Something you older guys might appreciate.

[91_CB7_Sedan]

Defense of a Ricer
by Jonathan Wooley, Editor S3 Mag.

1) If your reading this mag, then your a fucking ricer.
2) That's alright.

I'm sick of hearing people talk down about rice...and ricers. I think it's time for us to start taking that word, and turning it around positive again. Rice is what we do. Rice is about taking Japanese cars, and modifying the shit out of them in ways that was never intended. It's about making them obscene and unreasonable. Making them scream. Making them turn heads. Getting bullshit tickets, for stuff that's so awesome it's somehow against the law.

Some of you youngins may not realize - that rice was a name given to ALL of us by the domestic crowd. Back in the mid 90s, when imports started poping up with pencil-tip exhausts, dark tint, 15 inch subs, and three-spoke rims... the usually older muscle car guys would call us kids a bunch of rice-burners (aka: ricers). Back then - we were ALL ricers. But we were just happy to get aknowledged at all... because that meant we officially had something stirring. If you were driving a car from japan, you were a ricer - point blank. That was our subculture in the car scene... and we were proud to own it. It was a subculture that we were still building. And as it grew, the water-cooled Volkswagens, Bimmers, Audis started meshing with the rice culture, and we became 'Imports'. Then, American 4-bangers started poping up with potential, and it went to 'Sport Compact'. And then all of a sudden, our subculture got big enough in size to start comparing ourselves to - ourselves. Building a hierarchy. That's where the trouble starts. Too big in numbers for one tribe, so we just started sizing each other up.

But - the current 2010 forum-type definition of the word Rice is a terrible word to describe what 'rice' actually is. Infact, rice has no real definition whatsoever. It usually stands for something - yucky. It's just a word we throw around like idiots, and it doesn't really pinpoint anything. I mean for real. what is rice? Honestly, we're all guilty of throwing that word around, myself included. And 99% of us use it condescendingly. But do we really know what the fuck we're talking about when we say it? That's my issue.

Because being a ricer is NOT negative. Not to me anyway. And I know I'm in the minority with that, but I wear 'ricer' like a badge of honor. If you call me a ricer, I'm proud of it. I grin, because rice is what I grew up around. It's what I looked up to, what I wanted to be apart of, and over the years... what I just kind of became without realizing.

And I think these days, people call cars rice for the wrong reasons. They don't even know what it is, or what they're really trying to describe. Maybe it's just too bright of a color, trying too hard, or slow, or out of date, or has a bodykit. Or maybe it's more about the driver than the actual car. Maybe the dude revs up alot at meets, and thinks his shit is way more awesome than it really is. That can be annoying, when someone has a slow car and they think it's hot. But a lot of stuck up import guys misunderstand these dudes. Most of the time when they are reving at you on the street, it's to say what's up. It's their way of saying that they dig your car. And you just blow them off for it. Remember - things are different outside the world of forums, and not all car guys live in that world.

If a car is out of date and not maintained - that's not rice. Not in my book anyway. That would just qualify as a piece of shit car that's out of date and needs help. If someone is acting like a dumbass at a meet or on the street - that's not a ricer. That's just a dumbass. The world is full of 'em. So call it what it is.

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck - it's a fucking duck. It's not a ricer!

Calling cars rice is ignorant. It's like seeing a lazy guy, and calling him black. Funny - but do you see how you can fuck that up?

If we're going to keep calling cars rice, we at least need to come up with a better word that fits. Call it-Mexican...(joking of course).

And while I'm being stereotypical kind of guy - if you walk up to a dude in a donk and say, "You straight hood!" He's gonna say, "Yeeeah!" and show you his gold teeth. If you see a dude in an old 'led sled' Mercury with chops and a greasy white t-shirt, and call him a greaser - he's gonna be proud to own that name. These guys built these cars, to show the world who they are, and what they represent. So why are we so chicken-shit to own up to what we are. We're fucking ricers. So why do we keep using the word with a negative connotation? Why do all of us think that we are 'better than ricers'.

