Is This Becoming A Trend?

[Guest YellowJacket894]

Found this on Ask.com. I feel like kicking the bastards who would molest such a nice '68 Firebird like this right in the balls.

I don't know about you, but I am getting sick and tired of looking through a Muscle/Classic Car Trader for a car and seeing crap like that. I found a '67 Camaro and a '70 Chevelle treated the same way. It ranks right up there with some kid ricing out his grandma's Tercel.

I guess it's true. Stupidity is a disease.

[Sixty8panther]

Yes... true. Except no one cares abotu tht Tercel so if it gets

riced out it's no big loss. Stupidity is a dominant gene. :wink:

[Guest YellowJacket894]

These are aweful.

[Guest YellowJacket894]

68, I'd maybe be a bit worried about the guy who is going to buy your Camaro. I'm finding tons of classic F-Bodies (years 1967 - 1973, mostly) being molested in such a fashion.

Here's a '70s model.

[FAPTurbo]

So... do they do this to impress their girlffriends or something?.. it's times like these that I feel bad for the American's who live north of the Dixie line...

[daves87rs]

I must not understand that trend....

What's next? Civics?

Kia?

[Hudson]

I used to be a purist...cars should be restored, hot rods should have an engine the same brand (or at least manufacturer) as the body, etc. Then one day (oddly enough on a job interview years ago), another idea was floated my way. Cars are not "The Scream" or "Citizen Kane" or "War and Peace"....they're cars. The owner of any car should do what they want to it...whatever makes them happy. If modifying your 1953 Corvette (as the original idea had been presented) with a big block V8 makes you happier with your car, then do it.

Yes, to someone who WANTS a 1953 Corvette or 1969 Firebird or 1982 Delorean, it may seem awful. But to the owner, it may be the ultimate high. It doesn't matter if it's a Toyota Tercel or a Chevrolet Camaro or a 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz...it's still just a car.

[04monteintimidator]

hmmm while some of these are a shame... especially that 68 firebird... i hafta agree with hudson on this... it is the owners car... let them do with it what they will... altho... we're still allowed to sit back and be amazed and confused... and maybe even laugh at them... lol

not to mention... some of the ones wmj posted are pretty cool... lol some are even improvements over the original car... like the yugo... haha

[2005 EquinoxLS]

Someone around here did that to a 1970 or so Chevelle. And I live in Wisconsin so that kind of rules out the Mason-Dixie line thing.

[balthazar]

I used to see much more of this sort of thing 10-15 years ago than now, I wonder if the internet is just 'gathering' the phenom together now.

'Cars are just cars' but it's obvious they're far more than that, too. A given one may not be The Scream, but there are countless examples where a given item can mean more to an individual than The Scream would...

In general, the restored-to-original vehicle is more valuable than the modified one.

There's no one answer, because I also agree that the owner is free in America (for now, anyway) to do what he pleases to his wheels (for the most part).

[Camino LS6]

El Caminos are the victim of this foolishness in a disproportionate way. I reserve the right to question the parentage of the jackasses that do this sort of thing. There is a '59 El Camino ruined in this fashion in the old car trader.

[Guest YellowJacket894]

I'd wouldn't rule out that -- with at least sixty percent of the people who choose to do this -- their family tree is really a family twig. Just one long straight, skinny line.

[Sixty8panther]

It doesn't matter if it's a Toyota Tercel or a Chevrolet Camaro or a 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz...it's still just a car.

Elementally I agree with you, I mean it's a free country,

but at some point a line has to be drawn. If you put a

'57 Caddy Eldorado Biarritz on a Suburban frame you

better have a damn good reason, like the original frame

was pretty much about to break in half since it was 85%

rust flake. Otherwise, as much as it's your right to cut it

up and go to town modifying it, you're still a complete

douchebag for doing so to such a rare and gorgeous car

in fact it shows you have a very weak grasp of what

exactly the car hobby is about.

XP has a horror story about a 1930s Packard Hearse that

was molested and destroyed beyond the point of return

by some moron with a sawz-all. That kind of stuff makes

my blood boil, people who think body work is preformed

using sawz-alls & pop-rivets should stick to '92 Civics &

'85 Crown Vics... there's still plenty of them around and

they were not destined to be at a concours d'elegance

anyway. A 1930s (anything) should be allowed to live out

its life unmolested if it survived the scrap shortages of

WWII, the 1950s customizers & 1960s hot rodders.

[ShadowDog]

Well, it can make sense from an engineering point of view where a lower centre of gravity would make for a better off-road vehicle; however, I'm not inclined to believe that anyone putting a car body on an off-road frame has that in mind.

In my opinion, nobody should really have to care that much anyway. There's no rule that specifies a 4x4 must be a truck or SUV. The El Camino has a bed, so technically it's a truck. The fact that it was designed to roll close to the ground on street tires changes all that. Slap a lifted suspension and raised body on it with mudders, and we have all sorts of fashion police crying foul. Really, does it matter how bends on a piece of sheet metal make a custom vehicle?

[RBB]

-RBB

[z28luvr01]

Here's a '70s model.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Actually, I see a ton of the 78-81 "refreshed" 2nd-gen. There's at least one at every cruise night I go to.

[aaaantoine]

It's funny... I sketched a concept car that was essentially a car specifically designed for monster wheels (no unsightly wheel wells, high-durability undercarriage and shield...). Some might remember I posted it a while back (as in years ago), but for those who don't, I'll be sure to repost it when I get home tonight.

[Cory Wolfe]

Okay... that Fiero... I'm taking a rifle and I'm going to "chat" with that guy.

The rest? Blah... who care's? Just a few cars I never found attractive anyways... Monsterize away!

[Guest YellowJacket894]

There is a quality of irony in this photo. Read the sign it's parked under. :AH-HA_wink:

-RBB

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The other three are insults to the auto maker from which they came, especially the BMW.

Edited June 14, 2006 by YellowJacket894