Wilt Chamberlain’s powerful 7-foot-1 frame made him one of the N.B.A.’s greatest scorers, but it also made it nearly impossible for him to drive the fast cars that he loved.

He had to sit on a padded mat that snapped to the floor of his Lamborghini Countach because he and the driver’s seat could not fit comfortably inside. Chamberlain finally had a car built for him, a Le Mans-style racecar called the Searcher One. It cost about $750,000 in 1996.

“Wilt never knew what it was to be comfortable in a sports car until we built the Searcher,” said Richard Paul, an automotive engineer who built the engine and the interior of the Searcher One and worked on vehicles for Chamberlain from the mid-’80s until he died in 1999.

The N.B.A.’s big men do not fit in the average car, although few have cars built from scratch. Most make interior alterations. In the past month, the 6-7 Ron Artest missed four games for Sacramento because of lower back pain that he said was made worse by driving his wife’s Mercedes-Benz SL500 sports coupe. He has since switched back to his Hummer, and a chiropractor has helped get him back on the floor.