You can’t please everyone, but the main question at hand is what makes a car “cool,” and when is it appropriate to mod a car in an effort to turn it into something arguably better than its humble origins would have indicated it ever could become.
Pretty much everyone wants a cool car, although what constitutes “cool” can vary greatly. Housewives like cool cars. Businessmen like cool cars. Kindergarten teachers like cool cars. That creepy-looking guy in the house with the blinds always drawn likes cool cars.
Given that no two people will agree on what is cool, the question can be logi- cally framed only as whether either
A car will appeal to one’s peer group.
A car will meet one’s own vision of “cool.”
The short answer is to modify a car with two distinct goals in mind:
Modify a car to suit yourself.
Remain true to the car’s unique lineage, lines, or image, while putting a
personal twist on the whole package.
To illustrate the need to make your car suit you, those who have seen the 1972 film Harold and Maude, starring Ruth Gordon and Bud Cort, will recall Harold, a morose and introspective young man, transforming his expensive Jaguar sports car into a hearse. This is a prime example of building a car to suit his unique vision of what he would like to drive, making something that suits his personality and values, and would not otherwise be available to him
or anyone else. To Harold (and many others who admired his unique vision), the Jaguar he modified became inherently “cool” by virtue of how unusual, striking, and yet appropriate the car was to him as an individual, while remain- ing true to the car’s classic British lines.
All things being equal, a properly modified classic 1960s Mustang with period pieces (from the time it was new) is inherently more “cool” than a 1960s Mustang seen in an owner’s club somewhere in Frankfurt, Germany, that has been adorned with the latest European tuning parts. Likewise, a Nissan 240SX that has been converted mechanically to its more-powerful Japanese equivalent model Silvia and adorned with the correct JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) performance parts not normally seen on U.S. model cars is inherently more cool than the same 240SX adorned with Dodge Viper-style striped decals run- ning the length of the car, a fiberglass hood scoop borrowed from a Camaro, and a set of over-sized chrome rims that, while flashy, have no particular connection to the 240SX. This is not to say that any one particular trend (for instance, the JDM craze in the United States) is right, whereas the other fashions in car adornment are wrong. However, the industry is fickle, and the big-mouthed bumpers and aggressive front ends that were all the rage two years ago might be the butt of jokes today. You’re less likely to be left a fashion victim when your car follows in some logical way its heritage, while employing a personal spin that differentiates it from the crowd and still pre- serves its overall aesthetic.
