I feel like the import scene was more active and enticing back in the day… because maybe there was more competition. And by competition, I’m not just talking about street racing either. I’m talking about the desire within, to 1-up the guys around you… the classic keeping up with the Jones syndrome. Just for example – when the white/clear taillights came out… you weren’t shit if you didn’t have ’em. Then – the Altezza taillights came out. And you weren’t shit if you still had the old white ones.
What happened? Am I right? Or do we still have it… and I’m just not seeing it as much?
we all got broke.
I think part of it is that it’s just a phase that’s come full circle. That or people are so worried about being JDM. Plus, as you get older, family becomes more important than cars do (at least to some). This isn’t just true with JDM. It’s true with the Euro market as well. People want their cars to look as though it came from the country of origin. That and people want to be “original.” The problem with them wanting originality is they are all searching for the same piece to be original with, therein defeating the purpose entirely. Or, if they happen to be the first (second, or third even) once they see it gain popularity, they get all pissed and say shit like “Man, I bought that piece way back and now EVERYone has it?” Boo-fucking-hoo! It’s a market that is always changing faster than Colin Farrell gets laid ok. Deal with it. This is why in the car market, you should do things to your car that YOU like, not what you think Joe Public likes.
Still Hood. 🙂
As knockoff parts get more common, and companies stop innovating and producing new, affordable products, the industry slows down. Back in the day, the possibilities of doing something original without spending boat loads was a reality. The amount of new products coming out that fit our budget was unreal, every month it was something else.
These days, the bottom line, budget products are all knockoffs, and they are all the same, so everyone’s cars look the same. Wether you spent the money or you didn’t, we’re lacking new, original, innovative products.
The companies that do produce parts, and bring us new things to the scene… their prices have gone way up. Probably, due to the reduced sales because of knockoff products. So all of a sudden, to do something thats wild and different, you have to spend an ungodly amount of money.
Basically, everything thats affordable is played out, and all the new, innovative products these days are much less attainable to the average guy on a budget.
Hooray for China.
i blame Mike Sander’s people…
I think people are trying to one up themselves rather than others around them. I think building a car in “our industry” is now more about building it to the fullest for ourselves, rather than for judges, and instead of snatching up all the usual parts, those that are easily accessible, people are trying to one up others on how rare of a part, or how many rare parts they can obtain
I blame Yousefs people
1) Credit has evaporated- no more credit cards to pay for your new turbo
2) More laws- There are laws everywhere about bumper height, vechicle mods, street racing spectator, etc…
3) Fast- These days if you didn’t but a part to make your 16 sec civic into a 15.8 sec civic you are labled a ricer. Everyone’s ePenis is about going fast.
Dude… my ePenis is freaking huge… it compensates for my small shitty turbo Protege.
my turbo>your turbo
^^ My engine > your engine
i think it starts with the car companies making cars waaaaay too much.. they are making cars (evo, sti) to name a few that are just waaay out of normal price range for kids/ adults… me and wooley haha.. they try to sell the cars all modded from the factory which adds $5k more and up on a car when you can get the parts for the half the price…
the other half i just think people dont have there own style and cant be creative and not care what people are going to think when they build there cars.. you can’t you gotta build it for yourself.. and not others.. ifyou gotta save for some stupid car to make it sick.. save instead of blowing it on a part for half the price that will break in 2 months.. its about quality not quantity..
i think me and wooley are long lost brothers from birth.. i mean shows out in florida are a total joke.. i know numerous people that went to daytona spring break show and won.. in rookie class.. and they are stock wheels, dumb shit on there car.. try going to cali and do that.. HA! you will get laughed all the way home.. peoples standards have gone out the window.. so why buy stuff when you can win shows with a stock car.. doesn’t make much sense.. to me!
i saw screw cars.. and mod bikes.. thats the new hottness and its going green! hahaaha
I think its because as said before, all of the good stuff is INSANELY high priced. im from the mustang world and im amazed at what some stuff costs for these cars… i paid 600 bucks for a set of ceramic coated headers with a stainless steel 2.5″ H-pipe, 600 bucks would get me maybe a “decent” header for something like a RSX or Civic. I think the scene has been trying to “out-JDM” one another for so long now that its accepted that your going to pay 1000 dollars for a part that is new and fresh when 5-7 years ago it was probably half of that… also everyone and their mother seems to have gotten into it so now instead of having 10 guys who all have the same car and each have something different you’ll see 10 of the exact same setups… white EG Hatches are a perfect example of that, carbon hood, duckbil and a set of black slipstreams… its like theres a contract you fill out prior to buying one saying that you will abide to these guidelines. Also as said by a previous poster, companies are doing something cool by offering these hopped up cars from the factory with warrantys and all but they are so far out of reach of most of the poeple who want them that it doesnt matter. It really does suck because i remember when everyone would come out on sunday nights here and show off their new parts… no matter how small or big it was and it seemed like every week someone had a new car or had done a swap or put a turbo on their car. Lately all i’ve seen is people buying old swapped cars that are in need of repair and they run around open header because its “cool”…
another thing is a lot of the guys who had fast imports or nice imports all have since sold them and gone over to f-bodys and corvettes…
I Blame The Underpants Gnomes!
^^ heh, try dealing with a BMW. The only headers made for my car cost a cool 3.5k. The sad thing is my engine (4.4) is a pretty common BMW v8.
I’m with Corey on this one. I think we as an enthusiast group have moved on from buying the latest greatest thing to actually paying more attention to the little things. We are saving more for the the uber-rare parts, more custom fab that most people won’t notice. The new it thing or mod is stance and wheels. There are some of us who are really just wheel whores, and heart rare wheels, but just about everyone is now caring and worrying about ETs, height, tire sizes, and such. 10 years ago, yes I’m that old, I just stuffed the biggest tires I could on a wheel, and under my fenders. Now, my oil pan is 1″ off of the ground, and I’m running 205-40s on a 9 inch wide wheel.
It isn’t that “we don’t have it” anymore, it is just that we have moved in a different direction. Honestly, I’m glad we did. Some of the cars I love, I look at over and over on the web, and then two months later notice something new. I’m glad for the depth of modifications, instead of everyone keeping it simple and having the same mods.