Rep Power: 279

I remember first getting into import tuning when I first got in to High School in 1998. Since that time, I have watched countless HotVersion's in Japanese with Chinese subtitles, tried to import a 1995 Silvia, wasted away more hours playing Gran Turismo 1 through 4 and finally have built my own Honda Civic. I remember going to the street races and watching people trailer Honda CRXs there in the few months leading up to the first Fast and the Furious movie - and I remember the automotive destruction that would take place a few parking lots over from the movie theater after the opening night.

I watched the American adoption and adaptation of Japanese-make tuning for about as long as a 22 year old white guy from NJ can. I missed the grass roots, oldschool stuff in SoCal in the early 90's because of my age and the fact I live on the other side of the country... but look at how far its come. From the electric paint colored boom that heralded it's arrival to the JDM Honda wave to the tire-shredding insanity of American drifting... what will be next?

For those of us dedicated to this sport and (no offense here) all the 17 year old rims-and-system newcomer kids who can't really afford to build a full car... what is the future here? As we grow older will we act like the previous import tuner generation and buy a real sports car? Trade our Hondas in for a 2008 Nissan GT-R? Or will it die - due to the state of world petroleum, loss of interest in motorsports or who knows what else? Did I waste all of my energy in vain? Did we - (the people joining the sport (getting a DL) after the Fast and the Furious boom) - miss the wave? Will history remember the people currently in their late 20's early 30's as the real generation of tuners and we're just the ones who saw that cool movie? What will the next generation be like... are the USDM companies going to change the direction of the sport compacts, or will it be the Imports yet again? Was it worth it?

This is me, looking back on the last 8 years of my life in cars.

 
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[QUOTE=LogicWavelength]Will history remember the people currently in their late 20's early 30's as the real generation of tuners and we're just the ones who saw that cool movie? QUOTE]

this is an official flame on you mentioning the fast and the furious as a cool movie... it doesn't even have anything to do with tuning... hell.. half the **** they say about cars doesn't even make sense.

but other then that, i've been wondering the same thing. is the this way of life going to crash and burn? or are we going to all get electric cars in the future and mod those? imagine..... a ricer electric car with a huge wing, chrome rims... how will they make fart cans?

 
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someone needs to go back in time and make sure those movies were never made (fatf)

 
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all true...kinda sounds like a public service annoucement too...i doubt that tuners will die, but i think hope and pray that ricers do...it seems to me that it's a phad, like pokemon on testosterone or something, hopefully it will get old to ricers and they will heard to other things to waste their money on...

 
Rep Power: 269

I got to thinking about the whole F&F thing...I was worried I was one of those that "got into imports" after the movie but I realized that I fell in love with the RSX before I ever even heard of that movie, so I think I would have ended up the way I am whether or not I would have seen that movie.

But to what you were saying, unfortunately everyone assumes that any import with mods is one of "those fast and the furious" cars...

I too worry about what's gonna happen with this whole petroleum thing...in a few years (when i get out of college, that is) I would like to buy a G35 and build it up....but what if by then everything is hydrogen/electric/gas electric? Sure you'd be able to get used but....I don't know...worries me to....

 
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Humm...I'm not finding the delete button and sorry for the double post!

 
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I think by having a civic we don't much to worry about. The main concern in this country is we consume way too much petroleum, I forget what the figure is but It's atleast double the amount by the second country. The government has plans to do something with gas guzzlers, either decreasing production or limiting consumers use of them. Civics being economy cars aren't in this category so I dont think we have anything to worry about. As far as research is concerned, most of it is going into Hydrogen power, but they haven't entirely figured out how to harness the energy w/o it blowing up (it's very instable) I think there's a good chance my Civic will be my last petroleum fueled car though the way it's heading.

 
Rep Power: 279

Just to clarify my stance on this... if you think that the first FnF movie was crap - you might be right. But you CANNOT deny two things... One - that it awakened a massive, country-spanning trend in focusing on and tuning your car... rice or not. Two - that it basically took a snapshot of an era of automobiles... the general mentality that yes - my souped up Toyota can beat your Ferrari, etc. Sure it was a stupid teen flick, but like all stupid teen flicks before it, it takes a picture of a generation and their ways - all the way back from the surfer beach party flicks of the 60s.

To anybody who just writes it off as a stupid rice-fest... you missed the point.

 
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Agreed

 
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I'm not saying it's a rice fest, but it was one of those movies that made kids wanna befast like vin diesil or the mad scientist...I know this cuz i was one of those kids, and yes when i got my civic i thought it was fast. But then if i think about it, my car before my civic was a 24 speed moutain bike, so it's all in perspective. I now know that my civic is not nor ever will be fast. You can bet your *** that your fast car will beat me all the way to the gas station tho.

 
Rep Power: 396

I remember when I got into this stuff. My friend handed my a magazine (probably super street), and I never looked back. It amazing how much information you can absorb It's true though, things go through so many phases... But it's what you choose to define you that counts. It dosent matter what you do to your car, as long as when you look at it you appreciate it. You can be back in the mid 90's, doing the custom everything deal, you could be real old school and still work on your da's and ef's, you can be j-spec, the styling, and the ideals, drifting, or even into VIP. This is a lifestyle that each one of us tailors to our own wants and needs. It dosent matter your age, and what you've seen come and go. It matters how you define yourself in the here and now.

 
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uh....the love of cars will never go away. Whether it be muscle, tuner, or whatever...the passion that goes into cars will never go away. As far as the next phase in the world of imports go...I think your going to see a lot of tuners take and adopt ideas from muscle and classic car owners. If you think about it..we are already heading in that direction with the whole JDM styling craze. Restoration will be a big thing in the future..and its started to grow recently too.

