There are certain things in life that the average Joe should not attempt. Front row football, Olympic level pink pong, and drug experimentation in Bali to name a few. Owning and building a high performance car also belongs in that category, yet this does not seem to stop every post pubescent male spending all his hard earned cash on some heap of crap.
Most of us have been there and done it, and our fathers laugh as they see themselves in the foolish choices their sons are making. Say for example, saving money by plasti dipping your wheels yourself whilst they are still bolted on the car with the tyres still on the rims. Or spending money on single turbo conversions before getting basic maintenance or safety items looked at. Or ordering and fitting the entire Taarks catalog before checking what these parts do or where they are made. Or even paying your mechanic good money to have rocker stoppers fitted to your car without realizing what they do; in most cases they are not necessary and your car already has them fitted.
What fathers don’t see is the second hand coil overs purchased off Honda sales, the 104 comments on a Drift sales post but not a single legitimate inquiry, or the poxy modifications carried out in the name of “keeping the car scene alive”. To top it all off, sons expect parents to park the $40,000 family car on the street so that their $5000 slapper can go in the garage and when Dad tells him where he can put that rust bucket of a car, Dad’s suddenly an asshole.
There are many different types of modified car owners and the levels of which they build their cars. Most think they are car guys, living on the poverty line, a life of tax evasion, spending 87% of the income they do make on rum and cigarettes and milking Centerlink pay outs.
These guys own mad V8 burnout machines (or if your super special even V6 burnout machines) or multicolored banged up Silvias with bok choy rose joints fitted to your front suspension. Did you research those rose joints? Nope they were the cheapest and now you feel like a drift king. Guess what?! They say “for track use only” not because it automatically makes you a race car driver but rather Australia has standards car parts must meet, its a safety standard and these parts don’t meet those standards.
Having a “daily driver” seems to instantly make these guys some new superior race too. Having a Daihatsu Serion which is just as road legal as a motorized esky as a “daily driver” does not automatically make you Australia’s next drift king.
To top it all off nine out of ten of these guys have no insurance on the car. “Keeping the car scene alive” is a total cop out when you can’t insure your car.
There is a prevalent breed of “car guy” who fall in the primary category of bell end. As in, kind of people who buy a “sick drift S13” and are all pissed off when they are red stickered for bolts missing from the front seats. People driving around with no preload in their “I fitted these at home coil overs because I know more than my mechanic who actually wanted money in exchange for work”
Those (ok ok, MOST of those) walking around with puffed up chests claiming they are car guys fall into the above mentioned category. Then there are those who build real cars. These guys shop around, not for the cheapest priced parts but for the best quality made parts. They do it once and do it right and they aren’t using a drift set up wheel alignment of maximum caber to drive to uni and back every day, then scratching their head as to why they have gone through tyres in four day.
These guys spend $20k plus and own amazing cars. BPORT, YEP30L, AWSSOM and BAG308 to name a few. These are the real car guys who are keeping the car scene alive.
Something needs to change in the modified car culture! The poverty pack car builders need to stop. Now before you all jump to your keyboards to blame the police as if that’s the easy scapegoat, have a serious think about your own build. Is it of the quality that you would proudly announce to car builders “I built this”?
We’re not suggesting everyone has to spend $20k. All we’re saying is if you’re going to modify, do it one piece at a time and don’t skimp. One item at a time, done well goes a long way. If it means all you can do is wheels and exhaust then so be it. But don’t go rummaging through Bob Janes scrap tyre pile, in an attempt to fit second hand worn out 18 inch tyres so you can save $400 in order to buy second hand coil overs off drift sales and fit them yourself, (I guarantee you’re fitting them incorrectly, almost everyone is). It’s this mentality that has to change.
Using the excuse “I can’t afford it” to justify cost cutting in a car build is not an acceptable excuse. You have knowingly got involved in one of the worlds most expensive hobbies. Ignorance about what it would cost you does not float.
Unfortunately the great cars are becoming less and less and the rise of home made puss is actually killing the car scene not “keeping it alive”.