Maxxd.com Forums

I have asked a few other car clubs what they think of the scene at the moment and here are a few comments..

Feel free to discuss..........

I agree with this..... "Are the older enthusiasts gettin fed up now and not as many younger people getting into it due to the cost?"

but I think its not just the cost of modifying its the cost of petrol, Insurance, Road Tax, everything!

Less and Less Meets are happening, people also get bored after time of going to the smae places, but we cant organised meets in certain areas because of policing issues and the people in the area's.
]Personally, I dont go to 90% of the shows cos they are all the same. Its personal opinion and it's my own fault!

The cruises and meets are never what they were, too many police round all the time, which is down to certain people ruining it for the rest of us.

I think that the people that are no longer in this scene have had an effect on others, meets/cruises/shows what ever I dont think are the same now.

I know CS has been and gone, but personally... They were the best days. I know you shouldnt compare, but I cant help it!

The problem came about a few years ago when ebay became bigger. It meant quality shops and products were pushed out for inferior ones. The other problem is modifying became main stream, as soon as a manufacturer gave options of lexus rear lights on standard cars it meant your unique modified car was no longer unique as you can go into a show room and buy one - i think this is why younger people have not got into modifying the same way that people my age did, because its not unique anymore.

The other thing is you used to go to shows and there was people there who had done alot of work on the cars themselves, the cars were their pride and joys and their lives. Now its seems a different attitude its throw as much money as you can at it, no matter how hiddeous the results as it is the only way to create something "different" - which again is the point of modifying. Lets also face it there isnt the money there was a few years ago - all be it borrowed in alot of cases but still :lol :lol . the older modders have houses / babies etc etc so have less money and less inclination to be part of the scene.

I do think the scene will come back in the next few years, as the credit crunch hits parents arent buying their kids such new cars anymore. so 17 year olds will want to make the most of their 1st set of wheels thus- but without the money it will go back to how it was.
I do think the police crack down on cars with ANPR cameras, the anti cruiser attitude also means that its become more difficult to meet up and enjoy your cars.

Not to mention the change in attitude, i remember a time where you would go to shows and people might not like your car but they would appreciate what you had done to it (again because you hadnt just thrown money at it) now its just "thats sh*t" just plain rudeness!!!!

To be honest mate the whole scene is on it's arse. There are too many rival cruise sites in the same area trying to screw the other one over, too many coppers with a grudge against what we do and it's reflected by the falling number of regulars each area has.
Back in the day it used to be a lifestyle, work on your car during the day, go and show it off at night. The whole scene appears to have lost that enthusiasm nowdays and it's just a bit of a hobby now to most.
We've seen some big names in the cruise scene, take cruiseboard for example, give up the will to continue.

As for the traders, modified cars were a massive part of retail sales a few years ago, but like you have said there is too much competition these days, too many people trying to undercut their rivals, cheap copy's being produced for half the price, the popularity of the scene has been it's own worst enemy.

I don't believe that the number of modified cars has gone down, to be honest with you there are more about nowdays than there were, they just seem to have lesser modifications than they used to.

Back in the day if you saw a modified car it was always eye catching and had been done with heart and soul, you could tell that serious blood and sweat had gone into it.

Nowdays you see more cars with alloys and aftermarket exhausts but thats about as far as they go. From observation it looks like people are more willing to pay someone to make it look cool than do it themselves. There just seems to be a lack of inspiration in general.

