Custom car
This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
A custom car is a passenger
Custom cars are not to be confused with coachbuilt automobiles, historically rolling chassis fitted with luxury bodywork by specialty body builders.
History
Some of the earliest examples of modified cars were cars modified for
Another example of early automobile customization were the first off-road vehicles. Some of the earliest dedicated offroad vehicles were made using the Kégresse track system, starting in the late 1910s, which affixed tracks to an ordinary car in place of the rear wheels for improved off road traction.[13] After World War II, the surplus of army Jeeps led to a growth in the popularity of off-roading as a hobby.
Starting in the early 1940s, some US car customizers began to modify cars with a stronger emphasis on looks and self expression. This led to styles of modification such as
The first drag strip in the United States opened in 1950 on an airfield in Southern California, and a year later in 1951 the National Hot Rod Association was formed.[18] In the following years, more drag strips were built across the country, leading to a rise in the popularity of drag racing among both amateurs and professionals.
In the post
Styles of modification
Modified cars can be significantly different from their stock counterparts. A common factor among owners/modifiers is to emulate the visual and/or performance characteristics of established styles and design principles. These similarities may be unintentional. Some of the many different styles and visual influences to car modification are:
- Art car: Cars painted or decorated to be art pieces.
- Cal look: A modified classic Volkswagen intended to evoke California through the use of bright colours, trim, and accessories.
- Drag car: Cars modified for drag racing
- Drift car: Cars modified for drifting.
- Dub or donk or Hi-Riser: Characterized by extremely large wheels with low-profile tires, often with upgraded speaker setups, and sometimes custom paint, interiors and engine upgrades.
- Euro style: Stanced with one-off paint and small wheels, with shaved features to define car body lines.
- German look: A Volkswagen Type 1, Type 3, or Karmann Ghia lowered and fitted with late model Porsche mag wheels and touring car-influenced styling. Heavily modified suspension and drivetrain with emphasis on handling and cornering.
- Hot rod: Style largely consisting of period-specific vehicles, components, and finishes to reproduce characteristics of early drag cars from the 1930s and 1940s.
- Import or JDM: tuned Japanese vehicles.
- Itasha: cars decorated with images of characters from anime, manga, or video games
- Kaido Racer: Japanese style of cars typically with lowered suspension, bright paint jobs, extreme body kits, and extended exhausts, sometimes inspired by Japanese Group 5 "Super Silhouette" racecars. Commonly associated with the Bōsōzoku.
- Kustom: Style largely consisting of American cars built from the 1930s to 1960s customized in the styles of that period.
- Lowrider: Hydraulic or airbag suspension setups, custom paint, pinstriping, custom interior, and, typically, small diameter wire wheels. Others may look like straight restorations, aside from a low stance.
- Military/service style: Cars designed to look like certain service vehicles.
- Off-roader: Cars, SUVs and trucks modified for off-roading, such as overlanding, rock crawling, or desert racing.
- Outlaw: Typically Porsches 356, 911 and Karmann Ghias modified with more powerful engines and brakes, and a more aggressive appearance. This movement took place in Southern California in 1960s.
- Race car: Cars built to compete in auto racing.
- Rally car: Cars built to compete in rallies.
- Rat rod: Style of hot rod and custom cars, imitating the "unfinished" appearance of some hot rods in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. "Rat style" also defines a car that is kept on the road despite visible heavy wear.
- Restomod: Classic cars that combine original exterior styling with modern applied technologies (such as new suspension, wheels, transmission) or modern interior features (multimedia, etc.) for comfortable everyday use.
- Siren kings: A New Zealand Pasifika subculture where cars or bicycles are modified with loudspeakers or public address systems for use in competitive battles.
- South London look: Subtly modified 50's-70's British Fords that are lowered, with pastel paint and 13-inch Lotus Cortina steel wheels or RS, Minilite, or Revolution mag wheels. These cars often use a tuned Ford Kent or Pinto engine.
- Slab: Originated in the Houston area in the mid-1980s—usually, a full-size American luxury car fitted with custom "elbows", a type of extended wire wheels which protrude out from the fenders, loud speaker setups, and neon signage inside the trunk panel. Other "slab" modifications include hydraulic-actuated trunk panels (a "pop trunk"), candy paint, vertical stainless steel trim on the trunk panel (known as "belt buckles"), aftermarket grille, and the use of a Cadillac front-end sheet metal conversion. The interiors of slabs are usually clad in beige or tan (in what is called a "peanut butter interior"). Usually associated with Houston hip hop music.
- Sleeper: Stock-looking cars with performance upgrades.
- Stanced: This style is mostly associated with sports and passenger cars with lowered suspension setups. Custom wheels with low-profile tires play a large role in this style and often feature aggressive sizes, offsets, and camber.
- VIP style: A Japanese style of customizing luxury cars.
Features
Paint
Custom paintjobs play an important role in the culture around customized cars. Builders will often use special painting techniques in order to produce unique finishes, including the use of candy paint,
Transparent but wildly colored candy-apple paint, applied atop a metallic undercoat, and
Painting has become such a part of the custom car scene that now in many custom car competitions, awards for custom paint are as highly sought after as awards for the cars themselves.
