'Tuner car' craze is thriving across Middle Georgia

[Ming]

'Tuner car' craze is thriving across Middle Georgia
By Rodney Manley
Macon Telegraph
www.macon.com

Tripper Cook has lots of cool stuff - four TVs, a DVD player, a PlayStation 2. In his car.

Pop the trunk, crank up the Alpine stereo, and Cook's car lights up, neon flashing with every thump of the bass speakers. The car rides low, about 3 inches above the road, on 19-inch wheels and 10-inch tires.

But this tricked-out ride isn't just for show, it's for go. A twin-turbo, 800-horsepower engine with "super-suction intakes" makes sure of that.

Cook's love of cars isn't just in his blood. It's fuel-injected. His grandfather sold cars. His father sold them. And he sold them until his father forced him off to college.

Still, he dabbled, but a few years back, Cook's interest turned from made-in-the-U.S.A. models. He began modifying imports. He bought a 1996 Nissan Skyline, one of only about 30 like it in America.

He opened a performance shop with guys half his age.

"I'm a 47-year-old 24-year-old," Cook says.

These are not your father's muscle cars. These are tuner cars. And Cook, whose "real job" is chief financial officer of a roofing company, is a tuner.

"I just like to drive them and show them."

The tuner-car culture has been around since at least the early 1990s. That's when young car owners in Southern California started souping up and tricking out their four-cylinder, Japanese subcompacts. Or at least that's when the media first noticed.

Tuner cars roared into the mainstream in 2001 with the release of the movie "The Fast and the Furious." The flick's flashy rides and high-speed chase and street-racing scenes were a hit with young moviegoers.

Soon, there were lots more little cars with fancy paint jobs and shiny wheels on the highway. Those who couldn't afford to turbo-charge their cars settled for loud mufflers so they could at least rumble down the road with the tuner-car sound.

Automakers took notice. One new brand, Toyota's Scion, was launched exclusively "for the trend-setting, youthful buyer's needs," according to its Web site.

"All automakers are releasing cars from the factory that allow modifications or that are already modified," said Chris Infante, Southeast regional manager of the National Custom Car Association.

Another sign of the culture's mainstream popularity, Infante noted, is the more than 100 tuner-car video games on the market, including the wildly popular "Need for Speed Underground 2."

For the hard-core tuner, there are at least a half-dozen magazines devoted to tuner cars. And tuners who want to show off their cars - and driving skills - don't have to look far to find a track that offers legal drag racing, autocross and "drifting." That's a competition in which drivers race around cones, screeching and squealing in and out of the turns.

The tuner-car craze, Infante said, is rooted in the hot rod and low rider cultures of the 1960s and '70s.

"Kids my age are doing the same thing our parents were doing," said Infante, who is 25. "The cars and technology have changed."

As popular as tuner cars are, the culture is "still in its infancy stage," he said.

Custom car shows are also huge, with some of them drawing crowds in the tens of thousands. The shows feature live music, satellite radio lounges, videogaming areas and bikini-clad models.

The biggest draw, however, is still the rides.

Cook and his cars are regulars on the East Coast show circuit. He attended a show in Orlando, Fla., last month and will be in Atlanta for another Hot Import Nights show this weekend.

His '96 Skyline, an R33 GTR, has been featured in several magazines and on Web sites, and last summer it was named one of the "Top 50 Tuner Cars" by Hot Compacts and Imports magazine.

Cook has a reputation as one of few owners who drive their cars to the shows. He returned from the Orlando show with several new sponsors, including XM Radio and Valvoline.

It's not uncommon, he said, for car owners to sink $50,000 into modifications. He figures he has about $100,000 in his show car.

A lot of local younger drivers who like the tuner look spend twice as much on modifying a car as they did to buy it, said Cook, who believes there are a lot worse things they could spend their money on.

"They're doing that with their cars rather than polluting their bodies and getting into a lot of trouble.

In a garage tucked away off Lower Broadway in Macon's old industrial district, a small crowd is gathered near Ryan Reynolds as he pokes pistons into an engine.

They've come to watch and learn or just to hang out.

Reynolds, 24, has a criminal justice degree from Valdosta State University. He came to Macon to attend law school at Mercer, but he gave that up to work on tuner cars.

"This is much more fun," says Reynolds, his hands and clothes spotted with grease. "This would have been a hobby had I gone on to law school. The earning potential would have been about the same."