 
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i think its true that history repeats itself. Like styles of clothing or shoes. Or old schools songs remade but better. blah blah blah i cant think of anything else But i think tuning cars will be alive forever..it will just be to another level.

 
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i'm telling you, we'll all have electric cars, and we'll soup them up with extra large magnets and the ricers will have some mod that will make the engine extra whiny without any actual gain. and then the subaru owners will have 4 engines, 1 for each wheel. i can see the future!

 
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and instead of boost, you'll turn up the voltage and amperage!

 
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Well you pose a lot of good questions and the answer to all of them is " I don't know, wait and see."

 
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Haha! Yeah right after F&F came out, you saw all those MTV specials about TRUE LIFE I'm a street racer and everynight on the news you saw more reports of kids getting killed while street racing. Personally, i think the import scene is changing. It seems to me, that the younger generation (i'm 26 myself) get everything they want. Take for instance, there is this kid that lives in my neighborhood who is no more than 20. He has an 04-05 STi that has been modded like no other. I know for a fact, his parents are paying the note and he is blowing all his money on the mods. But more so, not only are the parents paying more for things, but it seems that with credit cards so easy to get, everybody is just buying now and paying later.

The next 5-10 years should be pretty exicting.

 
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^ I hate people that spoil their kids like that, maybe they'll go into credit card debt just so their kid will like them. Then watch the dumb kid spray the crap out of the motor and blow up.

 
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my parents pay for my car while i'm in school. they are not in debt. that is a pretty broad statement for you to make

 
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my parents payed for the majority of my car. i took over when there was a little under 5000 left to pay. total cost was a little over 13k. main reason for this was because i didn't have a job and they wanted me to focus on classes.

 
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everyone has different situations...dont assume things

 
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Please steve, your so poor you stole the civic

 
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I'm not hating, but i am very proud of the fact that i got my car on my own, with no help, no co-signing, etc. I have a lot more respect for my car cuz of all the work i put into to get it and pay for it. My Gf's parents bought her car for her and she treats it like ****...cuz she didn't have to do anything for it. just goto school. Well, I have to goto school and had to work for my car at the sametime.

 
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we aren't all that lucky i guess. and for the record, i dont treat my car like ****. but i get your point.

 
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My cuz is that way...when he was 16 he got a talon...then that wasn't good enough so his grandparents bought him a 7th gen...that wasn't fast enough, so they traded that for a 6th gen Si, still wasn't fast enough so last year (pretty sure he was 18 at the time) they bought him an '06 STi!

He's got a couple grand in parts on it and he hasn't paid a single dime out of his pocket!

I think it's okay for parents to buy their kid a car, to a certain point. I paid for my first car, '97 Accord a couple years ago, $5k, and bought myself a sporbike before I turned 16...but when it was time for a new car my parents bought me the civic and traded the accord in on a new truck...so i've been on both sides of the situation.....Ironically, I take better care of the Civic then I did with the Accord! I don't think ownership has anything to do with it, if someone's gonna beat the **** out of a car, they will beat the **** out of a car regardless.....
BUT, I don't think it's right for them to go out and buy them brand new $20k cars!


As for the Fast and the Furious stuff, don't get me wrong...I like the movies...THERE ARE NO OTHER GOOD IMPORT MOVIES OUT THERE! But I hate the douschbags that went out after the movie, bout civic's and put fart-pipes on them and thought they were fast!

 
Rep Power: 320

Cars are an expensive hobby.

Thanks to those ****ing movies we have rent to own rim shops and audio stores that'll finance you as long as you got a job.
I see and know people who put all of their life saving into the cars and NOT ONE CENT towards their future.
The future of America will drown in debt and the economy might come pretty close to bursting a bubble.

How many of us had to sell a few parts off the car to pay for something that we weren't prepared for?
How many of us find it so damn hard to scrape up $60 for a rear lip?
$60? You have to be kidding me. Put that money into the bank.

Now I'm not saying everyone is like that, but most kids currenty live and are raised in a "get it now" environment.
Problems I tell you...problems.
I work with kids aged 1 to 18...I see these kids and pray that this isn't America's future.

 
Rep Power: 374

I actually got into this scene right before the movie was released. I agree that it awakened a world wide realization of what can be done with a car. True most of it spawned more rice but its nice to see this hobby of ours take flight and in a lot of hands do some real good.

 
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i don't even remember how i got into it, i didn't know anything about cars until i got to 10th grade, that's when my life turned around, lol

 
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getting a car from their parents isn't bad, it's a point to start from, i still remember my first car being a k-car (i migrated over here) with a 660cc engine in there, and that actually started my interest in cars. now that i'm over here, i got my own car, paid for that and even saved some.
but those that straight off the bat got a STi, or an evo, that is too much .

bout the future of import tuning? i think i hear our kids or maybe grandkids saying "what? you guys drive using gas?"

 
Rep Power: 360

I didn't get into cars when FATF came out. I was obsessed with Ferrari since I first saw a picture of one when I was about 5 or 6. I got into Jap cars a little after the FATF movie, but it wasn't till I was going over 100mph in a talon. I didn't even see the movie till after that.
I dont think its going to die. I think its going to evolve into 2 segments; 1: the older, mature crowd (us) who want to see real JGTC and Formula D quality racing on tracks. We dont want FWD cars with wings and fart cannons. We want style, precision, and power.
2: The FATF fanboys get worse and the group gets worse and worse. More street racing in slow cars, more crashing, and more giving auto enthusiasts a bad name.