Maybe, just maybe, we're the OG ricers of the pack...the guys that do shit right.

Look - being an import guy is about being bold. That's how it all started. Doing obnoxious shit, but taking it very seriously, and repping it with pride and confidence. And things change and progress over time...but your roots are always your roots. Maybe we're not running molded "Vader" bodykits aqnymore. Maybe we're not doing white interiors. But for example, we ARE running wheel fitments that are ridiculously impractical. And we're doing it for no real reason other than - it looks sick.

You spend insane amounts of money on stance, your tires last as long as your milk, you damage body panels, and you don't go any faster. Thats shit is rice! I'm gonna call it like I see it; that's your modern-day ricer. But be proud.

We are going to stupid lengths to tuck and paint our engine bays all different colors...just to roll hard inside and out. No stone left unturned. You don't go faster with a pretty engine bay, it's harder to diagnose problems, and it's more stressful to work on. But the shit's dope...so we do it.

This is modern-day rice. But it's cool!

And dude - the body panels covered in stickers. Front lips, front bumpers and hoods. I love it, but you KNOW-that 90% of that trend started, because someone got a gash, chip, or scrape on their car from daily use on the street, and said, "Fuck it, I'm not painting this damn lip again". And just covered it up with a sticker. And then said, "That looks kinda tight" , and then put another one beside it...and so on and so on. So - instead of fixing a blemish, we cover them with a sticker?! RICE RICE RICE!!! You don't see other car guys doing that kind of stuff to other cars/trucks (except maybe rat rods).

Be proud of it damnit! Because we took that defect, and turned it into a trend; a style.

Not everything you do has to make perfect sence in practical application. If that were the case, we would all drive a prius or a tahoe and call it a day. Sometimes, as ricers, we do shit-just because the shit is cool. End of story. There's nothing wrong with doing shit to get a reaction...so long as you like what you're doing.

And it takes a pretty big sac to make your car stand out boldy, and then drive it with confidence, and not hide inside of it. Alot of you guys do just enough to fit in, but not enough to make yourself stand out. You're scared of your car. But check it out pansies - you only live once. And someday, you're gonna be telling all these gas powered street racer car stories to grandkids...bragging about how fucking awesome you did it. And they're gonna want to see a picture. Is this picture gonna back up your story? Are they gonna say, "WHOOOA!" Or are they gonna say, "meh." Your call.

If I see a RHD purple EG hatch with a turquoise engine bay tucked, shaved, swapped, and hoodless-I'm calling him a ricer. If I see a guy in a 350z absolutely dragging its balls down the street, with beat fenders and zero offset 20's-I'm calling that dude a ricer. And if I see Andy Sapp ripping sideways down 17th street bridge in his BMW-I'm calling that homeless looking bastard a ricer too...German car and all. But I'm doing it with love! I'm doing it...because I acknowledge it when I see one of my own.

I'm not telling you to agree with me. Just think about it. And know that if I'm calling you a ricer...I'm not bullying you. I'm backing you up.

[Gemini]

didnt read it all but i like the 1st half of it

[91_CB7_Sedan]

I wanted to find out where the term "ricer" orignally came from so I did my research.

Very interesting article. I grew up with my uncles "pimping" imports, and my dad always called them ricers, I just never knew. My dad drove a blown nova btw...

[Tippey764]

tldr

[visualpoet]

As one of the old guys, (I'm 41, started modding with dommies, and was NEVER going to own an import, (until I started driving them )here's my opinion.

I read it all and he's pretty much balls on, but he does make a couple of errors, IMHO.
Back when I got into imports, there weren't any ricers; Japanese cars were called rice-burners. (and that term actually was originally used to refer to Japanese made motorcycles, long before they started shipping their little tiny cars over here. I'm not too proud to admit that my 11.5 second V8 car driving self called them rice-burners back then either). We didn't have the internet to find others of our kind, and meeting guys that were modding Japanese cars was an uncommon thing. I can still remember the laughter at the track the first time some guy showed up at the track in his little 4 cylinder Honda Civic, and promptly shut us all TFU with his first pass (He turned something in the low 13s, I think).
The term got shortened along the way and turned into what it is now, a derogatory term used to describe someone who's car looks faster than it is and has a bunch of useless race oriented accessories on it (big wings, canards, roof scoops, etc) but no real performance mods to back them up; what we used to call "all dick and no balls".