Personaly I think that if we want to keep the cruise scene alive, all cruise sites are going to have to pull together and put some serious effort in, the people are still there, they just need educating and moulding into what we used to be, but the scene has to be worked hard to increase it's size and reputation before the masses will follow

The likes of max power and fast car used to play a large part in the scene too, being at cruises and showing real cars and projects, that all seems to be lost now. The majority of cars you see in the likes of them now are all company demo cars. The reality has been lost in them and it's just turned into a fantasy world for 14 year olds.
However it does leave quite a large opening for a down to earth magazine to be produced, with more cruises and real peoples cars, I think somthing like that with a team effort from all cruise sites could put the spark back in the scene

I think the public's oppinion has a lot to do with it, and a few have spoilt it for the rest. You only have to take the fact that everyone accociates 'boy racers' with modified cars. We get exactly the same over on the off-road scene; the general public instantly think of loud, brash, planet-killing, coutryside destroying, city clogging monsters. It boils down to publicity, and sometimes there is such a thing as bad publicity. I don't think any amount of 'good press' is going to change that, if that was the case then the thousands of people's lives that are saved by 4x4's in remote areas, or the aid transported into the third world, or the carbon off-setting programs that Land Rover run would have done it. The modified scene can raise as much money for charity as it likes and all sorts like that, but all it takes is for one idiot to crash his 'modified car' and kill someone and it's ruined. I think all we can do is keep our noses clean and hope for the best. And I totally agree, it's popularity has become its own enemy, that'll happen with anything though and there's nothing you can do about it.

I know it sounds like a defeatist attitude, but hey.

I don't think going back to how it was is the right idea, because we'll only end up here again. Sure we should look back and see what it was that made it so good, but then take those things and build on them.

I don't think Max Power and Fast Car and the likes have actively taken a step back, after all it's their buisness, it's in their best interest to make the scene as big as they can.

where do i start cheap tacky inferior mods,attitudes,more often than not folk gettin into it to be popular an not really bein that into the cars or knowing much about em hence buying crap stuff.

Dont think its the money aspect really a great car for me dont need a daft kit/system an hydraulics/whatever. bk in the day folks down town wouldnt have had the money or wanted to spend it on something that werent gonna make it faster/handle better.

Publics attitude has never differed to be fair,racing on public roads tends to never be popular and around the scene ya know it happens-always has.

Ya see it depends which side of the fence ya sitting on-to the veteran car enthusiasts/cruisers of mansfield maxxd.com totally de-valued the scene in mansfield and i didnt join this site untill the cars started to look less cheesy-sorry folks but entitled to my opinion.plenty of cars have been different but very few ive thought "thats cool as fuck".

For me there would probably be a handful of cars on here that are tastefully modded an moneys bin spent in the right places that i really like,Its just coz i were around in a different era of cruising.

For me the cars just arent as good/clean and the owners arent as proud of them as they used to be,Whatever they drive.

The biggest problem with the 'scene', is that everyone likes to think they know all about it. Truth of the matter, they only really know about the part of it they're interested in. As soon as your car fits the latest 'scene', it probably means you've got it that way for popularity & not for any actual interest in cars at all.
A more relevant question for people, would be why are you interested in modified cars, or why do you want to own one? The sooner the general population move on to something else, the better. That way, when you see someone in a modified car, they may actually have an interest in it as opposed to having it to try to fit in. Be honest, you all probably know someone like that.

If you all think back to when my first car was spotted and the piss was taken out of it a little, but I came charging back saying yeah take the piss, however it's all my work gone into my car, It's never been touched by a bodyshop and I'm happy to stand back and say.... Yeah I did all the work to my car, including spraying,fitting the kit, swapping the engine(with the help from the man accross the road with the hoist in his garage) changing brakes, new headgasket, new piston rings, a crank regrind(mansfield engine centre must have the cred for that) and a full engine rebuild. in fact the list goes on... disks, pads, clutch, panels, short shifter, suspension. I might have borrowed the tools but i did the work.

Am I a mechanic? no. In fact I'm going to be studying a degree in radiotherapy and oncology next year, all I've done is learned this stuff through trial and error. I think whats putting the scene down at the moment is as said before, the police (not all but alot of), the fact that when a club eyes a banger in progress, the piss gets ripped rather than people saying "well he could do with this and that to help his car progress"

It was weird yesterday when i visited Newstead abbey, I was stopped at the gate by a bloke in his 50's/60's who was taking payment. he stood back and said "I'm sorry I just can't work out what car it is" in an interested way so I told him about my car. he then goes on to ask if I'm a student, then told me it was better if we were as he ain't going to check and it makes things a quid cheaper. as i was about to set off up towards the abbey he then said caringly " watch out for the humps up there as some are really nasty and I wouldn't want you ripping your bumpers off"

So yeah people out there do still respect us and the work we do but it is very rare to find someone like that because the little people with cheapy little cars that have loud exhausts and alloy wheels who race around in their cars like there ass is on fire makes a bad name for the rest of us. these are the people that need to be penalised. not us genuine modders who take care and pride in our cars.

