Hot Import Nights Chicago March 25th Saturday

I think it's supposed to snow this weekend.

 

I looked at their website and couldn't really figure out what this is like/about. Can you please tell us more about it?

I take it your car will be on display. Then what? A concours with people's choice? A party? Trophies, prizes? So you brought your car all the way from NY?

 

It's a ricer/bling show... don't waste your time.

 

Replace "young models in skimpy outfits" with "used up 20-something prostitutes who are paid to pretend they're attracted to the teenage ricers showing their cars (and acne) off", and I'll say you've pretty much described it accurately.

 

Catch you tomorrow!

BTW: Welcome to Chicago!

 

LOL! But you are so right! I went to the "World of Wheels" car show at McCormick place back in January, like I have for Over 20 years now. And there was a display for SEMA. But, it was really small. Barely anything. I think they had 2 extemely gaudy, Waaaay overdone ricers. And they had a couple of really nasty looking chicks in skimpy outfits that would fit the description above EXACTLY!....One had the worst case of cottage cheese thighs squeezed into some leather hotpants that were 5 sizes too small that I have ever seen! Horrible bleach blonde with black roots dye job. Yuuuuck!

Hey, can I find a Fart Can muffler for my Ferrari there?

 

Oddly enough the most popular thread on FChat by a huge margin is: Bikini thread. Go figure.

 

I'd be worried if it wasn't

 

Nothing wrong with that....

 

I spent a lot of time in the "ricer" scene going to shows and I have to say, I love it. What I love is that you have kids who have PASSION again for cars. A passion for cars that was missing for 20 years with youth. I saw an interview with Carol Shelby and he said the SAME thing when asked about them. They can't afford Ferraris or Lambos or anything like that now, but LOVE cars. So they take mom's Civic or Accord and make something of it. Make it FASTER than a Ferrari or Lambo. Gotta respect that.

It's funny, but a lot of the guys from my old "Wednesday Night Group" I used to go to "ricer" shows with, have now moved up into bigger and better cars. The passion that was there stayed strong and now, when we can afford them, we have "upgraded". Some of the cars from the guys that were part of that group now are Ferraris, Porsches, NSXs, etc., including one other member of this very board. When I met him years ago at a "ricer" import show, he was driving a yellow, modded, RX7. His yellow RX7 is now a yellow 355 and is "modded" with a Tubi. His passion for cars never changed. Just his financials.

Which is better, kids with little money, big dreams, and a desire to eventually find a way to get an "exotic".....OR some guy who buys his first Ferrari, Lamborghini, etc. because it is a status symbol and he couldn't tell you where his dipstick is even located??

Give me the "ricers" anyday. These ricers that some here like to bash or talk down about are the very people that WORSHIP Ferraris, Lamborghinis, etc. I have taken my car to their shows and have found the passion that THEY exhibit FAR more refreshing than the country club, park and pose-type events that can regularly be found at most exotic shows.

I was there tonight. Decided to "waste my time". Had a blast. So did my boss and my other buddy. By the way, I have a LOT of pics of the "used 20 year olds" and will be posting them tomorrow.

You guys can be the judge about how "used" some of the girls look. I could think of a few ways I would like to "use" them.......

By the way, I met Hubert and checked out his car. Nice guy. Nice car too (obviously). You will see a pic of one of the "used" girls standing by his car.

By the way, I got an offer tonight at the show from a company to "sponsor" my car. Basically they would give me free tires for my car and I would have pics taken if they wanted to use it in an ad. Probably won't though, as I am happy with my Bridgestones.

Heard Andreas was there. Sorry I missed ya buddy!!

 

Bill,

Sorry I could not make it. You know how it goes when you have a kid, school commitment and other useless time consuming things, like trying to sort out my355 and get ready to hang out with ya!
I think you have brought out a good point regarding ricers! yeah, they are kind of play out. But just think back when we were all younger, that's exactly what we would have done to our cars to a certain degree.
Now we have a few more bucks and the passion still there and upgrade to our ultimate ride with budget constraint, but we should not forget where we were and should not smack down on the ricers. It is the passion for cars that connect all of us on this board. We might talk smack about import, fart can exhaust and all, but just think for a moment that your kid someday might travel the same path like these kids does...Just hope that those "used" 20 somethings chicks ain't your kid....!

 

Agreed on all the comments.

There were a lot of aftermarket enhancements. Not just on the girls, on the cars too.

These folks have immense passion for their cars and there is nothing wrong with that. I don't understand why a Honda Civic needs ten DVD players in the back, but then again nobody understands why a 308 needs an aftermarket wing. Each to his own.