I don't think he's very in tune with the tuner community, or he'd know that what he proudly calls ricers, we call tuners and that the word rice is used to denote someone that just slaps random parts and/or stickers on their car to look like a tuner.

Other than that, it was a pretty good read, but there's always going to be a difference between what we used to call rice-burners, and what we call ricers, now.

[owequitit]

As one of the old guys, (I'm 41, started modding with dommies, and was NEVER going to own an import, (until I started driving them )here's my opinion.

I read it all and he's pretty much balls on, but he does make a couple of errors, IMHO.
Back when I got into imports, there weren't any ricers; Japanese cars were called rice-burners. (and that term actually was originally used to refer to Japanese made motorcycles, long before they started shipping their little tiny cars over here. I'm not too proud to admit that my 11.5 second V8 car driving self called them rice-burners back then either). We didn't have the internet to find others of our kind, and meeting guys that were modding Japanese cars was an uncommon thing. I can still remember the laughter at the track the first time some guy showed up at the track in his little 4 cylinder Honda Civic, and promptly shut us all TFU with his first pass (He turned something in the low 13s, I think).
The term got shortened along the way and turned into what it is now, a derogatory term used to describe someone who's car looks faster than it is and has a bunch of useless race oriented accessories on it (big wings, canards, roof scoops, etc) but no real performance mods to back them up; what we used to call "all dick and no balls".

I don't think he's very in tune with the tuner community, or he'd know that what he proudly calls ricers, we call tuners and that the word rice is used to denote someone that just slaps random parts and/or stickers on their car to look like a tuner.

Other than that, it was a pretty good read, but there's always going to be a difference between what we used to call rice-burners, and what we call ricers, now.

Ricer really started with the Fast and the Furious. An entire culture of dumb kids revving at everything was born, as was a trend of neons, glows, fart cans, and body kits (the more over the top the better). The problem was that by the time a 16 year old kid bought a $1,000 body kit, they couldn't AFFORD performance mods, hence the connotation of "ricers" being people who drive cars with lots of appearance, and no performance. Then, ultimately, when you ran across 100 cars and only 1 of them was decently fast, it just festered into hatred. Not to mention that anyone who has a fart can is just annoying, and people widely hated it.

I literally called that movement the moment the premier of F and F ended. That thing that always struck me as odd, is that Honda sort of unfairly got put into the limelight. It was a series of coincidences. The Civic was already the most popular platform in the import scene, and even though there weren't really any "ricey" ones in F and F, it was a natural place to want to start.

Prior to that point, the import movement was TOTALLY different. The appearances were mild, the cars were quiet, and most people wanted appearance, but didn't advertise the lack of it by being super noisy and revving on everything.

[blvs125]

read that few days ago....i guess im rice...but i hate to admit it now...

[visualpoet]

Ricer really started with the Fast and the Furious. An entire culture of dumb kids revving at everything was born, as was a trend of neons, glows, fart cans, and body kits (the more over the top the better). The problem was that by the time a 16 year old kid bought a $1,000 body kit, they couldn't AFFORD performance mods, hence the connotation of "ricers" being people who drive cars with lots of appearance, and no performance. Then, ultimately, when you ran across 100 cars and only 1 of them was decently fast, it just festered into hatred. Not to mention that anyone who has a fart can is just annoying, and people widely hated it.

I literally called that movement the moment the premier of F and F ended. That thing that always struck me as odd, is that Honda sort of unfairly got put into the limelight. It was a series of coincidences. The Civic was already the most popular platform in the import scene, and even though there weren't really any "ricey" ones in F and F, it was a natural place to want to start.

