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Originally posted by jr
best one yet

am i right in thinking you used to live in the uk ?

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Originally posted by EmArEn

quote:

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Originally posted by jr
best one yet

am i right in thinking you used to live in the uk ?

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Yes I did, how did you guess ?

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Originally posted by jr
best one yet

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Originally posted by jr
iv'e allways be intriged (bad spelling) about what american car enthisiasts opinions of Uk cars/Uk modifying scean is, and if you've ever seen stuff from forums over hear that you have told people about back there

[Edited on 08-12-2007 by jr]

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quote:

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Originally posted by EmArEn

quote:

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Originally posted by jr
iv'e allways be intriged (bad spelling) about what american car enthisiasts opinions of Uk cars/Uk modifying scean is, and if you've ever seen stuff from forums over hear that you have told people about back there

[Edited on 08-12-2007 by jr]

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Thats a tough question and I realise that I will probably end up being called a spazwanker and informed that you have 'had my mum'......

Lets get this straight from the start, I live in a relatively small, affluent area of Southern California, if you ever watch 'The OC' you are viewing the area that I live in, and to an extent the lifestyle that a decent percentage of people around here enjoy.

America is a huge place and as such it is incredibly diverse, the only thing that Americans share is a common language (just about) and a common leader. I can drive in a relatively straight line for over 2000 miles and still be in the same country. I can drive 600 miles north and still be inside California.

So the opinions that I hold are really only valid for 'car crazy' Southern California.

So, lets talk about Modifications

There are several schools of thought regarding mods here in SoCal.

'Stick a huge V8 in it, then add a pair of Turbo's and some NOS' is fairly prevalent, I have seen V8's in MX5's RX7's, Volvo's and many older Nissan Z's. Its is cheap, effective and hugely entertaining.

These modifications are often accompanied with next to no body mods, only the mods that are actually necessary to cram 7ltrs of alloy-blocked V8 in the chassis are gone, brake usually are supplied by willwood and often de-branded. Steel wheels are kept and you have something that is at home on the strip or the track. 500hp is pretty simple. Street sleepers FTW.

'Stick a newer Engine in it' is a regular thing too. Take a 1960's VW Camper and drop a 3.3ltr twin-turbo 911 motor in it - 350hp and no fuss. This is also a popular upgrade on virtually any VW or Porsche powered car. Again brake and suspension are upgraded, but outwardly this remains a sleeper. Turbo 4-pots in elderly Nissans are a regular thing too.

'Tune what you have to Infinity and Beyond'. Tough category this - many modern cars have to pass smog (emissions) tests, so the original engine, intake and several other key pieces (ECU) need to be in operation at the bi-annual smog-test. So enterprising people use piggy-back ECU's, hi-flow cats, cat-back exhausts, NOS and many other tricks to truen their 150hp 'econobox' into a 300hp fire-breathing econobox. This is often accompanied with Big Brake kits, after-market wheels and lower suspension. This is often referred to as 'Ricer' because most of the cars that undergoe this are Japanese. More often than not the cars have way more go than show - how about a 700hp 350Z that looks almost entirely standard ? This is a very wide catagory, but generally the rule is that you have a lot more go than show.

Hot Rod builders and Muscle car nutcases are self explanatory, they build wildly fast (often in a straight line only) 600+ hp rocket ships are the norm - 1200+ hp road legal drag cars turn heads, but not as much as you might think.

Finally you have the budget modifier. There are a few, very, very few, modifiers that consider nailing / duct-taping a body kit to a 1988 Civic and adding a fart-can, neons, sunstrip and bangin' choons is a good idea. Where I live this is rare, very, very rare, further north it is less so, but down here I see maybe one such car a month. Generally these people are laughed at. When someone turns up to a custom/rod show with his moms ironing board nailed to the back of his car, he is tolerated, but generally pointed in the 'right direction'.

You see subtly is king here, Sure you can have a bit of bling, but generally the GO, massively outweighs the 'SHOW'.

I have pointed out a couple of the cars here to people I work with, generally though my taste is firmly in the subtle / track-slag end of the modification scene, so I have tended to pass over the more deluded (told you I am going to get into to trouble) 1.0ltr Corsa owners that stick body kits on an 20's and...... I go for the primer-grey ones with black Gram-lites and a 2.0ltr Turbo under the hood......

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