It makes me laugh when I pull up at lights and some little chav in his standard little punto with a big exhaust pulls up at the side of me then attempts to race me. I just look straight at him, Laugh then let him get in front if he wants to. at the end of the day he's just wasted twice as much petrol getting accross the lights than what i have.

but say a police officer had been sat at the lights too. who would be the one getting pulled? me. why? because my car is fully kitted so it was obviously me who was racing.

And if we are talking about differences. my kit is from two different continents: the front bumper is german, the strut brace, short shifter, skirts and rear bumper from australia. I got them because I preferred how they looked together compared to the full kit from australia. I wanted my car to be my creation which is why i was happy to spend £1500 getting my kit to my door.

on another note, I went to meet a person in rotherham with the same car as mine but diff kit. He told me he was too scared to show his ride on our carclub forum (paseoclub.co.uk) as He didn't want people taking the piss saying it was a chavs car. why is it that modders are assosiated with chavs and boy racers?

the scene has gone tits up due to those who want to be part of the scene and think to do that it takes a shopping list of:

Big loud exhaust
Alloy wheels
a speedo that doesn't drop below 60mph
a can of lets race anybody who pulls up at the side of me.

That was kind of proven when the copper that gave me a prohibition came round to my house to remove the prohibition after saying my tints were too dark and my exhaust too loud so i had to go home and take them off. when he spotted the s2000 on my drive and the other paseo, His attitude towards me changed altogether from looking down at me to trying to be on the same level by cracking a joke about the s2000 is better. he casually wound his window up and drove away when I cracked back at him, yeah its better than the vovlo you're driving and much better than any car you'll ever own. PRICK.

basically, if you drive a modded car you are spoken to and treated like a peice of shit by many officers and members of public, so many of us have taken up the attitude compared to how we are treated

Some good points there mate.

Seems to be the same thoughts and opinions across the boards !!

Anyone else care to air their thoughts ?

Are we talking about public perseption of the modded car scene or the accual modding scene that we're all in?

Back in the 50 or 60s I'm sure they had this very same conversation "why are we not accepted", okay, not via a forum the web but I'm sure they did. Have you not seen Grease? They used to go meet and settle arguments and win the girl racing their modded cars. There's alway been modded car and there alway will be. Modded car owner will alway be hated by the public and police that will never change either. In 2050 we'll all be fitting bigger flux capasitors or what ever to our spaceships and hover cars and the policy will still be giving injunction out for flying too fast round junction 27. and we'll still be moaning about how the scene is changing and the scene dying probably.

The fact remains, people like what they're into THIS MONTH and think thats the biggest scene there is. There's alway going to be rivalry and each group is alway going to thing there's is the biggest and best and everyting else is dying.

There's the "drifters", I'm sure they think thats the biggest thing since sliced bread, "euro", that massive......if you're into that sort of thing. What about "rat look"? Then there's the "big wheeled fibreglass crap". Personally I think this is still massive, most of the show and shine posse at the shows are banded in this group. IN MY OPINION BigCab would not have the trophies, mag feature, TV features or massive crowds round it, if it had smoothed bumpers, 14 x 10 steelies and stretched tyres. Nor would it if I rusted the bonnet and stuck a rack full of crap on the roof. Its won trophies THIS YEAR, been on TV several times THIS YEAR because it's got the big wheels and copious amounts of fibreglass.