Prior to that point, the import movement was TOTALLY different. The appearances were mild, the cars were quiet, and most people wanted appearance, but didn't advertise the lack of it by being super noisy and revving on everything.

I guess I didn't really equate the term with the FnF series, even though I knew that was the end of the tuner scene as we used to know it. Probably because I remember making fun of the rice-burners when I was in the domestic scene, I just saw the connection between the two terms. I saw the first FnF at the drive in, in the Corolla I'd been building, and even though I was probably the only modded car in the whole lot, I was the only one that didn't come out of there revving and acting like an idiot.
I knew it was going to go from building to be fast, to building to look fast and it was going to be mostly younger kids that weren't enthusiasts, they just wanted to look cool. Some of them become enthusiasts, some of them drop out of the scene and some of them just keep keeping Pep Boys in business.

[doughboy415]

Defense of a Ricer
by Jonathan Wooley, Editor S3 Mag.


Maybe, just maybe, we're the OG ricers of the pack...the guys that do shit right.

Look - being an import guy is about being bold. That's how it all started. Doing obnoxious shit, but taking it very seriously, and repping it with pride and confidence.

And it takes a pretty big sac to make your car stand out boldy, and then drive it with confidence, and not hide inside of it. Alot of you guys do just enough to fit in, but not enough to make yourself stand out.

Thats me right there,I did mine the way I wanted not like everyone else,I didn't want to just fit in,I wanted mine to JUMP OUT AT YOU

[Bullhorn7]

I had a piece of shit car.. I repped the hell out of it. Put LED bulbs in every socket I could afford to put a bulb in. It was dinged up different colors faded, but it ran like a champ and I loved the car for that. The motor was bone stock F22A1.. I ran it into the ground put it through hell turned the car into a 4x4 and went mudriding, 4 wheeling and went on trails meant only for dirt bikes.. It took it like it really was a 4x4 raised up domestic.. Hell I took it better then most of my friends.. Only got stuck once and thats cause the Tahoe in front of me got stuck and I had to stop I might have been a ricer for taking a 4-banger where no other has gone 40 miles into trails if I had gotten stuck no tow truck could pull me out.. I loved that car. I was a Ricer.. I embrace that title.. Think what you want but I thought mroe about the stupid beat up Honda then my actual GF

[owequitit]

I guess I didn't really equate the term with the FnF series, even though I knew that was the end of the tuner scene as we used to know it. Probably because I remember making fun of the rice-burners when I was in the domestic scene, I just saw the connection between the two terms. I saw the first FnF at the drive in, in the Corolla I'd been building, and even though I was probably the only modded car in the whole lot, I was the only one that didn't come out of there revving and acting like an idiot.
I knew it was going to go from building to be fast, to building to look fast and it was going to be mostly younger kids that weren't enthusiasts, they just wanted to look cool. Some of them become enthusiasts, some of them drop out of the scene and some of them just keep keeping Pep Boys in business.

I have to be honest. FnF will go down as a huge piece of pop culture from that time, and I own it, and like it, but that is the day the imports really lost all of the respect they had earned. I think we are starting to get it back again, now that we have mostly moved past that phase, but like any bad reputation, it is 10x as hard to work it off than to just avoid it.

And that isn't to say that anyone with a body kit is a "ricer" and should be shunned, but it was the kids with unpainted kits, who tried to race everything in sight, revved at everything, revved the exhaust going into and out of parking lots, did 70 in a 30 for no apparent reason, or did the ricer flyby that really started the shit.

Oddly, it drove my ideas for my car, plus, since I was pre FNF days, I have a TOTALLY different concept of what makes a cool car than what seems to have transpired afterward.

Ultimately, as long as people are building for themselves, and not being completely stupid, then it is OK.

