Appearance, Body Kits, Detailing Exterior with Add-Ons, etc.

[The_Nightmare_347]

Dear Online Community,

I find often that so many people forget the old school way of doing things, where function was first, and form second, thus we did not get called posers, ricers, wannabes, etc. There was also a necessary reason for doing all of this, because if you worked on the form, the bling, the body kits, the whatever that made you look like something you were not, you more often than not ran into problems during your builds, where fabrication had to be done, things had to be sh*t canned that cost you some serious money at times, etc., etc., etc.

This usually went right along with going down to our local shops, or to the neighborhood builds being done on front lawns by people who knew what they were doing, who were mechanics, etc. If we took the cotton out of our ears long enough, stopped acting like we were know it alls, and put that cotton in our mouth, showing some respect to our elders, usually we learned exactly what we needed to know and understand to build on our own.

I find today so many people that are my age now that I was then, have no idea of any of this. They want to look good or great, they want appearance, they want something to attract the girls, they want sound, they want body kits, they want paint, and on and on and on. Now, if you are doing something like a SPL show or competition, no problem with just doing sound and maybe some body kit work. However, to do all this bling and hype gives the rest of our communities a bad, wrong, etc. not great, name (if you come from the greater side as opposed to the good side of things and even if you are from the great side of things, more ammunition against you for people pulling this).

Function before form, and function to FIT form - these are the ways to go. Do not worry about rims, about body kits, about paint, about the stereo system, etc., etc., etc. UNTIL you have something underneath that hood and body worth putting those things on for. Then, you have the right to do so, and not only that, you will find yourself using less money, because you now have the proper fitments, on down, in order to know what you want to put on the outside that will work, and fit, and benefit not just in showiness, but also might help aerodynamically to get you a hundredth or two off your time, maybe more.

I find myself getting discouraged with the new buck, younger generation, from patch holders in the clubs (who in my time would have been stripped publically of their colors, beaten down, if not shot or killed for how they carry themselves and we who are the older, long beard or long goatee generation) to the kids in these car clubs thinking because they know this or that about computers they know everything about building a car or adding power by non-natural aspiration methods. Damn if this does not get insulting often enough now a days. Perhaps I am the dinosaur people call me (Even Orange County Choppers called me a 'brainless, helpless, defenseless, extinct stegasaurus' in my own friends Buzz Kanter and Chris Maida's magazine, American Iron, because of their two cents having to be thrown in [not to mention Paulie Sr is a dry drunk and ex addict, and Jr still is an alcoholic and addict, never mind Mikey being fired 3x from his own father's welding/polishing shops in Orange County because of his weed habit]), but you know what - I can live with myself when I go to bed, and I can live with myself when I wake up, and whenever I look into a mirror, unlike so many, or those in denial about their own state of being and mind. RAWR, then, Godzilla style, if indeed I am a dinosaur, lmfao.