They say that a car is a poor investment… and it’s true. What other single item can you spend thousnads of dollars to obtain, spend hundreds of dollars a year to maintain, and it still loses value every year?
So will someone please tell me WHY kids these days (god, I sound so old) spend thousands more to “pimp” their cars out? Everywhere I go now, I see cars with more neon then a Vegas, 20 inch “spinners” on Honda Civics, DVD players at all seats, etc, etc…
Why would someone in their right mind spend thousands of dollars putting stuff on a car that in no way increases the value of the vehicle? Even if it’s cool, “cool” goes out of style in no time, and now you have a thousand dollar piece of crap accessory that is specific (or forever attached) to your car.
Of course, what’s really sickening, is that Wal-Mart’s jumping on the bandwagon… offering “discount” accessories…. now I can pimp my ride for under $100 with plastic “spinners” and clip on neon! Just don’t get close to my ride to see how cheap I am!
Sometimes it’s sad really…. when you see a vehicle where the rims are worth more than the car they’re on… of course, that’s usually the same place where the car is worth more than the house the people are living in….. OR …. the car is sitting in the driveway of a half-million dollar house that “mommy and daddy” own.
When I buy a car, I buy it with all the accessories already on it… the way it came from the manufacturer, because it’s already a losing “investment”. I’m sure as hell not going to spend more on it, even when I was a teenager, I could see that.
Oh wait, I put a bumper sticker on my car… does that count as “pimping my ride”?
30/12/2004 at 10:39 am Permalink
I saw an ancient beat to crap Ford Taurus with one of those sunshade things (that goes along the top of the windshield) that said “Camaro.” I laughed so hard I wanted to cry. That is true pimp.
30/12/2004 at 11:25 am Permalink
Oh heck… Camaro, Taurus…. close enough.
30/12/2004 at 1:32 pm Permalink
The sad thing is that most of them are having the work done by someone else, to boot, and are paying full price to do so. I think as long as there have been cars, people have always souped them up if they are young - but they have usually done the work themselves, trolled the junkyards for parts, primered, painted, etc….Remember the Baja Bug? Those things were AWESOME.
30/12/2004 at 3:12 pm Permalink
Yeah… Baja Bugs…. I remember those! And they didn’t cost thousands of dollars to do either…. but Bugs were an anonomly anyway. You can pay more for them now then when they were brand new. (The original Bug, not the “New Beetle”).
30/12/2004 at 4:05 pm Permalink
havent figured it out myself
30/12/2004 at 6:47 pm Permalink
You seem to have forgotten what it was like to be young. Kids have always spent more time in their cars than at home. In my day every one put money into hot rods. That wasn’t exactly cheep either.
30/12/2004 at 8:57 pm Permalink
Yeah, I don’t understand it either. I’m working hard and spending money to keep my car on the road - why spend more than I need to?
But then again, I might feel differently if I owned the car of my dreams…
instead of this little Japanese thing.
31/12/2004 at 1:01 am Permalink
Around here, the popular thing is to have a stereo system that’s worth more than your car. I just laugh as they drive by, the bass rattling the car so badly that vital pieces of it are hanging on by a thread.
(found you on BE)
03/01/2005 at 1:55 am Permalink
My cousin has all kinds of fancy new lights and stuff for the car he bought… and it doesn’t even run. He can’t ride anywhere; he has pimped his SIT.