Wtat's most important to you: performance or looks...

[Bill Douglas]

Modifications to your car; are they for looks or for performance. Or are for somwhere in between.

A lot of guys swap out there stock (fuchs) wheels for heavier aftermaket ones, usually an inch bigger to go go a later or more stylish looks. Plus certain body kits wouldn't do anything for aerodynamics.

But who cares. I like my car to look good, hence my paint color change when the brown was "sufficent for protecting metal surfaces".

I guess we are all here for the looks to some degree or another or we would all be driving early Ford Escorts with 2 litre engines which would out perform most of us anyway.

What are your thoughts?

[Moses]

Well, if it enhances performance but looks like crap, I won't put it on my car.

On the other hand if it looks cool, but does nothing for performance, I'm all over it. Oh well.

[Overpaid Slacker]

What's this "or" crap?

I assume we're talking about cars...

JP

[Victor]

Bill,

Personally, I like to look good. Mainly because I don't have to try very hard to achieve spectacular results. I consider my car to be a natural extension of the effect I have on people. "Mesmorisingly buffed" could be a subtle way of describing our combination.

It's not important that my car is quick off the mark. That's why I have a 3.2 Carrera. It can be dragged off by other modes of transport costing as much as $5,000. The object of the game here is to drive slow, let the people see me and hear my Barry Manilow tape intertwining with the worn top end clanking, whirring fan, buzzing 1st gear and general symphony of various miscellaneous faulty components amplified by a 4" exhaust.

I am going for quick "spank" around the block now.

[Bill Douglas]

Victor, I'm all of the above plus with my rusted out muffler giving that "performance" sound my car turns a few heads also

Moses - you fashion slut

[stuartj]

Personally, I like the statement from the the Concord design team in the 60's, which went something like:

"A machine is perfect, not when nothing more can be added, but when nothing more can be removed."

In fact as soon as I have fitted my white faced dials, carbon fibre ashtray, tungsten anotomic gear knob and drilled titanium accelorator pedal, I believe I will add that to my signature line.

stuart 87 carrera

[911tmaster]

i care about performance more because i can only afford to do one or the other and i like going fast more than looking good. and its fun when your car looks like sh** and you race some rice rocket dork that has some stupied body kit and you kick their a$$!

[bell]

i feel that there must be a balance between the two, if not it's better stock......of course this is coming from someone planning turbo flares on my targa

[Doug Zielke]

Glad you brought this up, Bill.

I think a Cool Collar probably gives you the best of both worlds. Adds a lot of horsepower due to all that *cool* oil rushing around the motor..... and looks very *cool* when you open the lid to show slack-jawed bystanders.

[Bill Douglas]

Doug, you are trying your damnest to de-rail my genuine thread and turn it into one of those 3 page cool collar jobs.

[Moses]

Originally posted by Bill Douglas
Moses - you fashion slut

Damn, I've been exposed.

[pbs911]

I go for both, but won't go for lookings if it hurts performance. Here is a list of my mods that IMHO improved looks and performance:

Fikse FM 10's: cool moderen looks, weigh no more than Fuchs of comprable width;
OEM Sport Exhaust: cool dual out exhaust., added 10hp?
Yellow Bird CTR bumpers: (if they're good enough for the worlds fastest production car in 87' there good enough for me);
Roll bar (nice race look and added safety);
Targa RS seats: race look, lighter weight and harness holes;
Gate Shirt kit: looks cool on the shifter and helps prevent 5-2;
Lowered ride height: looks cool, lowers center of gravity;
F/G hood: less weight, OEM look;
Carrera tail: added lift reduction and looks cool;
"SCWDP" sticker: do I really need to say anything?

[CamB]

Outside - 1969 911T (bad repaint by PO)
Inside - 1969 911T (bad refurb by PO)
Underneath - 270hp 3.2, 915

I MUST prefer go to looks That isn't to say I don't want a beautiful body and interior, I just can't afford it...

[widebody911]

I drove my car in ratty paint paint and interior for quite a while, but once I got the 3.6L installed, I didn't care

I like the performance of the GT2 wing, and don't mind the looks. But I was getting voted off the island too many times date-wise, so I switched to the C2 lid.

I have Speedline wheels for the track. They're fugly, are heavier than comparable Fuchs, but they give me great lateral grip. Some day when I'm more flush with cash, I'll get 2 sets of Lindsey wheels like Jack did.

[A Quiet Boom]

I have to laugh at myself when I read this thread. Although my P-car isn't in bad shape I spend 10x as much time tinkering with performance than even keeping it clean. My drag caar is worse, I spent in excess of 15k several years back to build a nasty stroker small block, then many more thousands on a roll cage, glass hood, suspension, trans and axle mods etc. But it still looks like a total beater on the outside, has to be at least 4 different colors, several rusty spots, rough paint etc. However as they say anything looks good doing 130MPH through the traps on a dragstrip or riding a 60 foot wheelstand I was going to repaint the P-car and upgrade the wheels etc. this Fall but I just got done spending $5500+ on installing a 3.0 where the 2.0 used to be so the paintjob is out unless I'm really good to the wife I'm for any part or modification that enhances my driving experience, looks and what other people think are somewhere on the back burner.

[emcon5]

Originally posted by A Quiet Boom
I was going to repaint the P-car a

AQB,

2 words:

Rattle Can



Tom
Form follows function.

[island911]

Form follows function.
. . .and if it has a really cool function, it should have good form.

[WydRyd]

Looks and performance is important to me. There's no point having a car that only LOOKS fast but can be smoked by the latest family sports sedan off the Subaru/Nissan/Holden line

I fell in love with the turbo-look cabriolets when I was a kid and I'm wrapped I have finally realised my dream.

Adding the turbosystem just makes the car THAT much more exciting to drive

In the end, do what you like and what you can afford to do with your car, whether it's a cosmetic or performance enhancement. As long as YOU'RE happy with your ride, then who gives a t0ss what anyone else thinks

930S Front Spoiler - Looks nice, but also serves a purpose - to accommodate the large secondary oil cooler.
Momo Monte Carlo Steering Wheel - Looks & feels much better than the ugly factory wheel
Momo leather gear knob - Looks and feels better than the factory knob
993 drilled aluminium pedals - Looks MUCH better than the old warn factory pedals.
Twin tip exhaust - Looks & sounds fantastic. Wouldn't hurt performance either
18" Rims - OK, heavier than FUCHs, but certainly sets the car off in the looks department as well as providing wider rubber for all those extra horses.

[A Quiet Boom]

Originally posted by emcon5

AQB,

2 words:

Rattle Can



Tom
Form follows function.

Yup! I have a friend with a 900+ HP drag car with a "fifty footer" rattle can paint job, he get swarmed by peeps at the dragstrip after one of his wicked fast passes, his standard reply to questions about painting it is "how much faster will a paint job make it?" LMAO

[Randy W]

Performance wins, looks just attract attention. By looks, I'm talking about the non-functional kind. Ideally a product offers both increased performance and a great functional design - the best often do both (Porsche, Fikse, SSI).

My '72S is as mechanically sound as the best S out there - everything works, including the clock! But it needs a repaint - which is fine by me, since I can autocross and drive it hard without worrying about scratches or chips. I will have a bare metal repaint done to concours level someday, but I'm not quite sure if my attitude towards it will remain quite the same...