by "WhereTheSidewalkEnds" (wherethesidewalkends)
Published 08/18/2017 at 14:02
by "WhereTheSidewalkEnds" (wherethesidewalkends)
Published 08/18/2017 at 14:02
No Tags
STARS: 2
Hello all! This is my first time writing to Oppo but I have been a long time reader and commenter on Jalopnik. I decided to try my hand at authorship to have some open discussions about car culture and how its changed (or not) over the years.
To start off, I want to be able to actually give you a sense of where I am coming from. I feel it is best to provide a little bit of back story about myself before launching into any further writings.
I have always been somewhat of a car guy though I wouldn’t say I became a true Jalop until I went to college. My first somewhat reachable dream car was the Z32 300zx when I was in high school (mid 90s). Back then, the tuning scene wasn’t something I knew about. It had not hit mainstream just yet.
Flash forward to my junior year in college (1999). My old hand-me-down Accord bit the dust due to someone blowing through a stop sign and I needed a new car. I had already had the car bug so my top three contenders where what you might have expected. It was either an Eclipse GS-T (couldn’t afford a used GSX), an Integra, or a Prelude. I ended up falling for the unique styling of the Prelude and the exceptional condition of the one I found. It wasn’t till just a little later that the mod bug hit me. It was the ones you would expect. It was a whole new world for me…..I was hooked.
After I graduated college I moved down to Virginia just outside of DC. The Fast & The Furious had just came out that summer and the tuner car culture was exploding. Of course you had people involved because it was the thing to do or a way to show off but I was amazed at the number of people who really had a connection to their cars. Whether it be an old Civic that had seen better days with a body kit and neons or a Supra, people seemed to cherish their cars and the work that was put into them. I made some of my closest friends wrenching on our cars on weekends. Hell, even one of my friends let me use his garage to do my single turbo swap so we could put my old upgraded twin turbos on his car. My other friend’s father was an old hot-rodder who would always open up his house (and loaded backyard garage) to all of us car nuts to have a place to work on our cars. He would lend us his tools and provide help and advice to us novices. This was true across the whole region as well. There were meet ups both big and small all around the beltway and there would be monthly mega-meets that would have thousands upon thousands of people and cars show up. It was a grand time to be a gear head.
For work and life reasons I ended up having to leave the DC area for NYC Metro in the mid 2000’s. I started off living in NJ which did not have as big of a car culture as DC did but it was still there. I quickly found friends with local rotary guys and general car lovers alike. It didn’t seem like the scene was dying, just a bit different.
Sadly, life has a way of making decisions for you and I had to make a choice to better myself which prompted a move closer to the city and a situation where it was no longer feasible to have such a heavily modified car. I ended up selling my car and getting a stock manual IS300. I did not touch the car for years and years while I focused on work and grad school. I kind of drifted away from cars as I just didn’t have time.
Another skip forward and its now 2014. I am out of grad school and in the process of changing careers. To do this, I needed to move out of NYC to gain experience where the cost of living was not so dramatic. I ended up getting a job in Phoenix AZ. By this point, the old desires for a performance car came back again. Car wise, the Phoenix area is the ‘land that time forgot’. Tuner culture is alive in well and they still host meets all over the place. Every Saturday you could go out to Pavillions and see everything whether your tastes lied in classic restorations, muscle cars, tuners, drift missiles, or even exotics. It was all represented there. Every year a car club would host Race Wars (yes, they actually had the copywrite for it) where cars would compete on an airstrip in a half mile roll race. I ended up staying in Arizona for two years until I got a position back in the DC area.
In my return to the area, I experienced somewhat of a culture shock. While Arizona was a throwback to everything I had loved previously, DC had changed. It was a change that I feel is not so much a divergence for the area so much as Arizona was just a capsule for the old ways. There are still modded cars here and there and meets still do happen but it is nowhere near the scale of what used to be. Seeing a modified car on the road is now a rarity rather than an everyday occurrence. Those cars that are modded tend to be lightly so with usually just wheels and a suspension with a few bolt on tweaks there and there. Many of the dozens of tuner shops have shuttered their doors. That isn’t to say that there isn’t a car culture in the DC area but rather that it has changed. What used to be evening meetups at commuter lots, Burger Kings, or Shell Gas Stations are now Saturday morning Cars & Coffee. Tuner cars and hot rods have been replaced with exotics and number matching restorations.