People are into different thing, and that will never change and I like Maxxd for that, variety. Most of the time we all get on and I do appreciate the different scenes and groups within our club. But same as everyone, I'll think what I'M into is the bigest and best, it might not be but I think so.



Alanman

UK Dave - blaming maxxd.com for "ruining the scene" in mansfield is a bit harsh dont you think?

All we did was provide people with somewhere to go and a site to use to communicate..

We may of made the scene more popular, which in turn de-valued it to people such as yourself - but that was not our intention.
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I started out my cruising life when i visited east mids two - i think - at morrisons.. It opened my eyes to the fact you could do anything you wanted to your car - and make it look cool!

Once i was part of "the scene" and had a modded car of my own i remember going to a massive amount of shows, cruises and meets.. Every week we would go to Leicester (fosse park) and nearly get killed by people do-nuttin round the back of some building - there would also be an immense gathering of modified and performance cars next to it from Leicester, notts and the surrounding areas.. We'd visit lincoln, Birmingham (regulary), Worksop, skeg etc etc - wherever there was a cruise, we would be there!

But as we grow older we have less time to devote to "the scene" and so attending quite so many events proves harder.

I also think there are less cruises and known meets happening - in the summer there would be one every weekend if im nto mistaken? And no matter how hard mags, films and the internet tries.. There aint no way better if you wanna get people in to the scene, then having a massive cruise on their doorstep. As (like i did) they will walk round with chin on the floor and go home later and start looking for bits for their car!

I blame money for a large part of it too - there is a country wide credit crunch going off. Due to the banks gayness they aint lending money to people that they would of thrown it at 6 months ago. So if i was just starting out now, i wouldn't of been able to get my first loan to start my modified car life off!

I also agree with some of the points raised here about the products available and stuff affecting the scene - in other words, the scene was a victim of its own success! It got big a few years ago, very big - i'd like to say it peaked in terms of mainstream acceptance/fashion.

Can anyone remember the "xXx saxo year" ?

Where you couldn't go anywhere without seeing a bluey coloured saxo from xXx that looked exactly the same as the one you saw 10 mins ago, but it had different wheels? What i believe happened is that lots of people set up businesses at similar times causing a saturation in regards availability of services and products for your car. Like e-bay - as someone mentioned in daves first post - you can buy any kind of modified part for your car on ebay, but the differences in the available products/services are not particularly amazing.

For example, most rear lights for most cars carry the same theme.. "Crystal, lexus, coloured" you can buy most bodykits to fit most cars - so what you end up with is cars no longer looking individual - they look the same, and that is a fundamental flaw in the original POINT of modifying your car.

I dunno.. Im just batting thoughts about here..

Good thread though

The scene can't be dying, look at the amount of shows there's been available to us this year. There was no way that many shows 2 years ago and deffinately not 5 years ago. And this list is not all of them. If people would stop burying their head in the sand* then they would see that it alive and kicking.

*sand = Mansfield

Whilst i agree times change ya cud pretty much guarantee bk then most thrown together cars would have a maxxd.com sticker on em somewhere-maxxd lot were pretty much our version of barryboys in town, ok maybe thats harsh but cruising were better when it were more underground before the internet sites anyway.

Ppl used to come into mansfield REGULARLY at one time our lot were never really into wkly meets as we were out all the time or shows as to be fair looking at most of the club stands would bore me anyway-in this way i respect the dubbers-ya dont have to like vw`s/euro look/whatever but at least ya can see the efforts gone into most of their stuff.Same with the ford lads.

I`d never put my car on a club stand as its not different enough/clean enough to be worthy in my opinion-if ya gonna show a car at all its either gotta be concours or waay different or at least see some efforts gone into it(imo) or whats the point i may aswell pop round a mates house lol.

When cars on show start looking like the mainstream-whats the point.

Top an bottom of it is i pretty much agree with alan above although i may not agree with where the scenes at or where its going its as dead or alive as you want to make it-stuff does happen fairly regular still from a show point of view-towns pretty dead but thats just down to ya mates not turning up as regular-thats not the scenes fault-the scene is what ya make it.