Full Article Source: http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/living/11688447.htm

[johnd89]

100k in his skyline?
I'm wondering how many 20 years old pickup trucks (rust, cracked windshield and nascar sticker included) you can get in middle Ga for this kind of $$...

[GMfan2381]

there are precious few cars worth putting 100k into. And while the skyline is a nice car, it really doesnt warrant that kind of money in my eyes... Hopefully GM can cash in on this with some of its new models, a la G6, Cobalt, Ion, etc etc...

[Tico]

i think this trend is peaking. Give it five years and we will be talking about "remeber the tuner craze".

[jwvrod]

Originally Posted by johnd89

100k in his skyline?
(rust, cracked windshield and nascar sticker included)

What the hell does that mean?

[fatratchevy]

While I can appreciate the talent alot of these "tuners" have, I still can't get over the coffee can exhaust, big-by-huge wings, and tacky graphics. I mean, how many of them actually know what the oriental script on their cars mean, and why yellow? And I will never understand the ill fitting body kits and pounds of Bondo. I do appreciate the carbon fiber hoods (seriously), nice wheels (sometimes), and high tech gadgetry (within reason), and feel it has really influenced the Pro Touring muscle car scene I'm so fond of. . .

I would disagree that this is like the Muscle Car Era of the 60's and early 70's. Back then it was all about going fast, be-d@mned how it looks. This tuner craze is all about show and very, very little go (for 80% of them anyhow). I mean, how fast can a Corolla S be. . .It's a freaking Corolla. . . Anyhow, at least they are working on cars, which I encourage, just wished they would get past the PS2's, yellow stickers, anything with neon lights, and fart can exhausts. . . Put some bark in that annoying bite. .

[johnd89]

Originally Posted by jwvrod

What the hell does that mean?

never been to Macon, huh...

[zeobandit]

At least this dude is spending money on horsepower as well. I can't stand the wanna bes who slap on body kits, big wheels and a fart can muffler and think their cool. It's still the same 100-140 horse power 4 banger under the hood.

[gacSTclass]

Originally Posted by fatratchevy

I would disagree that this is like the Muscle Car Era of the 60's and early 70's. Back then it was all about going fast, be-d@mned how it looks. This tuner craze is all about show and very, very little go (for 80% of them anyhow). I encourage, just wished they would get past the PS2's, yellow stickers, anything with neon lights, and fart can exhausts. . .

I think the press loves this because this further fits into their image of the young generation Turning Japanese so to speak. Meanwhile they try to ignore Detroit's big players in this game, like the SRT-4 and Cobalt SS.

[69nova]

Even though I acknowledge some of the really nice cars on the road being created by the young folk, I do not see installing something as gaudy (and unecessary) as video equipment, lighted wheels, and fish tanks and buying cars as ugly as Scion's box. I also agree that Hollywood (Fast & Furious) and the car mags push the Japanese cars while not giving credit to the SRT-4 which can eat most of these ricers and is one nice ride.

[steinravnik]

Originally Posted by Tico

i think this trend is peaking. Give it five years and we will be talking about "remeber the tuner craze".

It already peaked long ago. When I was living in SoCal a year ago, no one was doing it anymore, and that's where it all started. It's just that Georgia is years behind the west coast in anything (except rusted out pickup trucks with NASCAR stickers).

[zonty]

"craze" is right!!!!

[johnd89]

Originally Posted by fatratchevy

I would disagree that this is like the Muscle Car Era of the 60's and early 70's. Back then it was all about going fast, be-d@mned how it looks.

ditto that!

[TransAmTrance]

Originally Posted by zeobandit

At least this dude is spending money on horsepower as well. I can't stand the wanna bes who slap on body kits, big wheels and a fart can muffler and think their cool. It's still the same 100-140 horse power 4 banger under the hood.

LOL i raced my friend in his 94 celica (big fart can, wing, rims, body kit, decals, carbon fiber, eurolights) with my 92 regal custom (stock) and blew his doors off. and his car is 5spd too

[GM-10]

Originally Posted by Tico

i think this trend is peaking. Give it five years and we will be talking about "remeber the tuner craze".

If its a craze in middle georgia...its on its way out. I think bee hive hairdo's just went out of favor there.

Given the time I've spent in Middle Georgia...the only tuner craze I've seen is add-ons for their double wides.