Persuasive Essay
Cars With Personality:
The Bumper to Bumper Evolution of Custom Automobiles
An artist paints over a blank canvas, creating and innovating the bland space into something unique just as a mechanic customizes an automobile. From bumpers to suspension to engine modifications, there are millions of configurations car enthusiasts can design their builds. The art of modifying cars has existed since the beginning of automobile production. Customizing a car is when a person or company changes a specific aspect to alter how it looks or handles. The history of how personalization in motor vehicles evolved is significant to modern-day car culture. Modification in automotive vehicles has evolved over the years due to the development of cultures based around racing, drifting, and car shows.
The first production vehicle, a trike made by Carl Benz, was released in July 1886, selling over 1200 units. This vehicle started a trend that never died: improving cars to be better than the last by making them more specific to jobs or styles. Benz’s wife and sons embarked on the world’s first long-distance automobile journey of 180 kilometers, an event that would initiate competition in the automobile industry. The evolution of manufacturing automobiles further continued with another engineer named Gottlieb Daimler, who “presented his motor carriage, considered the world’s first four-wheeled automobile” (“Benz Patent Motor Car”). However, automotive companies did not start the modification of stock vehicles but re-designed what they previously produced. Modifying cars began when individuals changed the previously made motor-powered wagons for other uses the car could not handle in stock form.
The first modifications to alter a production vehicle were done by bootleggers. Big city gangsters paid bootleggers to transport contraband below the authorities’ radar. Law enforcement naturally aimed to shut down illegal activity, “forcing still operators to work after dark, hence the term ‘moonshine.’ As with any business, manufacturing the product was only half the challenge, and the job of getting it from stills to customers fell to the bootleggers” (McElroy). Bootleggers built their cars from factory truck frames and put in fully custom-built engines with power adders such as turbos or superchargers to increase the power. Many drivers also modified the wiring in the vehicle to cut their lights off so the cops chasing would not know when they were braking or turning. Another critical element bootleggers modified was the suspension. Changing the suspension made them ride better at higher speeds and kept the cars from lowering when fully loaded with contraband, making it seem unloaded to the police (Deaton).
As companies moved into Detroit to start car manufacturing, the rich and famous wanted more luxurious cars to show their fame and wealth. The business from the rich helped create automotive shops that specialized in modifying the body or suspensions of vehicles to make them unique. On top of companies making cars look and ride smooth, they also started producing parts to keep them running through the Depression era. This pushed manufacturers to redesign functions to make them cheaper, simple to replace, or more robust to last longer. As automotive shop businesses improved, “companies started to specialize products for customizing production cars. Trim pieces to decorate the fenders and running boards, special grille moldings, fender skirts, and later more and more hop-up parts were developed and marketed, specifically aimed towards customizing cars” (Hoving). Car modifications throughout history have evolved in many ways, specifically in the technology used and the shops that build such magnificent vehicles.
Racing is the sole reason car modification has grown as much as it has. Early in racing history, modified cars that were not specific to a class were called “hot rods,” cars built by ordinary people rather than official shops. These efforts proved successful as “speeds first topped 100 mph.” As hot rodders got faster, they started racing head to head, “on the backroads of America in the post-World War II years” (“NHRA”). Drag racing made people want to go faster, resulting in people redesigning the chassis of their cars to withhold high speeds. Like hotrodders and drag racers, bootleggers modified their vehicles, leading to NASCAR’s first race in 1949. NASCAR was a series where bootleggers raced their cars against each other (McElroy).
Advancing through the decades, more and more race types developed, such as Formula Drifting. Formula Drift is an automotive event where high horsepower cars slide sideways through zones with one other driver who needs to stay close in proximity and match the lead car’s angle in drift. The winner is announced by the driver, who kept a deep angle and hit all zones during their lead lap and stayed close to the other driver while holding a similar angle to the lead driver. Formula Drift uses fully custom cars with highly modified engines and suspension to handle high rpm and challenging tracks. Formula Drift cars influenced the way people customized and styled their vehicles on the street. Modifications such as camber and offset front wheels used in drifting began to become a style for streetcars.
Another type of racing, Formula 1 has also influenced people to make their car lighter for faster acceleration and add aero, body panels or kits to alter looks and aerodynamics, to cars to hold downforce. F1 race cars are not modified from factory cars but produced by companies specifically to handle rigid tracks and endurance races. These cars are incredibly light and have high horsepower engines while also having unique suspension systems to handle bumps or track altercations. The first F1 race, the Grand Prix, took place in 1950 at Silverstone, the winner of the first race was Guiseppe ‘Nino’ Farina in an Alfa Romeo 158 with a top speed of 180 and a 0-60 time in 4 seconds. Since starting, F1 cars have changed from having the engine in the front to the rear, and modern F1 cars can travel at speeds up to 225mph and 0-60 in two seconds (“F1’s”). Throughout the history of F1 racing, companies have spent billions of dollars investing in technology and science to modify the cars best to go faster and faster while abiding by regulations.
In today’s car culture, people use their cars as a canvas to show off their personalities. Car groups usually have meets or shows where individuals display and compete their builds against each other (“5 Reasons”). Car builds range from complete builds, including full custom suspension, built engines and transmission, bodywork, and interior modifications, to simple builds that only include adding a spoiler or swapping headlights. According to Mathew Kennedy, an automotive market researcher for SEMA, Specialty Equipment Marketing Association, “modifying has turned into an obsession and I just can’t help but mess with cars. I have a massive passion for cars in general but then modifying them makes them better to me, this is because it’s more personal to the owner. Modifications can be done to anyone’s taste so as long as you love your own creation it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks” (Kennedy et al.).
Automotive racing has many rules and regulations that ensure safety and fair racing among drivers. However, streetcars carry intense restrictions on how much people can modify. The EPA, Environment Protection Agency, has proposed “regulations which would criminalize any modifications to street cars which affect their emissions, even for the express purpose of racing.” Back when bootleggers changed out engines or built them to produce more power, it was legal; however, with new regulations, changing engines or modifying them in specific ways to perform better is illegal since it would change how much fuel the engine burns and alters how much exhaust the car produces (Evans). The biggest threat to the future of modification among streetcars is the electric car market since electric vehicles cannot be modified.
Fitment Industries, a wheel distribution company, states a few reasons why people enjoy riding around in modified cars on their Youtube channel. One reason is, “because it gives us the opportunity to show people what we’ve actually been building, what we’ve actually been spending way too much time and money on,” the car community wants to show what they spend time and money on there is a sense of ownership of creativity that when noticed gives the driver a feeling of glee. He continues, describing the feeling that car enthusiasts exhibit when driving their custom automobiles, saying, “We like being different… Ever heard a car that drives down the road and you jump out of your seat to see it… We drive our own modified cars because we want that same feeling too, we want people to see our cars” (“5 Reasons”).
From bootleggers racing in NASCAR to professional racers participating in F1 and Formula drift, cars have evolved more and more. Throughout time, the extent of vehicle modification has become a hobby and profession for many. Both professionals and enthusiasts achieve the same goals, taking something ordinary and creating unique artwork that achieves a specific purpose whether it be racing, drifting, or looking more individualized. The EPA however has been regulating what people can alter on their cars, limiting their canvas for creation. With all regulations against modifications to engines and exhaust, many car influencers, such as Fitment Industries, are learning how to produce and manufacture parts for all the new electric vehicles allowing car enthusiasts to keep their passion on the road. The art of vehicle modification has changed post purchase car culture, allowing enthusiasts to individualize their vehicles with the growing aftermarket.
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