To me, I feel like I have woken up from a coma and seeing the world with fresh eyes while others have gotten used to the gradual pace of change. I was locked away in a bubble and am now seeing the world for what it is.
So I shall ask you all this. How has car culture changed for you or has it at all? If so, has it changed for the better, worse or maybe its just a change?
Thanks for reading!
"MonkeePuzzle" (monkeypuzzle)
08/18/2017 at 14:11, STARS: 3
FIRST!
Thanks for reading!
HA! tricked ya, I didn’t read it (yet)
"Chariotoflove" (chariotoflove)
08/18/2017 at 14:24, STARS: 1
Hello and welcome! You ask such deep questions for a Friday. I just like cool cars. Hanging around places like Oppo allows me to learn more about them and how they work. I think that’s good because it’s always good to learn more about the machines that are such a big part of our lives.
"William Byrd" (thedriver)
08/18/2017 at 14:30, STARS: 0
I almost accused you of plagiarism! I also got into cars owning a Prelude, living in VA just outside of DC in the Fast and Furious era. Too funny.
Are you still local? I’m an Arlingtonian, we do lots of fun car stuff around the area. Actually, we have Dominion Raceway all to ourselves for 2 hours to film on Sunday (4-6PM) if you want to help out. will (at) rightfootdown.com. Shoot me an email, we can always use some help.
"William Byrd" (thedriver)
08/18/2017 at 14:32, STARS: 0
Oh and I agree about DC car culture. Back in the late 90s, early 2000s, there were a LOT more modded cars. We’ve got some great stories about Fairfax County police measuring how low our cars were, perhaps that’s part of what ruined it. It’s still around, but you have to know where to look.
"Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678)
08/18/2017 at 14:40, STARS: 1
I think the proliferation of relatively cheap autocross and track days and drift events and drag strips as well as higher penalties and stricter enforcement has brought people away from the street race culture. Additionally, newer cars now are just better stock than they used to be. Getting 0-60 times under 5 seconds and crazy fast lap times is easy with bone stock cars now so the mod bug doesnt always need to bite people.
"My bird IS the word" (mybirdistheword)
08/18/2017 at 14:47, STARS: 1
Pittsburgh? Better, with the sheetz meets I see ratty tuner cars all the time. The muscle shows are always here, and always will be. european shows don’t exist outside of the PVGP. However, it seems to me like cool car ownership is increasing around here, which hasn’t been a car town my entire time growing up.
"CobraJoe" (cobrajoe)
08/18/2017 at 14:49, STARS: 1
I grew up in rural Nebraska, cars (and especially trucks) were important to kids out there. A car was freedom, the chance to travel on your own to wherever you want to go. Cars weren’t often taken for granted. In my small class of 50 people, there was about 6 people that I’d argue brands with and brag about driving to.
Now, I live in Omaha, and while there’s a much larger car scene here, it seems to be focused on money and attention. More exotic cars, more professionally restored or modified muscle cars, more modern vehicles with aftermarket superchargers. The local Mustang club only seemed to talk about how much the cars cost or where they were having them restored. The local Subaru group seems to be blindly loyal and mostly interested in congratulating each other, and the local Honda/Acura group is hopeless.
"WhereTheSidewalkEnds" (wherethesidewalkends)
08/18/2017 at 15:19, STARS: 1
Im an Alexandrian now just north of Old Town. Im currently in a waiting period as my current car is being finished and painted back in Arizona before getting shipped here. Its a 93 RX-7 with an LS3.
I might not be able to make it Sunday as I have to take my girlfriend to the airport but I am definitely down to meet up or help out otherwise.
