Residual Dreaming
Overnight/this morning I had another of my pop culture-related dreams.
A perverse form of car customization started in Scotland and spread worldwide thanks to a movie, or just a profile on Top Gear. Nostalgists were taking recent models of used cars and externally converting them into Beater lookalikes. Not to replicate specific models from the past, but to recreate the flavor of "good ol' days".
Let's use, as an example, a Mk I Ford Focus, from roughly six or seven years past. We remove the composite bumpers and replace them with squared-section metal ones ala the types from the VW Rabbit. The sleek headlamp arrangement would have to go, replaced with clunky quasi-chrome bezels housing round or square headlamps. The hood would be modified for air scoops and a blacked-out eggcrate grille. Turn signals in front would be in the shape of old rally spotlamps.
Fenders would be flared WAY WAY out to make use of extra-wide wheels and tires. The tires would be roughly the same kind as used on the pimped-out machines you see in America, but no fancy chrome wheels or spinning rims--the wheels themselves would be more utilitarian and likely light truck-based hardware. Loud, noisy exhaust pipes are a must for a machine of this custom as well.
In back, the stock taillamps would be replaced with the square, generic ones designed for use on trailer coaches. Again, the "organic" composite bumper would be replaced with a squared metal one.
Paint scheme would be calculated to evoke an old competition car from the small tracks scene of the previous decades. Bold racing stripes and number graphics, plus dozens of repro sponsor decals, including some from defunct companies, fill out the motif.
Not much is done with the interior, although creature comforts may be tweaked one way or another.
I like the idea but won't do it to Moonshine. Yes, I do love my car pretty much as it is, and don't want to change anything.
FP
A perverse form of car customization started in Scotland and spread worldwide thanks to a movie, or just a profile on Top Gear. Nostalgists were taking recent models of used cars and externally converting them into Beater lookalikes. Not to replicate specific models from the past, but to recreate the flavor of "good ol' days".
Let's use, as an example, a Mk I Ford Focus, from roughly six or seven years past. We remove the composite bumpers and replace them with squared-section metal ones ala the types from the VW Rabbit. The sleek headlamp arrangement would have to go, replaced with clunky quasi-chrome bezels housing round or square headlamps. The hood would be modified for air scoops and a blacked-out eggcrate grille. Turn signals in front would be in the shape of old rally spotlamps.
Fenders would be flared WAY WAY out to make use of extra-wide wheels and tires. The tires would be roughly the same kind as used on the pimped-out machines you see in America, but no fancy chrome wheels or spinning rims--the wheels themselves would be more utilitarian and likely light truck-based hardware. Loud, noisy exhaust pipes are a must for a machine of this custom as well.
In back, the stock taillamps would be replaced with the square, generic ones designed for use on trailer coaches. Again, the "organic" composite bumper would be replaced with a squared metal one.
Paint scheme would be calculated to evoke an old competition car from the small tracks scene of the previous decades. Bold racing stripes and number graphics, plus dozens of repro sponsor decals, including some from defunct companies, fill out the motif.
Not much is done with the interior, although creature comforts may be tweaked one way or another.
I like the idea but won't do it to Moonshine. Yes, I do love my car pretty much as it is, and don't want to change anything.
FP