It is not my way of partying (too old for that), but hey, if it works for them, who am I to say it is wrong. I found it quite fascinating to see the other end of the spectrum of the cheese and wine Ferrari crowd gathering on a manicured green at Pebble Beach. This was dark, loud, in your face and Hubert's 360 is one badass ride: He made the car look like a 360 GT on the exterior and an orgy of carbon fibre and leather on the inside. I loved it!

There was also another 360 from Chitown. Not modded at all and barely getting any attention.

 

I just liked the vibe of the entire night. You are so right on about the opposite end of the spectrum from the wine and cheese crowd. I have to say, it just FEELS like the group last night loves cars more than the wine and cheesers. The wine and cheese people give me the impression that they are there to be seen. The ricers are there snapping pics of cars they will talk and dream about for years.

I noticed that too about the Yellow 360. It was RIGHT there when you came in and there was barely a soul around it. Good looking car but, in the world of "imports" a Ferrari without much done doesn't get a ton of looks. I was thinking last night about how my 328 would have probably gotten more looks, pics, and response at that show due to my modified air intake and black wheels. Those guys would have dug the wheels.

Hubert's 360 was tight. I liked the stripe. Color looked great. And he told me he is doing somthing crazy to it, but wouldn't tell me what. I would guess it will be cool though, whatever he does!!

 

I don't want to downplay the wine and cheese crowd and their motifs. After all I'm more part of that than HIN. But you have a point about the snobby end of the spectrum, HIN definitely has none of that. And the craftsmanship on all of these cars was superb. No hack jobs.

An unmodified yellow 360 GTB just doesn't look that spectacular to begin with. As much as I like 360, I think unmodified they are too conservative. Once you put on some Novitec parts, you're getting somewhere. Also that 360 display had not much to offer. Hubert put lights etc on his car to illuminate (haha) the important elements.

I was thinking about bringing my 308 to this show next year. Not to win, just to be part of the fun. However I don't know how I could stay up that long. I have to be in bed by 10pm.

 

Here some pics. It was so dark, was hard to get some decent shots.
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Well, I can definitely agree with the thought that working on Cars, Customizing Cars, whatever. Is good for kids. But, It's definitely not something new that was started up with the ricer crowd.

Teenage Boys and Men have been customizing...."Hot Rodding"...cars since the 1940's. And, guys have been modifying cars since they were even first invented! And, today, there are alot more Ladies involved, and doing that (and more, in Haley and Chelle's case!.... ) than ever!

I have been going to the World of Wheels Custom Car Shows at McCormick Place since 1974. Over 30 years. (I mis-typed 20 in a previous post.) The cars Always had wild paint jobs. Custom body work. Chrome under the hood. Whatever custom wheels that were available at the time....mostly Cragar SS or some type of Slotted or Spoked wheels. Custom Interiors. Custom stereos. Whatever. George Barris, the "King of Kustoms", has been doing it since the late '50's - early '60's! And, don't forget that Custom Van scene that was HUGE back in the '70's and '80's. So, this is nothing "New" by all means. The only thing new about it is that there are alot more advanced Technologic devices available today. Thats all.

But, also, on that same token. Unfortunatley, an awful (and I do mean awful) lot of Gaudy looking Crap out there, too. "Bling Bling"? WTF does that mean? The gaudier the "better"? Nothing but a bunch of overchromed garbage. Yeah, I need to cut dozens of holes in my car so that I can put 50 speakers in it. Maybe a Fish Tank. A Microwave. A couple of Amps. And a few more subs. Tons of stickers. Oh yeah, right. That is "Custom"...?..

Sorry...I can't get into that "too fast too furious" crap. So called street racers are at about the bottom of the list as far as humans go, IMO.

And, the sad thing is that these cars will never be considered as collectibles. All of that money put in, but you'll never see cars like that at a Barrettt-Jackson or any of the other Auto auctions. There are just way too many of them. Not even a dime a dozen....more like a penny a dozen.

 

I can think of worse people who are WELL below street racers on my list.

Frank I think you are a good guy and have enjoyed chatting with you. I enjoyed hanging out that day. But I think your post was extremely short sighted. Let me explain....

Yes, guys have been doing upgrades, mods, etc. since the 40s. No doubt. However, as a younger guy who missed the "hot rod" and musclecar era by a few years, there wasn't anything like this for YEARS. The 80s and early 90s, on a broad spectrum, was pretty void of much going on with cars. Emissions testing and building pretty much put a wrench in a lot of the new stuff was coming out. And, for some reason, kids weren't AS into cars. I lived it. Now, stereo systems WERE pretty big in the late 80s and into the 90s with kids, but there wasn't much out there as far as "mods" were concerned. Yeah, I remember Custom Vans. But how many people really did those?? Maybe .01% of the population?? I can tell you this, there weren't a whole lot of "genre" movies made about cars since the musclecar/hot rod days. Now?? Quite a few.

