For many years, US President Abraham Lincoln thought that deporting slaves was the only workable solution to an intractable political issue. In 1861, a “colony” was established off the coast of Haiti for this purpose. Black families with no common language suddenly found themselves living together. The former slaves created their own language, complete with unwritten (but rigid) rules of grammar, tense, appellation, the lot. Semanticists have used this example to suggest that our brains are hard-wired to create shared linguistic constructs. I would suggest that the same genetic predisposition applies to tuner cars. Something new and wacky appears on the automotive scene, like low-riders, donks or VIP style. The next thing you know, a growing number of participants exert their collective unconscious on the movement, creating unwritten (but rigid) rules for what’s acceptable, what unacceptable and what’s da bomb. Strangely enough, the same process applies to vehicles that haven’t been tuned. After all, who decided what makes a Merc a Merc? Maybe that’s why I like my cars bone stock: I figure it’s the purest expression of the manufacturer’s aesthetic. Either that or I’m boring. But then I have owned Ferraris. As discerning rappers will agree, why would you want to mess with that?
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“I figure it’s the purest expression of the manufacturer’s aesthetic”
Designers have to make compromises for the cars to sell. Can’t have a low ride height and expect most buyers to not destroy the front facia on every parking stone… braille is for the blind. The C5 A6 had a service action to replace damaged bumper! My father had to go through this…. later Audi applied a kit to hike up the front skirt a bit. The A6 always looked better without the kit installed.
The artist’s rendition of a body is the purest expression of the aesthetic. What leaves the factory must be compromised in order to accomodate 5mph bumpers, compliant ride, ground clearance for speed bumps and innumerable manufacturing requirements. I’ve heard of colors sometimes being dropped due to paint adhesion issues. How about adding reflectors in the bumpers…. sure they look like pimples, but the DOT demands compliance.
Larger wheel diameters bend too easily for many buyers to not think that XYZ tire mfr is making junk tires…. it couldn’t be all those sink holes we call “pot holes” here in NJ. When the tire’s sidewall is growing a breast with nipple… you’ve probably hit something.
I love an understated saloon with tasty wheels at a tight one or two finger gap. A nice B5 or B6… an E36 or E46 there are so many numbers and names that tickle my fancy in all the right ways. Lotus Carlton… ooooh I touch my tra la la… ooooh my ding ding dong.
Oh but wait the stock comfort suspension of many cars means room for gapina… a small linux penguin looking migrant foul which nests in the generously provided wheel gap. Just google it.
IMO many cars are dowdy looking from the factory but once given some TLC its like a what not to wear makeover.
Perhaps with Ferrari the models are about as good looking as they get from the factory. I’d expect a high level of stylistic integrity from pininfarina especially when given the limited functionality requirements of a playboy sports car. Hmm maybe not…. BBS LM’s make any car *ANY* the cats ass… http://www.zvolution.com/Z3Faq/wheels/images/BBS_LM.jpg
What is VIP?
# Robert Schwartz:
October 12th, 2006 at 11:15 pm
What is VIP?
VIP is basically the Japanese equivalent of lowriders. It’s sometimes associated with yakuza cars but for the most part, it’s about big luxury cars slammed to the frame rails with the biggest shiniest deepest-dished rims you can find with smaller-width tires stretched precariously onto the rim so it tucks under the fenders.
Sometimes they are borderline “bozo” style which are the ones with extremely exaggerated exhaust pipes (usually sticking out and up a couple feet) and ridiculous wheel arch flares and ridiculous spoilers.
VIP has recently been slowly taking hold in the southern california “JDM” tuning community
Here’s a few good (american) examples:
Q45
An LS400 (Imagine my mom driving around in one of those)
LS430
And an Autoweek article on VIP: http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060508/FREE/60428006
zee German VIP…
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v122/L33t_A2_Jetta/Waterfest%2012/769aa9a5.jpg
Mr McBoost’s A8.
Yet another D2 A8…. Only seen this car in person once…. but it was tasty. I Don’t know who the owner is.
http://vortex3.rely.net/gallery/albums//Features/Feature%20Cars/Epic%20S8/003.jpg
http://vortex3.rely.net/gallery/gallery2.php?mode=album&album=/Features/Feature%20Cars/Epic%20S8#
In reply to the German VIP, according to the VIP aesthetic, the rims on that car can be considered somewhat small, not flashy enough and not deeply dished enough. that’s a very nice A8 I must say.
an example of tucking via camber and tire-sizing: http://www.k-break.com/event/07justice/10.jpg
And the more extreme example:
http://www.k-break.com/event/07justice/08.jpg
It’s the purest expression of what the manufacturer can do, given all the compromises involved.
I see… well then by risking a slightly higher rate of likely failure to involved components one can improve upon the purest expression the manufacturer was able to achieve.
I’m not big on the eurotrash wheel/tire look, but I am all about understatement. I can respect the VIP effort, hey at least there aren’t any stickers or gaudy paint schemes.
Robert, the driving force behind customization is the fact that a car is compromised for buyers other than yourself. I don’t think the engineers all wanted the car to look the way it does, they had to make it acceptable to as many people in its target market as possible. The wider that market, the less ‘pure’ the manufacturer can make its cars out of fear of alienating someone… so yeah, something special like a Ferrari probably IS just as its designer envisioned.
For example, I don’t think a Civic with a moderately different exhaust and lower, stiffer suspension is a worse car. It just wouldn’t sell to as many people, so it doesn’t come that way stock.