. It’s my understanding… my understanding… that it’s fine for these guys to take all the money and gifts they want immediately after the last tick of the clock in their last collegiate game.

  21. blpack 05/26/2011 at 1:40 PM #

    It must be a coincidence. I know Butch would not allow this. Wait, he doesn’t even know anything about it.

  22. UnclePen 05/26/2011 at 1:47 PM #

    >>>Ed Davis’ “injury” his final season at UNC could not in any way be related to this type of thing.<<<

    Too rough there. It was brain surgery.

  23. sundropdrinker13 05/26/2011 at 1:51 PM #

    What people seem to forget is that the 2009 model came out in 2008, the 2010 model in 2009, so on and so on. So is a first round pick in ANY sport going to get a vehicle that is 2-3 years old? Highly unlikely. If I had just signed(or was going to sign once the lockout ends) a multi-million dollar contract, there’s no way I would buy a used vehicle just to save a few grand. Then throw in the several grand to “upgrade” the vehicles. I knew I should have put more effort into sports instead of having fun with my friends.

  24. Wolf74 05/26/2011 at 6:19 PM #

    I have felt for years that UNC-Cheats has the most corrumpt athletic department in the country. This could explain why they cann’t get rid of Butch. If they fire him, he blows the whole thing open taking basketball with him.

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