For the old timers- 90's car mods

[Soufkackicustom]

The cut spring topic in the suspension forum got me thinking about the good ol days. Where what you had on hand on hand and you imagination made your mods. So what were some of the mods you did "back in the day"?


For me, I got my license in 96, so

Yellow or Kawasaki green. If it unbolted easily it got painted inside or outside the car.

Tank vision- back then the law kinda let you slide, tank vision was having a solid windshield banner at the top and another matching one at the bottom of the windshield usually in yellow or green. My 94 del sol also had the side and back windows covered in Kawasaki green vinyl. Yes I rode with with the windows down

Dust shields- the plates that go behind the wheels. Once we found out they had reflective tape in yellow and red, it was on. We cut the tape in 1in squares and layed them on the dust shields in a checkerboard pattern

Expanded metal- like mesh but a lot thicker. We used to get the scraps from a place that made industrial walk ways. We would make grills, headlight covers, gas doors...ect. On the inside I recall cutting the center of my console out and sitting a strip of it, inset into it under it was a piece of laminated yellow poster board. Later on we found gutter guard and every cubby hole and air vent had this across it

Huge systems- and I mean huge. You shoved speakers everywhere you could fit them trunks,hatches and beds of trucks with campers slap full of subs


Hydros- I grew up in east Texas, and hydros were all the rage. From escorts to
Slabs, they were bouncing. Air bags were just in the beginning back then

Rims- didn't really matter what they were, as long as they didn't come factory on your car. Nichies and neeper were the wheels to have

[nine_deuce]

Wow! I remember ALL of those. Remember the oddly bent, or spiral antennas? How about the graphics on the rocker panels, like the laser looking ones? Back in the day, I was more into mini trucks than cars... those are a couple I remember.

[Jarrett]

I'm only 26 but I've been into cars since LONG before I was of driving age. In Bryan hydraulics were a pretty big thing. There was a car club called Royal Touch in town. It appeared that the only qualifications for membership were having a rusted out brown G-body Cutlass that could do a 3-ft vertical jump or have the ability to pass by a middle school in three-wheel-motion. I hated them then but I respect the hobby now that the posers are pretty much gone.

What part of East Texas were you from? I was born in Tyler.

[Domesticated]

I had a slammed Datsun 620. First thing I did was rebuild the motor. Then it was on. 4" drop in the front, 3" in the rear. I basically took the torsion bars out, then threaded them back in so that the car stayed together. Basically it had no suspension in the front. The rear swap Ford truck leafs and stiffened the shit out of it. Big stereo in the mini truck. Big lip wheels. Painted it gloss black with green accents and stripes. Had green LED's fucking everywhere! The car lit up like a X-Mas tree at night. Got hassled all the time. Wanted to get a big as decal down the side, but never got around to it. Swapped some prelude seats in it with new carpet and called it good.

Had a lowered Supra with something like 16 speakers and 2 15"s. Had a Neon with a super high quality stereo including door woofers and a 15". A an 83 Ford van with a big stereo, blacked out panel van. It was the shaggin waggin back in high school.

Come to think of it, those were the days when there weren't much haters. Everything was cool and everyone was cool with it.

[Soufkackicustom]

What part of East Texas were you from? I was born in Tyler.

Lufkin. Luckily most of the hydro cars weren't junk. Most had carnival ride paint jobs and coffin interior. There was a old school Mexican dude that layed paint like a mofo. Even back then it wasn't uncommon to see cars that were fully shaved. No tail lights, marker light mouldIngs and body lines. Reverse tilt hoods, dump beds, pop trunks, it was great. Timberland dr on a Friday night looked like a cruise scene out a movie. Hundreds of cars

[Soufkackicustom]

Come to think of it, those were the days when there weren't much haters. Everything was cool and everyone was cool with it.

no doubt. People we cool, they would talk and tell you how and what they did to their ride and most time you'd meet up on the weekend to mod cars. It seemed everyone brought something to the table. One dude had the spot, on had the tools, one had some supplies, one had the know how, and the rest were "do" boys. If one car got a mesh grill, all of them got one the same day. And it was cool to roll deep and show off

I think it had more to do with respect. If you wanted what someone else had, you had to ask them. You couldn't jump on google and then send a PayPal and have it

[deevergote]

Soufkackicustom, I'm only a little older than you (March 1980), but I didn't actually start driving until I was almost 19... and I didn't give a damn about modifying cars until I was 21-22!

I got into it JUST as The Fast and the Furious came out. I didn't get into it because of the movie, oddly enough (I actually contemplated going to see it alone one night, and decided against it... saw it on DVD months later, and regretted that decision not to go!)

