John..

I am becoming increasinly hostile towards these kids with the Maxwell House exhaust pipes and hack sawed off springs.

This AM in the 944, I am behind a rice race can exhaust equipped Prelude, while a Honda Civic with a metal mesh grill, Greddy stickers and cut springs proceeds to ride my bumper. Oh yes, he had the rice race can muffler too.

What is this fascination?!!, can someone please explain it to me. Why take an economy car and drop thousands into mods, to end up with a modified economy car? Manufacturers like Subaru and Mitsubishi are just feeding this Rice tin can frenzy!

I'd rather drive a 1981 VW diesel pickup, at least that has character and doesn't scream "look at me, I think I'm fast"

I need my 928 back, they don't screw with me in that car. The exhaust note is enough to make them back off.

Ed Ruiz

John:
Take a chill-pill. Life is too short to let these (or any other) drivers/cars get to you. You KNOW you're drving one of the bst cars around, so be content with that knowledge, and let them have their idea of fun. As long as ther's no harm - no foul. YMMV.

BrianG

Think back...... waaaaaaaaaayyyyyyy back, to the days of your youth, and the jacked-up, chopped down, Holley mufflered, dingle-ball decorated "Hot Cars" back in the day. <img border="0" alt="[burnout]" title="" src="graemlins/burnout.gif" /> <img border="0" alt="[burnout]" title="" src="graemlins/burnout.gif" />

er..... or am I dating myself??? <img border="0" alt="[icon501]" title="" src="graemlins/icon501.gif" />

Cobey

It's pretty simple really. They take a cheap car, drop in a ton of modifications, and now have a real sleeper that will outrun any other car of the same type and will look better. The overall cash outlay for the project is still less than buying a "real" car that has been unmodified. It's all about the challange of taking a low end car and making something more impressive out of it. Similar to dropping a twin turbo into a 928, a V8 into a Pinto/Fiero, and the like. Some go more for style, some for speed, some both, and some for a lack of good taste.

Honestly though I still don't get the coffee can exhaust. I would want my car to growl like a lion, not buzz like a humming bird ODing on a tripple latte.

John..

I drove a 1979 VW Scirocco and an early (1977) Datsun (yes, I know) Z car.

I just get tired of these reckless kids acting stupid and trying to intimidate others on the street.

I just wish I had been smart enough to invent the clear tail lamp setup that has made someone a very rich man.

bcdavis

I remember doing the exact same things back when I was younger.

Modifying my car, and looking for races.

Yes, it would be nice if every 16 year old was mature and wise.
But they have not had any bad experiences to teach them that their
behavior is unsafe. So they are just out looking to have fun...

As far as the rice trend, it is all about modifying what you happen to own. A lot of these cars are the only car they could afford, or their parents got them the car. They cannot afford to buy something fast, so each paycheck, they drop some cash into some other thing to make their car look cooler, or go faster. Sure, when all is said and done, they may have spent more than the car is worth, but it is usually done piecemeal, and they are not farsighted enough to save up. You work with what you have. I did the same thing with a 280Z back in the day. I could afford that car, and once I got it, I wanted to make it faster. Over the 5 years I owned it, I spent about 10 grand on the car. So I could have easilly gotten a 928, which would have been 10 times the car. But it was not like I had 10 grand to spend off the bat. It was more like $200/month, over 5 years...

And the idea behind the folger can exhaust, is to give the car a deep sound. Larger diameter = deeper tone. The problem is the sound of the 4-banger, small displacement engine. It just sounds like that. So no matter how hard they try to make it sound like a V8, it always sounds buzzy.

John..

Why aren't kids doing this to American or European made cars?

I think it is about having fast Hondas and the like. It has become a cult, sort of like owning a 911 (I know go ahead and yell at me now).

I'm not saying these base cars are not nice, because the average Honda is a great reliable car. I just don't understand this whole mee too modification crew with wings, pipes, and meaningless (and in my opinion...which is sometimes swayed) ugly modifications.

Tasteful mods to any car are nice, you know nice springs, wheels, some functional lighting enhancements. These mods go beyond functional. I wonder if they tell these kids that this wild body work will actually drop the top end of their pride and joy?

And for the record, yes I can be an opinionated SOB at times...

Perhaps I need to buy some neon headlamp washers and shut my pie hole.

ViribusUnits

Um...