What's even funnier, is when the people attending these shows start complaining that there's nothing to see. Wonder why, when it's full of standard cars with a few bolt on bits?

mmmm

trends are trends, no matter what your into, cars, fashion, football players/teams, gadgets whatever.

If you break the car scene down you still have that, its pretty obvious that Drifting and Rat look are Trendy...but why? The Media! simple as Max Fast Power Line Car put something on the cover and thats cool, kids want a cover car so that becomes cool!

Tryth has it Rat look has been around since hot rod days and has come back round because someone has done one then someone took it further

I remember obv when i started the punto "Jap Kits" on euro cars where the balls hence how my car looks, yea i followed a trend but put my own spin on it with kits from other models, then NU-Custom came in for a bit, VIP style made an appearance etc

Personally the standard and inovation of "Show Cars" went throught the roof so if your saxo didnt have 24"s 80 TV's lambo doors bonnet and boot on flip flop candy pearl paint it wasnt good enough so it out priced the kids from doing it.
My OPinion why Big Cab wins these awards is its presence (How everyone in the world hasnt seen it by know is beyond me but it pulls a crowd!) it looks every bit the big kitted 20k car which is a wow car, totally out of reach to most now but it gets the attention because of it - and good on you it keeps evolving ok so it might not be "In" but its doing what clare and al intended, getting attention/photos awards.

Its cars like big cab that raise the bar that stopped it too so people chose euro/rat as to get a euro car initially its cheaper ok so you can go as far as toms bolf and end up spending the same but little wheels smoothing and cleaning are cheaper and less maintainance than al has to do/spend on cab

Drifting is cool but it annoys me in a way maybe because of the car i own, but because its RWD 200sx everyone expects i should be drifting or that i can drift like a pro which aint the case, morons in RWD cars pretending or skidding about will kill off the appeal of drifting and leave the real drifters to amaze crowds at shows

But i think for the mainstream it is the cash so having a smart, clean well styled car is ultimate goal for most so cars like Mattys, look reletivly standard to the untrained eye but are the style that 90% are aiming at

And obviously motorsport is taking over so everyone has there head under the bonnets tinkering (Like your dads did with there reilys/morris/mini/cortinas)

To summerise the cool cars are whatevers "In", Show cars will always be that just not as many new ones are appearing, drifting will come and go, motorsport/track days will stay strong, euro and smart well styled cars will fill up our shows and rat look will be all ratted out very quickly

Whats next? VIP? Bozuka? 4x4s? who knows!

Im impressed theres some sensible posts appearing here,i think what it boils down to with showcars is you really need a 2nd car as showcars aint that practical for everyday use an lets face it wrecks em to an extent-im not sayin its not possible just hard if it were ya main car-not everyone can afford to run 2 cars especially if ones a showcar they`ve spent a shitload of money on already.

I got into modified cars by "accident". When I was younger (about 15 lol) I was looking for a magazine to take on holiday with us, being into cars I was looking at car mags. I ended up buying Revs mag and it stated from there. Then I saw this website while looking on the internet and saw there was a cruise on at Portland. I convinced my mum to go and we went and we was amazed by the cars that where on show. Then I convinced my mum to change her car a bit (2 sets of wheels, suspension, abarth kit). Then when I got my first car I tried, with different wheels and suspension. I liked the scene because it was about people doing the work themselves and then when it was some one going and spending 40k etc on a car and taking all the glory it was poo. For example I am not a bit fan of Big bodykits etc, but I appriciate BIG cab due to all the time and effort that goes into it, and I have seen the car progress to what it is now, thats the type of car that got me interested.

I have always liked the modified car seen as people can make there car look stunning. But what puts me off going to cruises and that is that you always see idiots wheel spinning about or chavvy cars with lexus lights and a big exhaust and these are the people who give the scene its "poor" reputation. Another point which people havent mentioned is jealous c**ts. I am thinking of putting some 16 inch rims and coilovers on my corsa but I am not 100% sure yet due to the downsides, mainly jealous c**ts who cant appriciate nice cars so they have to key them, scratch them, paint strip/brake fluid them etc. This is a factor I think because it puts people off.

