[rez333]

Checked out a Subaru's brakes (cos they were red), and noticed they were quite nice looking.

But it didn't make a lick of difference, because it wasn't a high performance car.

I thought about it for a minute, and realized that no matter what some people do to mod their cars, aesthetic or functional, it won't make a difference to most of us. We have already made our opinion on the car, or we just don't care. The owner maybe thinks: "heh - everyone's admiring my awesome red brakes", but most of us are thinking "so what - it's not a noteworthy car in the first place".

If we extend that thought, Lambo/Ferrari owners probably think the same about American muscle cars and Corvettes.

When I see a 15 year old muscle car that looks different, I can't get past the 15 year old aspect, despite whatever *real* mods the owner may have done. If a car is awesome stock to someone, that car will always be awesome. If a car was never awesome stock to someone, that car will never be awesome no matter what's done to it.

Don't believe me? Just think about the SEMA cars for a minute. They are clearly amazing looking cars. Clearly. But they still are what they are. They are still Camaros or Mustangs etc. no matter what's been done to them. They aren't widebody cars (for example) - that's just a kit that's been added. Extend that thought to a Kia Forte: imagine those same SEMA mods you liked on the Camaro on the Forte: do they make you want to get a Forte?

I guess what I'm saying is that, at least for me, the stock version of a car - the label that's printed on the pink slip, is the true identity of the car. Adding mods to them may make them perform or look better, but they don't affect our level of respect for the car.

From a poor man's perspective, a Camaro is awesome because it's a Camaro that he can't afford. For most of us middle-class folks, a Lambo/Ferrari is awesome because it's a Lambo/Ferrari that we can't afford. If the Lambo owner puts on "Lambo doors" on his Gallardo, it's not going to make us respect his car any more already, any more than Lambo doors on a Camaro will make a poor guy respect a Camaro more.

I am saying this because I am considering some performance mods, and some of which will make my car look "better" than the garden variety. But if I'm honest with myself - those conspicuous mods actually won't make any difference to people's respect for the car. That's why Camaro owners are often heard remarking "it's still a Civic" despite whatever the Civic car owner has done to his car.

Thoughts?