"WhereTheSidewalkEnds" (wherethesidewalkends)
08/18/2017 at 15:20, STARS: 1
Oh I remember that all too well. We used to go to the Burke Shell on random nights because the father of one of the group owned it so the FFX police couldnt harass us on there.
"William Byrd" (thedriver)
08/18/2017 at 15:23, STARS: 0
You’ve got a
what
coming from AZ?
Damn, email me either way, that’s right up our alley. No offense to rotaries (well maybe) but the engine was always my least favorite part of the RX-7. And the FD is one of the best looking cars ever made. We would love to feature it on RFD, heck you could write about it if you want. That’s awesome.
And no worries about Sunday, we film pretty often somewhere in the area. Happy to have extra hands.
"WhereTheSidewalkEnds" (wherethesidewalkends)
08/18/2017 at 15:23, STARS: 1
I know the feeling of small town life. I went to high school in a town called Farmville. In the pre cell/social media days cars were all about freedom. It was how we saw our friends or got to any type of entertainment. Was just thinking about this after I published my post. Might do another simply about that and how it possibly changed our view of cars.
"WhereTheSidewalkEnds" (wherethesidewalkends)
08/18/2017 at 15:25, STARS: 2
In a sense I can believe that but modding, at least in my eyes, was also about your personal connection to your car. It was a way of making it yours. I agree that modern cars are much more powerful and faster than any of those modded ones were save for a few but it just seems to have become a numbers game. What it does at the Ring or what the sales sheet says.
"Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678)
08/18/2017 at 15:31, STARS: 1
I think that is exactly it. Modding has become a purely numbers game rather than an emotional one. I mean that was part of the reason I went with a Miata, to avoid the dick measuring, numbers games. Its never gonna be fast so I can just mod it to be enjoyable and more mine. I dont win races, not even autocross, but its still way more fun than it was stock. In general this is true in Miata culture anyways. In the summer time at least, there are a variety of meets specific to these little cars.
"WhereTheSidewalkEnds" (wherethesidewalkends)
08/18/2017 at 15:31, STARS: 1
Sounds good. I will email you when I have a moment.
This is my second V8 FD that I have built.
The LS3 was freshly rebuilt with the track in mind with upgraded lifters, springs and oil pump with an Unorthodox Racing crank scrapper/baffle.
I usually post up the status of it on my IG @su_maverick
"merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc" (merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc)
08/18/2017 at 15:35, STARS: 1
That and the tuners of the ‘90s are now old enough to own more high end cars. Also families. That changes things a lot. I know I don’t wrench nearly like I used to.
And then you have the proliferation of smart phones and instant communication so kids don’t need cars like we did. They socialize in different ways than we did.
"WhereTheSidewalkEnds" (wherethesidewalkends)
08/18/2017 at 15:35, STARS: 0
I agree. Whenever I go to a meet or C&C, I always veer to the ones that have obviously put the wrench time in. Anyone can tick off boxes on a order sheet and throw down some money but I will always appreciate the one that someone put thought, effort, and a few scrapped knuckles into putting together. It doesnt have to be the fastest, just yours.
"WhereTheSidewalkEnds" (wherethesidewalkends)
08/18/2017 at 15:39, STARS: 0
I wonder if it is just that the cities that have the sharpest spike in cost of living have experienced the decline. I admittedly have only a small bit of the country to compare against.
"Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678)
08/18/2017 at 16:16, STARS: 0
What do you think of stance culture and lots of the “ricer” mods that people have out there? I think a lot of people went to either actual race cars or went full retard to the hellaflush/stanced stuff. That and drift culture. Just very different from Fast n furious style tuner culture.
"WhereTheSidewalkEnds" (wherethesidewalkends)
08/18/2017 at 16:43, STARS: 1
I think its purely aesthetic (stance). Its done to be popular and not about cars in general. It just happens that cars are the canvas that they are using. I put the drift guys with the racers as they are still more performance oriented. Personally, Ive gravitated more towards the track but I still enjoy the tuner side of things as well.