Also people get into different motoring scenes, like for example I have got into rallying and now have a rally car and go rallying etc.

a few more replies from other car clubs, what do you think ?

Jay from X2C

I been doin shows and cruises for about 6-7 years now and also remember weekly cruises that just dont happen anymore.

It seems that with the way things have turned and the police trying to crack down on meets with their section 59's it has slowly killed down cruising.

I still love the mass SEC meets and will always get to one that I can, but everytime I chat to cruisers who have been doing it for a while they always say the same thing. 5-6 years ago it was the best!

With regard to the show season, it is coming down to the same reason many people arent modifiying their cars, money. With the current economic climate people are not spending any money on themselves at the moment, cars included. The only things that people can really afford to treat themselves to is the odd night out for dinner.

Loan rates have increased as have credit cards, so people are not borrowing the money they once were. I remember when £40k spent on a car was not uncommon, it is now.

I dislike the whole rat look within the modified car scene as to me, they are just not modified. I can understand that some people cannot afford to do a car properly and want to individualise their cars and fair play for doing it. The euro scene is one that if done properly, can be expensive, but on the whole it seems all you need is rims and bags or coilovers and your sorted!

Give it another year, let the economic climate get back to normal after yesterdays huge news from America and we will see where we are.

Nick from TeamShock

The scene isnt how it used to be.

The weather is a major factor to the shows being rubbish. I dont enjoy shows anymore. I dont really know why i do them to be honest. Other than the social side of it which i think is a massive reason for me going as well as going to help a stand out or for my benifit.

If it was sunny and hot the shows would be so much better and more fun to go to.

The cars themselves arnt being wild enough. Its refreshing to see that motorised civic out and about.

I havent been to a cruise in years, in fact i cant rember the last one it might have been the TeamShock charity one. I would love to go to a good one but i dont know where they happen anymore.

I personaly have lost a lot of intrest in the scene and will be starting to pick and chose the shows i take the MR2 to. Super GTI show in france only showed how far behind i think the UK scene is. Going to that was like the first time i went to Max Live but better. It gave me a massive amount of intrest in my own car.

I rember when TS used to allways take trips out to southend and reading cruise etc we used to be out in our cars as much as possible but people seem to have lost intrest. Again weather is a major factor.

Mark from British Mods

Young drivers are faced with high insurance premiums on standard cars, let alone modified cars, which is causing the younger modders among us to choose the cheapest and some what tacky and badly made parts for there cars from places such as ebay and other half-arsed companies (dont get me wrong ebay does offer some great bargins to be had)

Due to this some cars are being modified to a poor standard and this has led to us as a whole being branded "Chavs" which has then led to the older modders leaving the scene as they do not wish to be labled as a chav when they spend so much money, time and effort perfecting there cars.

Personally im sick of all the trailor queens seen at shows, ok so these cars have had thousands of pounds thrown at them, but how many miles do these cars drive per year?? yet they get all the credit at shows and magazine features.. Surely the whole point of a car is to be driven?
We spend all our hard earned cash, time and effort getting our cars to a high standard and what do we get in return from the mags and promoters of the scene - nothing!

The mags should spend there time, searching the club stands and crusies etc.. finding quality cars that are driven daily! I personally would see a magazine feature as a reward and a huge pat on the back for all my hard effort.

Effi from Sheffcruise

I think more people are being put of by the obvious things such as the police and their attitude towards us and the rising cost for car shows. I personally think that the price we pay to go to some shows is ridiculous, especially if you consider without us showing our cars they would have tiny shows with just the trade stands....who also wouldn't attend if they hadn't got so many potential customers at shows.

I'd love to see how the pricing would change if people were to boycott these over charging shows. I think things would change a great deal once they realise just how dependant they are on us modifiers.

Theres loads more but the replies seem to be similar across 20 or more sites