From: Jordan Bochanis <jordan_bochanis@brzoom.com>
Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2002 07:02:37
To: Tim Manners <editor@reveries.com>
Subject: THE FAST AND THE CURIOUS
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Want to witness the biggest trend to come down the pike -- literally? Just step to the side of the curb and chances are, if you're not run down by it, you'll see it -- or hear it go by.
It's a car. Usually, it's a Honda or Acura, but it could be just about anything on four wheels. So what's the trend? It's that the car is no longer the sum of its parts and that all those parts have been replaced with bigger, louder, brighter, shinier, furrier and blinking ones!
This trend was recently celebrated at the automotive aftermarket industry's Hummer of a trade show (the cap H is intended) called the SEMA show (SEMA stands for Specialty Equipment Market Association), which I recently attended in sunny, dissolute Las Vegas.
Just past the guy selling clocks made out of chrome air cleaners and the booth featuring clear distributor caps was a plucky little company called "Ford," with a lineup of its own customized Mustangs and T Birds along with a new $80,000 concept car (which kind of misses the whole point of SEMA -- I mean how many folks are going to want to customize their new $80 grand ride?).
So what do these guys all have in common? It's that they all want to get their hands on a piece of the $26 billion that Americans plunk down on this sort of thing.
As the going gets tough in Detroit, it looks like the tough will get going by making seat covers with flames, "Mustang Monopoly" board games and anything made out of carbon fiber. And there was plenty more to take in at the show besides the choice between a fried piece of shrimp or an egg roll with your lunch.
"Crashing on the couch" takes on a whole new meaning when it's a Dale Earnhardt Official NASCAR leather sofa, complete with a large, red, uncomfortable-looking number "10" sewn onto the cushion. And how did we ever drive our cars at night without gas, brake and clutch pedals that glow in the dark?
Your car has become less a means of getting from point A to Mickey D's and more an extension of your personality and as important as your sneakers.
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In true American fashion, car customization isn't just about speed or performance, it's about looking good. A great example is the biggest aftermarket accessory -- rims. Big, shiny chrome ones; the bigger the better. I heard one show-goer refer to a set of humongous 20-inch rims on display as "punk-ass." It seems that if you're not riding on 24, 25 or the latest 26-inch rims your manhood will be in question. Like someone wearing last year's "Air Jordans," there will be snickering every time you arrive.
Speaking of manhood, the most popular part of the show was SEMA's "Trade Show Girls." Yes, actual models from the calendars and posters hung with pride behind the doors of local garages across the USA were on hand in fantastic, inappropriate outfits like bikinis and race car driving suits, revealing a few of their own after-market parts, and signing photos of themselves standing next to sexy items like brake rotors or all-season Z-rated tires. Va, va, va voom!
Like other cultural movements, the custom car craze comes complete with it's own celebrities…besides the calendar models. As reported by Cool News of the Day last month, the biggest car star is probably a guy named Jesse James (and yes, he claims to be related to the famous outlaw). Jesse, a Southern California motorcycle customizer-to-the-stars and proprietor of West Coast Choppers, is the star of Discovery Channel's "Monster Garage."
Monster Garage is a reality-show challenge that features Jesse James and his crew turning ordinary vehicles into Frankenmobiles. In one episode, they convert a Ford Mustang into a functioning, high-performance lawn mower -- all in 72 hours and for $3000. Jesse embodies a new breed of car-customizer / rock star, complete with a TV show, fans, and his own line of very cool car rims that have actual bullets embedded in them!
His ancestors would be proud!
In a country where you're measured by the size of your rims and everything from your phone to your body is customizable, your car has become less a means of getting from point A to Mickey D's and more an extension of your personality and as important as your sneakers.
So if you're not throwing your billet shifter into high gear, putting your carbon-fiber-with-Kevlar-trim pedal to the floor and burning some Japanese rubber to the office every day, maybe you should get your priorities straightened out and head to your nearest auto parts store.
Tell 'em Jesse James sent you.
Jordan Bochanis is Concept Director of Bochanis, Rogan, Zoom, a marketing services agency with offices in Connecticut and Louisiana. He may be reached via email at jordan_bochanis@brzoom.com
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