Everyone has thought about buying a useless Dodge Dart and souping it up to go faster than their neighbor's shiny new Corvette. Well, maybe not everyone.
But for the motor-minded guy or girl out there who has ever thought about transforming their second-rate, junk heap on wheels into a turbocharged, fire-spitting, sexy sports car, there is practically no limit to what you can do.
Endless lists of modifications exist for countless cars, from dime-a-dozen Chevy Cavaliers to high-end Toyota Supras.
Anyone from your average gas station employee to millionaires and poor college students can modify the hell out of their cars, and if you've been foolish enough to venture onto Erie Boulevard recently in your '88 Toyota Camry on a Friday or Saturday night, then you're already painfully aware of the trend.
Though people have been souping up their cars for ages, it has recently become even more popular with the advent of "The Fast and the Furious," and its ensuing speed-driven mentality.
But beware, some sports car snobs say even if you start out with a used Mazda 323 and pour thousands of dollars into it, you'll never wind up with anything more than an expensive piece of crap.
"I don't think it could ever be quite as good," said Travis Englert, a sophomore mechanical engineering major. Englert frequents the McDonald's on Erie Boulevard on the few warm weekend nights in the fall and spring semester to show off his car, and, if the mood suits him, do a little street racing.
Come nicer weather, the crowds on Erie can reach into the hundreds, and the mood is always festive. But rest assured, you'll be laughed right out of the parking lot if you're not driving a sufficiently fast or modified car.
And modified they are.
Chances are, the average passer-by wouldn't even be able to tell what half these cars are. In order to make them unidentifiable, drivers will often remove all labeling and insignia from the car, which, they say, lends a mystique to their otherwise everyday automobiles. One driver, for instance, removed all the Honda badges from his Civic and painted it bright orange.
Civics are a perennial favorite for modifying, Englert said, because there is a huge availability of after-market performance parts specifically tailored for them.
Jamar Clark, a 17-year-old senior at Corkrin High School, has been driving his '95 Honda Civic for seven months and has already dropped $7,000 into the car.
Right now, Clark's car has 120,000 miles on it, but looks like it was just bought yesterday. As soon as he purchased it, Clark ripped out the original seats and replaced them with racing seats he bought on the Internet. He then redid the upholstery and interior by himself -- making it an eye-catching bright red. When satisfied, he then moved onto the outside of the car, buying a black body kit to make the exterior look sleeker. The body kit alone cost him $1,800.
Clark comes out to Erie whenever he gets the chance, he said, but he's not interested in racing. "I'm not really about speed, I'm more about show," he said.
That didn't stop him from buying some speed-boosting modifications -- he purchased a cold air intake and a new exhaust system for a combined cost of $500.
The most popular modifications drivers make to their cars are new air intakes and exhausts, which add horsepower and make the car sound louder. The rationality here is, of course, loud cars make big scenes when they cruise down the street. Interior modifications are also popular, as well as new body kits, which can dramatically change the look of a car.
Drivers also make smaller changes to their original cars -- different emblems, varying rear-view mirrors, neon lights and high power sound systems. Clark said he even plans to add two small televisions to the back of the driver and passenger headrests.
For the more serious car buff though, there are more serious modifications.
Beyond "bolt on" additions like air intakes and exhausts, drivers can take on more difficult and expensive projects such as adding turbochargers and dropping their car down a few inches.
A turbocharger works by taking gasses normally expelled by the exhaust system and using them to spin a turbine, which in turn works to force air into the engine at high pressures (up to 30 pounds per square inch), thereby forcing the air to expand with more force when it is combined with fuel and ignited. In simple terms, this means the car goes faster.
Fast cars are what Jason LeVin is all about. A 20-year-old Cornell University student, LeVin drives what can only be described as a pimped out Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS. If there is something that could possibly be done to the car, LeVin has probably done it.
The list is impressive: turbocharger, top-mounted intercooler, Grady blow off valve, carbon fiber hood, new rims, new struts, new springs, new tires, new rearview mirrors, a new spoiler and a new exhaust.
And that's just the outside.
The inside has an air/fuel controlling computer to monitor and change the air flow associated with the turbocharger, as well as extra gauges to measure boost and exhaust temperature, "so I don't blow my motor," LeVin explained.
He's not done yet though -- in order to race the car LeVin plans to add some fuel injectors into the mix as well as buy new racing seats. By that point, he may or may not be done. So far, LeVin has put about $10,000 into his Subaru, which he bought brand new in 1999 for $17,500.
Some cars, though, don't need any modifications. Whenever Frank Miller drives his $50,000 Mitsubishi 3000GT VR-4 into the McDonald's parking lot, heads turn and groans are audible from miles away.
Miller, 26, drives what he says is one of the fastest cars around, and he hasn't done a thing to it. "The way it sits is out of the box, fast," Miller said. The difference though, is that it's a sports car, he said -- not meant to be tinkered with and simply designed to be fast.
Fast might be an understatement for Miller's car -- it can run 12 second quarter-miles -- impressive, considering most of the cars you'll see on Erie average somewhere in the 16s. Fifty thousand dollars bought Miller twin turbos, all-wheel drive and all-wheel steering, something you're not likely to find on many other cars. In fact, Miller said, his is one of only 45 cars of its kind produced in 1999.
But most of the people on Erie are college and high school students, not of the means to throw $50,000 at their cars.
Englert, who drives a 2000 Toyota Celica GTS 6-Speed is just in it for the fun, he said, and doesn't mind that it is so expensive. With two more years of payments left on his car, Englert still plans to modify, though he said being a college student with such an expensive car is tough.
"It's just totally worth it for me," Englert said. "It's my baby, it's my pride and joy."
Copyright 2002 Daily Orange
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