In my beginning days, I remember seeing magazine spreads covering up to 5 pages for companies (probably all now out of business) advertising body kits, wings, rims... The ads were EXTENSIVE. Not like today's much smaller ads.

Loud colors were in, as were pastels. Big kits, bigger wheels, underglow, vinyl, wings... If you removed every stock part and replaced it with something big and bright colored, you were cool!

Companies that are rarely talked about today were household names back them: Arospeed, Wings West, Motegi M7 wheels were the wheel to have (replaced by the Rota Slipstream)...

Back then, an H22 in anything but a Prelude was hot. Today, 200hp is hardly impressive.

[8ball]

east texas might be boring corrupt and full of terrible drivers, but some of the dopest cars I've ever seen are in east texas. they just don't show boat them , I guess it's the frequency of shoot outs and murders that occur .

[crazymikey]

I remember all this stuff, and I'm relatively young at 26. I have stacks of old car magazines hoarded in my parents attic dating back to about 1990.

Cars have been everything I've lived and breathed since I was about 3 or 4 years old.

I never really enjoyed modified vehicles until I had my own vehicle to work on in 2004. Once I had my own car and was able to work on it and make it unique, I got bitten by the mod bug, and that has now spiralled out of control in what seems to be a never ending series of projects, ideas, work and blown money.

[cuate01221]

I am way to young to remember all of that stuff at 17 years old I kinda remember the big body kits and show car style from when I was like 6-7 years old.

I wonder what the next big thing will be. I hope no bozuko will come into the united states! Last thing I need is for an idiot to pick up my car from behind with his huge front lip!!

Also, I bet 10 years from now, we will look at this huge JDM fad that is on now and think "WTF those damn "ricers" with those stupid JDM mods. Most of those things aren't even made in Japan!"

[Soufkackicustom]

I

I wonder what the next big thing will be. I hope no bozuko will come into the united states! !"

The latest trend in hellastuffed. Thats putting huge wheels under a car and tucking them like 20s in the front and 24x15s in the rear. This is something that your average person can't do at home. So iam starting to get a lot of people asking for wide body kits. I think trends will come full circle as I also am starting to see a lot of old school mini trucks being restored with a modern twist. The people that built them in the 80s are a bit further on in life and can now afford to relive their teen age car years. So I don't see it being too long before the body kit crazy with a modern flair comes back around

[Soufkackicustom]

east texas might be boring corrupt and full of terrible drivers, but some of the dopest cars I've ever seen are in east texas. they just don't show boat them , I guess it's the frequency of shoot outs and murders that occur .

Guess that comes from having one of the "richest" roads running right throught the center of it...us59., the Mexico pipeline

[toycar]

Ahh the days of triple gold hundred spoke daytons and switches.


I had a pull out Alpine tape deck, Clarion 6x9's and an equalizer before CD players ever came in cars.

Tank vision, yeah I rocked that one too. Didnt call it that, but def rocked the vinyl.

LOL

I was always more of a boost junkie, even back then.

Ohhh to be young again

[jhoff]

The cut spring topic in the suspension forum got me thinking about the good ol days. Where what you had on hand on hand and you imagination made your mods. So what were some of the mods you did "back in the day"?


For me, I got my license in 96, so

Yellow or Kawasaki green. If it unbolted easily it got painted inside or outside the car.

Tank vision- back then the law kinda let you slide, tank vision was having a solid windshield banner at the top and another matching one at the bottom of the windshield usually in yellow or green. My 94 del sol also had the side and back windows covered in Kawasaki green vinyl. Yes I rode with with the windows down

Dust shields- the plates that go behind the wheels. Once we found out they had reflective tape in yellow and red, it was on. We cut the tape in 1in squares and layed them on the dust shields in a checkerboard pattern

Expanded metal- like mesh but a lot thicker. We used to get the scraps from a place that made industrial walk ways. We would make grills, headlight covers, gas doors...ect. On the inside I recall cutting the center of my console out and sitting a strip of it, inset into it under it was a piece of laminated yellow poster board. Later on we found gutter guard and every cubby hole and air vent had this across it

Huge systems- and I mean huge. You shoved speakers everywhere you could fit them trunks,hatches and beds of trucks with campers slap full of subs


Hydros- I grew up in east Texas, and hydros were all the rage. From escorts to
Slabs, they were bouncing. Air bags were just in the beginning back then

Rims- didn't really matter what they were, as long as they didn't come factory on your car. Nichies and neeper were the wheels to have

Bring it back?

[HenRoc]

Mirror tint and I mean the legit kind where you could not see into the car itself..just you're own reflection