Any former "sex spec" build / auto salon enthusiasts here?
Posted by TomGissing@reddit | projectcar | View on Reddit | 28 comments
I've been getting back into Mighty Car Mods, and love the episodes where they buy neglected old show cars from the early 2000s (search "2wisted mighty car mods" on YouTube if you want to see what I'm talking about). Neons, custom interiors, stupidly large exhausts, air brushed paint jobs on cheap family car type builds.
This might have been a bigger thing in Australia than it was in the USA, but it got me wondering if anyone on here used to be in that scene. Did you build one of these monstrosities? Any stories or pics?
I never went fully down the rabbit hole but I did put an obnoxious install in the trunk of my 94' Supra with 2 stupidly oversize subs, lights and custom perspex sillyness. Probably added a good 60 pounds and made the trunk completely useless. And, I entered a 'loudest sound system' competition at a car show. 🤦‍♂️
tsukiyaki1@reddit
I built this back in the late 00s just after my senior year. Definitely a different time, but I dig it.
TomGissing@reddit (OP)
Sick. That's what I'm talking about. Any pics of the rest of the car?
tsukiyaki1@reddit
FesteringNeonDistrac@reddit
You got the front and back, side to side.
Nice ride. Not my scene, but I can appreciate hard work and attention to detail, and you've got that in spades.
tsukiyaki1@reddit
I think it’ll only let me post one at a time, let’s see..
RYDSLO@reddit
This thing is bitchin!
RepulsivePeng@reddit
Park ave spotted needs a exhaust trim but that fucks
tsukiyaki1@reddit
Lol you ain’t kidding. I ordered tips that turned out to be waaay to big, but since I had them I kept them on. Good enuff
RepulsivePeng@reddit
lol looks really good was it a ultra or na
Wiseguy_7@reddit
Those were the days when you can make any car cool.
BTW, sick ride.
DrDaddyDickDunker@reddit
Did any bass get into the cabin? Lol. Lots of fiberglass in there.
tsukiyaki1@reddit
Yeah it wasn’t any different than a normal sub box in the trunk. 1/8” of fiberglass panel doesn’t stop much bass.
DrDaddyDickDunker@reddit
Nice.
uchigaytana@reddit
Oh, those types of builds were huge in the states. Basically every "tuner" magazine from back in the day would have one on the cover surrounded by half-naked women. I always wonder what happened to them, but my best guess is that they all slowly fell apart and ended up at the local scrapyards.
Ybor_Rooster@reddit
The women?
_weedeater@reddit
Probably not that far off lmao
RiftHunter4@reddit
I was too young to participate but I loved seeing those kind of builds as a kid. Pretty much everyone was running down to AutoZone to get fake hood scoops and vents. You could buy whole spoiler kits at the store.
From what I've seen, a lot of the cars got driven to death and fell apart. Most of them were cheaper rides like Dodge Neon's, Civic's, Celicas, etc so they didn't get babied. I also see some pop up where they just had the mods removed, but it's usually the pricier stuff like Supras.
tsukiyaki1@reddit
It’s so bizarre to see “retired” show cars from that era. Grand Ams and Civics and Cavs with trashed molded body kits and multi-thousands of dollars custom paint jobs dented chipped and rusting.. mismatched rims, etc. Always wondered how they get like.. life changes I guess.
kamikazekenny420@reddit
I put underglow, lowered it, put a loud exhaust and an obnoxiously loud stereo system in my CRZ. Does that count?
Sorry no airbrushing or crazy Fast and Furious graphics tho.
kamikazekenny420@reddit
TomGissing@reddit (OP)
Nice. Other than the neons, that's actually pretty clean and tasteful.
kamikazekenny420@reddit
I rarely put them on tbh. My nephew is autistic and one of his things is lights. I did it for him, he gets a kick out of hearing me pull down the road, running to the window to see what color they are gonna be today lol. He calls it a race car but it is far from that lol
KacerRex@reddit
Fuck, now imma have to do that, my son would love it.
TomGissing@reddit (OP)
That's a very good reason to have neons!
FatalSky@reddit
Yeah they’re all falling apart. I have a 98 Lexus GS400 that was a show car. It had custom stereo, 24” wheels, body kit, filled body seems, custom chocolate interior, candy two tone paint. It supposedly looked really good back in the day, but that’s 4 owners ago. I paid $1000 for it, the guy before paid $700, guy before paid a couple thousand. If it didn’t have working AC it would’ve already been setup for stock SCCA RallyCross. Instead it just a beater car.
hhrsspanelman@reddit
I think the guys that stayed in the scene really are the minitruck guys here in the US. At least here in Ohio there still pumping or over the top fiberglass and airbrush work. Their canvases just became trucks and suvs instead of civics and camrys.
Jamaican_Dynamite@reddit
Yeah this used to be part of the tuner look until the mid 2000s. The loudest sounds comps locally were pretty much dominated by the van/SUV community though.
TheSeansk1@reddit
I never got into the full on ridiculousness of those cars, I always preferred a solid driver.
The eps on MCM tho were excellent, those guys can build just about anything and I’ll watch it.