Rants from the tireburner

[Mr 5 0]

tireburner163:

It's all in your perspective.

Once upon a time, I had nothing against a Japanese car that was just that; a Japanese car. I sort of liked a few of them. Certainly great daily drivers and a good value. No problem.

When they started aging and the younger guys begin buying them and attempted to mimic race cars with huge wings, 18" tires, the dopey decals, the fart pipes and all the rest, I started refering to those cars as 'Rice' and that term has become almost generic now, and always used as a pejorative for a foreign car.

Frankly, since it's mostly high school and college-age guys who do this 'rice' routine anything much outside of stock will probably incur the dreaded 'rice' label,.

The chasm between V-8 Muscle car enthusists (like us) and the 'Ricers' has grown so wide that now, anything remotely 'rice-like' can get you labeled. Stupid? Oh yeah. Certainly not worth having a fist-fight over - but, hey, these things happen.

I always kept my Mustang (and every other car I've owned) stock on the outside so this was never an issue for me but I understand that it's one for you and anyone in the 16 - 22 crowd these days who cares about what they drive.

It's annoying, frustrating and way overblown but if you let other's opinions dictate what you do with your own car, you deserve the hassle. You want wheels, get wheels. A monster system? Get one. Just understand that when you do this, you open yourself up to the grief some will gleefully give you. Screw them but don't let it drive you into fights and broken hands again. Five years from now you'll wonder why you cared about this stuff, anyway. I can almost guarantee it.