I too, have been going to World of Wheels. And the same crowd is still going to those shows. And their sons and daughters will still go to those shows in the future. However, there is another group out there going to the import shows. Some from each group cross over and hit both. My point is that, yes, more people are "into" cars now than there have been since the Muscle Car/Hot Rod days. You can't deny that. When you have World of Wheels stuff going on AND Import stuff also going on, how could you deny it??

I know you don't understand the "gaudy crap" like speakers, fish tanks, etc. in the cars. I would bet a LOT of dad's didn't "get" Posi, Dice in the windows, Edelbrock, flames on the sides of cars, flames actually COMING out of the tailpipes, etc. back in the day.

On the overchromed garbage?? There is a lot of "overchromed garbage" from the 50s and 60s selling at the Barrett Jackson every year now. I would bet that term was used to describe those grills on a lot of those cars by some "older folk".

And speaking of the Barrett....

Who would have thought that the cars selling for $100k at the Barrett these past few years would have been priced in that range?? Just a few years ago, those cars were worth HALF, at best. At BEST. But that generation is now trying to relive their past. Rebuy that car that they once owned and have always regretted selling. There were too many of EVERYTHING back in the day. But rust, crashes, etc. tend to take care of that. Not to mention.....how many RX7s are being stored and still have LOW miles?? Not many. So, maybe someday in 20-30 years, they will make THEIR comeback.

Stranger things have happened.........

;-)

 

Yeah, it was nice meeting you man. GREAT car.

I will PM about the stuff we chatted about.......

 

How old are you, Bill? There were alot MORE Movies about cars back then than there are now. In fact. Other than those 2 "fast and furious" Movies,I can't think of any other ones....

All of those Steve McQueen movies like "Bullitt". Gone in 60 seconds, (the Original one) Dirty Mary and Crazy Larry. (Clint Eastwoods, Dirty Harry movies had 'em too, for that matter) All of those Burt Reynolds movies with the Black Trans Ams. Those Gumball Rally flicks. heck, I bet that Andreas can come up with a list of 100 movies with cool cars in them from the '50's,'60's'70's and MAYBE even the '80's. Too many movies that I can't even think of them all...And even today. The 'Gone in 60 seconds' remake revolved around Exotic, Classic and High end cars. They weren't in any hurry at all to try to rip off any ricers....

And, ofcourse, all of the TV shows that had cars as, really, one of the Stars in them...Magnum P.I., Miami Vice, Knight Rider, Dukes of Hazzard, even The A-Team. There's absolutely Nothing like that on TV now....

The Van thing in the '70's? Probably alot more than .01% of people doing them. It was pretty big- big enough, I would say, that it is STILL clearly remembered by anyone over the age of 40. Even in one auto makers TV commercial that is being run now. And that old "Van Thing" is Still mentioned to this day....I can clearly remember seeing tons of them around. I had one myself. But, I don't see that many gaudy ricers running around....Except for the occassional Civic or Accord with some cheapo, ill fitting, unpainted plastic front end riveted on the front of it. Wobbling around in the wind over 30 MPH. And, a big old Coffee can/Fart can Muffler hanging out the back of it. Maybe a Wing.....

I'm sure that one reason that someone would want to make one of those things into whatever it is you want to call it. (I have my own words for them.... ) Is because they are such lame looking, boring cars, you have to do all of that junk to them to make them look like something....else....not as boring.

But, I certainly DO agree that the Auto Industry in general...ALL of the big ones, American, European and Asian, have pretty much sucked since the late 1970's. Poor performance due to emissions and MPG. But, extremely LAME body styles from ALL of them. Everything looks the same....whether it's from Detroit, Germany or Asia. L.A.M.E.!!! No Wonder they have to be so overcustomized just to look somewhat cool..... (Other than the Exotic Cars from Europe. Or the American Sportscars which have held on to their own for Over 50 years now. And the newer ones like the Viper are good.)

I will admit to always liking the Datsun 240/260/280Z cars since they first came out. And, the later year Toyota Supra's, and Mitsubishi Eclipse's. But thats about it....But, from what I am seeing in my Monthly issues of 'Road & Track', and 'Car and Driver'. Asian automakers are FINALLY coming out with some really cool looking cars that wont have to be overcustomized in order to look "cool".

Hey, I'm not going to get into a cyber argument over cars. Obviously, I am twice your age. So we would certainly like different things. You like what you like. I like what I like. That is cool! Nothing wrong with that. Everybody has their own opinions about everything. You expressed yours. I expressed mine. Thats what makes the world go 'round!...

But....we do both have a Ferrari!.That says something about the marque right there. Two different age generations and all....

 

In other words....Lest we not get our grundies in a bunch over such a trite subject.... Who cares! This is "FERRARI" Chat....Not ricer chat! Right?

 

I went to HIN last year in Phoenix, it was the biggest waste of my time and money I have ever been too.