Will the ricing never end?
 

I was at Fry's today. There are now carbon fiber Momo speakers with bit fat yellow logos and the cover is made to look like a bling-bling road wheel. They're expensive, and they sounded like crap in the demo room.

Those would be Polks. Not bad speaker, last I checked, but definatly ugly and most likely overpriced. :-/

No. Not until the market niche has been bled dry.

People have been ricing since autos were first invented. Chopped hot rods of the 50's, spoilers & hood scoops in the 60's & 70's, etc. 8-ball & Skull shift knobs, welded chain steering wheels...... Same game, diferrent name.

Those old 50s hot rods look very neat to me. I can't imagine ever looking at a modern rice rocket and thinking "wow, that's neat" in 20 or 30 years. I'd be suprised if any of them are still running by then.

I think the pop culture goes along with the music of the era. The hot rods and the music are here bigger than ever. Must have been a good thing. Today's culture may very well be forgetable. How will history treat cars that have enough decibles to blow the windows out? What will people do to top that?

As long as I started this, I might add that I think that since the government controls have stymied car modifications so much, the kids just want to blow them up to show thier contemp.

not quite the same! yes, there is a certain amount of kitsch to be found in every artistic human endeavor, and although I have never been a huge fan of american-style conversions (i.e. Barris, et al.), I still respect the designs as they do follow certain artistic principles. "ricing" however, does not follow any artistic principles at all. what most "ricers" think of as cool today is merely an exercise to see how much crap they can add to their cars to make them appear as spastic as possible

never in my life have I seen so much rolling detritus, whose appearance is the visual equivalent of an epileptic seizure. furthermore, although it was common to find "cruisers" adding such things as fuzzy dice and 8-ball shift knobs, the emphasis was more on engine performance mods and bodywork that kept a modicum of clean lines. this is not apparently so with ricers, as they seem to spend ungodly amounts of money on products that do absolutely nothing to enhance performance, even though they are marketed as such. one example is the ellectronic blow-off valve simulator (yes, that's right - it comes complete with speaker) that is supposed to make your car sound like it has a turbo. in God's name why?? back in "the day" one would have been laughed - if not outright beaten - into oblivion for attempting such a poseuristic (hey, I've coined a new word!) stunt

on the visual side, one reason for the current trend in automotive bad taste is that the advent of low priced CAD-CAM equipment has allowed anyone with a modest sum of money and little else in the way of design skills to go into the accessory business. have you seen any of the latest wheels, accessories or even fiberglass panels lately? there is no cohesiveness of design, no visual logic, no nothing (yep, it's a double negative - deal with it :D) for example, consider the wheels that some of these guys are putting on their cars. the patterns of some are downright ridiculous. their designs have nothing to do with the rest of the car! it's the same as wearing a pair of ghetto baggy jeans, a western button-up shirt, and a pair of dockside penny loafers. making design tools available to the common man will not create more artists. never has and never will. oil and canvas have been around for millenia, but only the true artist can make them come to life

remember folks, the reason why the 911 is such a revered design after so many years is because there was a brain attached to the other end of the pencil. talent like Butzi's is rare, but it takes this type of talent to create forms that are truly wonderful to behold and can stand the test of time

just a rant, but hey, you started it :D

We used to remove a plug from the side of the carburetor to create a whistling sound that, to the uninitiated, sounded like fuel injection. I guess things haven't changed that much after all. :rolleyes: :D Except, they can but a ready made product where we had to inovate. Ronin's point on that is well taken.http://www.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/wat6.gif

Re: Will the ricing never end?
 

I saw the same junk at Circuit City. The moron trying to help me proceeds to turn on the XM unit and put it on the rap channel at 3/4 volume...why he selected that for a guy dressed in khakis and a fleece pullover is anybody's guess...

I bought entry level MB Quart stuff new in box off eBay for $110 shipped. Seperate tweeters and 6 1/2" woofers. Doesn't look bling at all and sounds good when the exhuast isn't belching.

-BG

I was waiting at a freeway onramp metering light, where cars line up in two lanes, side by side at the light. The lanes then merge into one as you get on the freeway.

A guy in a slammed CRX pulled up next to me, looking over, and his car was making a loud "BEEP BEEP BOOP BEEP" sound. It had to be some sort of programmable launch control or something (or maybe just a poseur thing like the fake blowoff valve above).

The thing is, the speaker making all the noise for this thing was obviously mounted outside the car. Meant to impress the guy in the lane next to him, not to tell the driver anything useful. Sure enough, he jumped his place in line and sped (if that is the correct word for a car with a 1.5 liter engine) in front of me.

What ever happened to walking softly but carrying a big stick? These kids clomp around in wooden clogs carrying toothpicks. :rolleyes:

Oh, and I was in a '91 Jeep when this happened. A really worthy adversary I was, oh yes.

Hey...a lot of the 50s type of "hotrods" were the beginning of real performance vehicles. Take off everything that didn't add to acceleration, modify the motor, even the flatheads had LOTS of upgrade parts available .. anybody ever see aluminum "Offenhauser" heads for a Ford V8 from the early fifties/late forties? Dual carb and dual exhaust mods? Look real sweet on those small engines. The two piece hood was cleaned of the chrome center strip,welded, filled with body lead for a cleaner aerodynamic look. Cars were lowered, not only for looks, but to reduce roll. My personal opinion is we can thank the early modifiers for Detroit's interest in developing modern OHV engines and more spartan/utilitarian/efficient styling, eliminating twenty pounds of chrome plated dash. OTOH, loading down a modern small sedan with hundreds of pounds of lights, spoilers, 20" wheels does NOTHING for the car's performance and in many cases actually degrades the car. Just what I always wanted; a rear wing so high it looks like it could be used as a handle to drag the POS to an auto graveyard after the engine grenades due to being pushed far beyond its rev limits by some joker with no concept of how the damn thing even functions.

Ha Ha! You've hit the nail right on the head. :D