[Law Grandeur]

interesting read

[visualpoet]

I have to be honest. FnF will go down as a huge piece of pop culture from that time, and I own it, and like it, but that is the day the imports really lost all of the respect they had earned. I think we are starting to get it back again, now that we have mostly moved past that phase, but like any bad reputation, it is 10x as hard to work it off than to just avoid it.

And that isn't to say that anyone with a body kit is a "ricer" and should be shunned, but it was the kids with unpainted kits, who tried to race everything in sight, revved at everything, revved the exhaust going into and out of parking lots, did 70 in a 30 for no apparent reason, or did the ricer flyby that really started the shit.

Oddly, it drove my ideas for my car, plus, since I was pre FNF days, I have a TOTALLY different concept of what makes a cool car than what seems to have transpired afterward.

Ultimately, as long as people are building for themselves, and not being completely stupid, then it is OK.

I'm right there with you on this one. I was so disappointed after I saw the first one (I'd been waiting for it for at least a year after seeing trailers) and yet, I've seen every other one since, usually pointing out the things they screwed up. (The scene Where Vin opens all the n2o bottles and pops the cigarette lighter in almost kept the wife from letting me get a bottle. As soon as he pushed the lighter in, I told her "Whatever is about to happen cannot happen in real life." and then BOOM! )

I'm glad to see the tuner community starting to get itself back, and also starting to be much more active in motorsports (besides the SCCA). ANd I have to admit a certain personal pleasure in smoking the crap out of some kid in an Integra or Civic with an unpainted kit flopping around, a big wing that comes above the roof line, just a fart can and some cut or torched springs. Just as much as I enjoy meeting and talking with guys that recognize the work I've put into my car so far, or the nods from serious enthusiasts on the street, strictly because I'm not following the fads.

[owequitit]

I'm right there with you on this one. I was so disappointed after I saw the first one (I'd been waiting for it for at least a year after seeing trailers) and yet, I've seen every other one since, usually pointing out the things they screwed up. (The scene Where Vin opens all the n2o bottles and pops the cigarette lighter in almost kept the wife from letting me get a bottle. As soon as he pushed the lighter in, I told her "Whatever is about to happen cannot happen in real life." and then BOOM! )

I'm glad to see the tuner community starting to get itself back, and also starting to be much more active in motorsports (besides the SCCA). ANd I have to admit a certain personal pleasure in smoking the crap out of some kid in an Integra or Civic with an unpainted kit flopping around, a big wing that comes above the roof line, just a fart can and some cut or torched springs. Just as much as I enjoy meeting and talking with guys that recognize the work I've put into my car so far, or the nods from serious enthusiasts on the street, strictly because I'm not following the fads.

Yeah lol, or most of the stuff from all 3 for that matter LOL.

The other element that needs to be discussed too is that "ricer" is a connotation reserved for people in imports who rev on everyone and try and race them, as if only import owners do that.

I have had several instances in the last few weeks where I have had one guy in a 2005-2009 Mustang GT rev on me, then take off, while I was going the speed limit in town, and then just today, coming back from a friend's house, I had the same thing from some douche in an LT1 Camaro, with his chick and NEWBORN BABY in the car! Again, I was going the speed limit. Frankly, since I was in the Si, and with the way he was "pulling", I am pretty sure that had I actually raced, I probably would have won. Even if I only kept up, I still would have won. LOL. I almost wish I was alone (my roomate was in the car), and he didn't have a little tiny baby with him.

Yet, they would have you believe that all import driver's are ricers and rev on anyone, when the reality is that many of them are just as stupid, but since they have "real" cars, it is somehow justified. Funny thing is, if their shit was so superior, they wouldn't have to worry about proving to me how fast it is.

The fact is that if you are a dumbass, you are a dumbass.

[turboAccordHSF]

The fact is that if you are a dumbass, you are a dumbass.

so sig material!!!!!..........

i actually read the whole thing.....all i got to say is.....

being called a ricer was cool untill they started calling non imports ricers too.....i seen people call a Cadi cts ricy......i seen people shout Ricer at a camaro with alot of stickers!!!!