Engine swaps
Engine swaps are a common modification that involves taking the engine from one car and putting it into another car, often one which did not originally come with that engine. A few of the most common engines that people swap into other cars include the
Completing an engine swap typically requires a high level of modification and fabrication to fit the engine and connect it to the host vehicle's body, transmission, and electrics. Many companies sell kits for common engine swaps that include things such as adapter plates for the transmission, K member, engine mounts, front subframe, and more depending on what's required for the particular swap. Some engine swaps will use the vehicle's original transmission, while others opt for the transmission from the donor car, or a different transmission entirely.Customizers
Examples of notable American customizers include
Others, such as
Awards
One of the most coveted awards for American customizers is the AMBR (America's Most Beautiful Roadster) trophy, presented annually at the Grand National Roadster Show since 1948 (also known within the customizer community as the Oakland Roadster Show until it was moved to Southern California in 2003). This competition has produced famous, and radical, customs.
Another is the
Notable customs
Some customs gained attention for winning awards such as the AMBR trophy, or for their outlandish styling. Notable among these is
Other custom cars became notable for appearances in film (such as Ala Kart {1958},[34] The California Kid three-window {1973},[35] the yellow deuce from "American Graffiti" {1973}, the Batmobiles from Batman, the Pursuit Special from Mad Max, and more) or television (such as The Monkeemobile from the "Munsters", and KITT from Knight Rider).
Other notable customs exemplified a trend. One of these is the 1951 Merc built by the Barris brothers for Bob Hirohata in 1953, known as the
Gallery
-
1964 Chevrolet Impala named "Gypsy Rose" on display in the Petersen Automotive Museum, considered to be one of the most iconic lowriders ever built
-
Rünge Flyer with a hand built aluminum body over a steel tube frame
-
Dodge Neon ACR modified for racing
-
Toyota Chaser modified for drifting
-
Customized 1985 Chevrolet C10 with a flame paintjob
-
Modified Toyota Supra used in The Fast and the Furious (2001)
-
RAUH-Welt BEGRIFFwidebody kit
-
Volkswagen Beetle turned into a Baja Bug for off road racing
-
Volkswagen Bora sedan converted into a ute using a custom kit
-
Custom interior in a Mazda Miata
-
Painted mural on the trunk of a lowrider
-
AMazda 3 with an Itashastyle wrap
See also
References
- ISBN 9781610590631. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
- ISBN 9780760309506. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
- ^ "Custom car definition and meaning: Collins English Dictionary". collinsdictionary.com. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
- ^ Hoving, Rik (2017-11-12). "History of the Early Custom Car". Custom Car Chronicle. Retrieved 2024-02-07.
- ^ Conwill, David (2020-01-23). "A Brief History of Hot Rodding". Hemmings. Archived from the original on 2024-02-08.
- ^ a b Shelton, Chris. "Then, Now, and Forever" in Hot Rod, March 2017, p. 16.
- ^ Shelton, Chris. "Then, Now, and Forever" in Hot Rod, March 2017, p. 18.
- ^ "Hot Rod History". www.hopupmag.com. 28 November 2015. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
- ^ "Hot Rod History". www.hopupmag.com. 28 November 2015. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
- ^ "Hot Rod History". www.autoevolution.com. 2009-07-23. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
- ^ "The evolution of custom cars". Retrieved 2016-10-11.
- ^ Shelton, Chris. "Then, Now, and Forever" in Hot Rod, March 2017, pp. 18 and 20.
- ^ "Stanislav Kiriletz". MIG-registeret (in Norwegian and English). Archived from the original on 2008-12-31.
- ProQuest 305027217.[page needed]
- ^ Rod Action, 2/78, p. 64.
- ^ Street Rodder, 2/78, p. 15; Custom Rodder 1/97, p. 29.
- ^ Jezek, George. "The All Deuce Round-Up", in Street Rodder, 2/78, p. 58.
- ^ "NHRA History". NHRA. Retrieved 2024-02-13.
- ^ "What is a Kaido Racer?". Kaido Racer. Retrieved 2024-02-13.
- ^ "THE GOLDEN YEARS OF JAPAN'S CAR CULTURE: SHOWA RACING". sabukaru. 2021-03-11. Retrieved 2024-02-13.
- ^ Bonk, Aaron. "Popular Engine Swaps".
- ^ Hevesy, Alex (2023-07-02). "5 Of The Most Popular Engines For Classic Car Engine Swaps". SlashGear. Retrieved 2023-11-22.
- ^ Rod & Custom, 8/89, p. 60.
- ^ a b c Street Rodder, 1/85, p. 56.
- ^ Rod & Custom, 8/89, p. 55.
- ^ Shelton, Chris. "Then, Now, and Forever" in Hot Rod, March 2017, p. 23.
- ^ Shelton, p. 29.
- ^ Rod Action, 2/85, p. 5.
- ^ Fetherston, David, "Detroit Dreams", in Rod & Custom, 7/95, p. 58.
- ^ Ganahl, Pat, "The Candy Man", in Rod & Custom, 7/95, p. 81.
- ISBN 9780760343005– via Google Books.
- ^ Street Rodder, 12/98, p. 206.
- ^ Bishop, Mike, "The 45th Grand National Roadster Show", in American Rodder, 6/94, p. 27.
- ^ Hot Rod, 12/86, p. 29 sidebar.
- ^ Hot Rod, 12/86, p. 29.
- ^ Rod & Custom, 8/89, pp. 8 & 10.
- ^ Custom Rodder online[permanent dead link] (retrieved 28 July 2018)
- ^ Rod & Custom, 8/89, p. 68.
External links
- Media related to Custom cars at Wikimedia Commons