We're big fans of the Polaris Slingshot around here. As a weekend rental toy, almost nothing else on Earth even comes close without simply opting for a superbike. But there's two routes one could take owning a Slingshot. You could keep it stock and garage it for eight months out of the year, or send it to a team like Rob Ferro and his world-famous DS18 audio supplier to make it look like this.
At the 2024 SEMA Show, Rob and his team brought a pimped-out 2024 Slingshot SLR that beats everything you've seen rolling down urban streets at 3 a.m. In the realm of the tricked-out Slingshot with all the audio you could shove in its confines, DS18 just blew the competition out of the water. We were able to sit down with Rob at SEMA so he could explain exactly what goes into building the flashiest Slingshot ever built.
But the question stands, why a Slingshot? Why would a company so affiliated with selling audio gear aimed at the motorcycle market bother up-fitting a three-wheeler? The truth is that DS18 is more than a one-trick pony. They pimp everything from Wranglers to Broncos, Harley-Davidsons, side-by-sides, and powerboats on the daily. But as for the Slingshot, Rob himself is quite the fan. "From my point of view, the Slingshot is the ultimate toy. It's a cool, comfortable ride, and it's safer than any motorcycle out there," Ferro said, explaining why he chose to devote so much energy and love towards aftermarket Slingshot products.
"I'm gonna use myself as an example. I work 360 days a year, and during those five days, I don't want to drive anything but the Slingshot. You have power you can control, and it's a fun ride. It's like riding a dune buggy on the street." DS18 acquired its first Slingshot for R&D purposes back in 2016. Since then, the models have undergone a comprehensive refresh with an in-house-designed ProStar engine and optional AutoDrive automated manual gearbox like the example at SEMA.
With a special on-road-optimized variant of Polaris' Ride Command infotainment software, pairing any audio device to DS18's suite of audio technology is seamless and hassle-free. It's a welcome sign for the Slingshot brand, which is also known for its flashy lights and speakers and is a genuinely fun driving machine. As Rob himself admitted, the stick-shift Slingshot was easier to drift and do burnouts with. But a build like this rig at SEMA is just as pleasing to the eye standing still as it is at full opposite lock.
Photo: Benny Kirk/autoevolution
"We've only driven this once on the street, it was a video for a Reggaetón singer. We let them borrow it, so we had to drive it over there," Rob said of his factory-fresh Slingshot. "It has about two or three hours of use." The more you soak in a 360-degree sweep around this Slingshot, it's almost easy to lose count of the number of speakers and LED light bars emitting RGB unicorn barf. Much of this hardware is mounted over custom body panel inserts designed to house speakers and other assorted goodies inside spaces, which Polaris never intended to use for this purpose.
"We went to several Polaris shops looking for a wild color. We found this one, which is the Lime Squeeze, a very rare color to find in Miami. Then came the pimping it out," Rob explained. "We're known as a car audio company, and we're the last ones in this race of Slingshot modifications. So, being the last ones, we wanted to come out with the boom. We bought a brand-new Slingshot and just decked it out with all our custom pods, our inserts, our door panels, and our sub-woofers and waterfall speakers."
"But you need to have the wow factor," Rob went on to say. "You need to bring people into your booth. How do you do that? You have to have lights, and I understood that in the Slingshot world. Lights is a big thing. Big wheels, big lights, is a big thing in the Slingshot game." With fully custom digital RGB lighting installed underneath plastic body panels, the trim over the top of these light bars is ablated away in clever patterns, while bespoke control modules alternate the colors across the length of the vehicle. When it's all said and done, the end results are nothing short of stunning.
Even the fuel filler cap now sports a prominent LED ring around its circumference. You might despair at the lack of helmet storage, as that space behind the two seats is now occupied by two enormous box speakers. Much of the hardware inside is IPX-6 water resistant, and whatever isn't is well insulated by material, that is. The result is an open-top roadster that doesn't fry its audio suite every time the weather gets cloudy. With 22-inch black Fittipaldi wheels custom-designed for Slingshots riding on Lexani tires, the larger tire surface area might even make this rig a bit safer in the corners.
Rob paid $47,000 to bring this Slingshot in a rare color home before mods. With the lights, speakers, and all the custom fabrication included, you'd need at least an extra $15 to 20 thousand to build a similarly-specked Slingshot. That sure is a hefty sum for a weekend toy. However, as an ambassador for one of the most respected audio suppliers in Miami, I found this Slingshot to be nothing short of perfection at SEMA.
Google News