What do you mean why don't they do this to American or European cars?

They do. Go out and watch the Ford Focuses in a big city. They're getting the same mods. as the Japanese Imports. Werid lights, tin can exaust, etc... There are cars with bow ties, but I can never rember the names of the things. I've seen several riced out Mustangs. The trim package suggested they started with a plain old mustang, with the pushrod V6. I've yet to see a camaro with the full package, but I have seen one with a coffee can muffler. I've seen several with a very hollow sounding aftermarket exaust. I haven't seen a US 4 door car riced out, simply because they look too much like granny cars. I have seen one guy that apperently tryed, but ran out of money.

Go to a local, rual, high school, and watch the trucks. 2 wheel drive trucks with a lift kit, and boggers on all 4 wheels. Crome diffrintial covers. Insane speaker arrangements. Stack exausts. Ever see someone try to race a dualie Dodge Ram with a Cummions turbo desile on pavement. I have. He tryed to race my 928. He lost badly before I hit 50!

You see, these kids don't know what works, and what doesn't. I've talked to the truck guys, and some run splitfire spark plugs "for more power." They try to modify the exaust, but usualy end up with less power. And fuel injection gets riped out alought and replaced with a big Holly carb. Why? Suppost to "make more power" Yea, right.

They don't think it's ugly, they think it's unique. Doesn't matter if it hurts the top end, they ain't ever going to get there anyways. Plus the box it came in said it would help. Ha!

John Krawczyk

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">...Sure, when all is said and done, they may have spent more than the car is worth</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">I'm reminded of a quote that involves glass houses.

dshulik

There was a funny commercial I remember from way back. It went something like this:
"some people buy a car to show off, some people buy a car to take off" I forget the point of the add, but I figure the ricers are a combo of both. I had a 300hp turbo charged AWD 95' Mitsubishi eclipse that had modified suspension, 18inch wheels and a bigger turbo/intercooler set up. It looked stock except for the wheels but could pretty much run with any stock production cars around. I never built it for racing or showing off. I just liked the way it looked and performed. When I got my 928 I sold the eclipse because my 928 had more class and was a more comfortable day to day ride. My old eclipse was the faster car for sure and actually was worth more money. Its all about what you're looking for. Perhaps your car looks like its ready to race. Nobody seems to want to try to race me in the 928, not sure why but thats a good thing I guess because 1) I don't race and 2) they'd probably beat me 0-60 anyway!

Jersey Joe

Thinking back not too many years ago, after I had my share of the then popular muscle cars, I decided to build a sleeper. Please don't laugh!!!
I was into AMC's and had quite a few AMX's. One was an ex-SCCA car with a cage, flares, ect. Anyway I built a 1980 AMC Spirit GT. It was well prepared, had a 401, roller cam, Magnum 500's. It looked like a very stock Spirit but it ran 12.80's at 108 in the quarter. It was lowered, had Koni's, was set-up to go around corners. Has a lot of fun smoking the FART CAN CARS that were just beginning to show up about 10 years ago. You are right, in the 928 no one bothers me. Most of the FART CAN SET just look, they have no idea what it is but they don't challenge me. Anyway, just thought I'd share that bit of history.

ErnestSw

The bottom line is we're all car guys. Like the punch line says, "we know what you are, we're just discussing price!"

Cobey

I like that Ernest

chris928

John,

You'll love this. Pioneer's new campaign to the Lemmings is "Disturb". It's apparently cool to disturb people, so their plan is working on you.

<a href="http://www.pioneer-disturb.com/" target="_blank">http://www.pioneer-disturb.com/</a>

Disturb, defy, disrupt, ignite...

bcdavis

Like I said, people will modify WHATEVER they own.

Anything.

Cars, trucks, bikes, imports, domestics...

If you live in a truck state, I am sure they make it look like an off-road truck, even if it never hits the dirt...

Low-riders...
Are they fast? No. They do it to look cool.

Same with ricers.
They do it to make a boring economy car look cool.
It is not to be fast.
Once they start, they begin to *think* they are faster,
because it is a *little* faster. Or maybe just louder...

But people need to realize that the core reason, is to LOOK cool.
Looking like a race car, with all the fins and wings, *looks* cool.
Same with neon lights, etc. It is not functional. It is because
they have a boring econo-box, and they want it to stand out.

I think people get confused, because instead of fuzzy dice, it's racing accessories...