Teenagers and Souped-up Cars - Assignment Example

Teenagers and ‘Souped up’ Cars The recent trend among teenagers to trick out (fix up, swap in illegal aftermarket parts) and modify their cars has brought up numerous questions and concerns in regards to this booming lifestyle scene. Since the development of the automobile, this mechanical device has provided individuals with an unclouded symbol of their economic status and cultural affiliation. When the car was first invented, it was only rich people who could afford to purchase one while others found another means of transportation such as walking, riding or other forms of public transportation such as the train. However, as cars became more affordable and more mainstream, people of all walks of life purchased cars. Even though people were able to afford cars, they still wanted to be different and unique: those with more money could afford cars that were painted in a custom color, sported larger rims or had larger seating capacity. Because of this consumer demand for being unique, this led to the development of new and different body shapes, new sizes and new, more powerful engines. At the same time, there was an emergence of specific brands of automobiles that further began establishing cultural identities. Therefore, it is not surprising that this quick and easy means of identifying who one was and, more importantly, how important one was would infect the teenage crowd as early as the early 1950s. This was the first generation that both had cars available to them as well as had the opportunity to customize to a great degree. At first, many of the customizations focused upon greater power and speed, but as new developments and technologies emerged, so did our identification with the car. As our society has become more connected with modern technology, teenagers needed a new way to identify themselves and be different. Cars slowly but surely emerged as the way for them to identity themselves. Many different observations and surveys have indicated that the types of tricked out cars owned by teenagers are usually pretty racially stereotypical, Hispanics fixing up low-riders, Asians modifying imports (rice rockets), and Caucasians associated with muscle cars. They trick out their rides in search of identity, connection and status within their own chosen community group and culture. From its first emergence on the streets and pathways of the early 20th century, the automobile was an obvious and blatant indication of status and wealth. In her article, Donna Tennant says, “The art car is a direct result of America’s hands-on affair with the automobile that began after World War II and mushroomed over the past fifty years to the point where the car is the most powerful and persuasive symbol of contemporary life!” (Tennant, 2004). Even though she spends a great deal of time discussing the various styles of vehicular modification, she also continues to bring out several key points which had to be considered. Vehicular modification refers to anything that is considered the newest trend in additions, subtractions and other modifications that comprise the art of making a car unique. One of the key points of this process in particular is an expression of the joy and the freedom of a driver’s license. To teenagers, this simple piece of laminated paper is a source of status and achievement on its own. For many teenagers, a driver's license is a responsibility that signifies their first step into adulthood. To glorify such an achievement, teens modify their cars to stand out from the crowd and to solidify their social status. This social status begins with simply owning a car and balloons up in direct relation to the teenager’s ability to modify it physically, visually and technologically. Tennent (2004) also mentions the idea that the car has become a way for people to identify themselves in a world that is increasingly confusing and mass produced. The postmodern conception of a fully mechanized world in which teenagers are encouraged to pursue a cookie-cutter type career path – finish high school, go to college, take a position in an office building and work 9 to 5 for most of the rest of their lives – prompts an equal and opposite response from naturally rebellious adolescents. They require a means of standing out, asserting their independence and announcing their unique personalities. The idea that cars have been a part of teenagers’ ways of identifying themselves was supported in the reports by another author, C.N Le, who is a writer for Asian Nation, an online news article service marketed uniquely to Asian Americans living in the United States. Le even went so far as to provide a handy timeline as to the growth of the car as a means of teenagers to express themselves. In this timeline, he showed the aftermarket car market from the early years when teenagers were first gaining access to their own cars to the latter movements of in-dash video games and other ‘tricked out’ gadgets. Not only that, but in Le’s timeline, he also showed the different locations in which car modification began developing, each of which got progressively bigger as the car movement started to increase. “First there were the hot rods and muscle cars days in the 1950s and 1960s. In the mid and late 1980s there was the mini-truck scene” (Le, 2007) and this was followed by the boom in the 1990s of the tricked car. Another interesting point about this timeline is that it showed the many types of cars preferred by different racial groups. One example of a racial group preferring a particular type of car was the incidence of two Caucasian brothers that were interviewed in Santa Fe by Le. One of the brothers drives a 1966 Chevy pickup truck that he’s in the process of ‘tricking out’. His other brother was finishing up his own project, an old 1981 Chevrolet Camero, at the time the interview was conducted. “The older the better,” Tommy, the older brother said. “They’re just cooler than the others” (Le, 2007). This particular example begins to reveal how a particular social group, in this case the middle class urban Caucasian teenager, becomes associated with and gravitates toward specific types of cars. Because of the environment he lives in and the influence of his friends and family, Tommy is only familiar with old hot-rods and classic cars, not minding other options that are out there. In addition, many of these types of kids are living in urban or suburban environments where power is paramount. Other kids might have smaller cars with strange nitrous oxide tanks or gaudily painted lowriders, but the Caucasian kids continue to have the weightiest, traditionally powerful and rumbling motors of the old days. Because of these characteristics, the muscle cars and newer model sports cars seemed to be reserved for Caucasian teens. In the same article by Le, he said that the movement to beef up cars started in California, because the kids here had greater access to money and nicer weather during their free time in which to experiment with cars and spend money flamboyantly. Le stated that as an Asian American in Southern California, he too was once really into aftermarket modifications for cars as well, noting the development of model specific car clubs. As a matter of fact, Le was in an automobile club, Autoconcept, which were comprised of only Asians with Import cars. These types of clubs provide teenagers with a means of showing off their modifications, learning how to accomplish new modifications and create a fellowship in which they are free to explore their own personalities and identities. Le supported this idea as he also explained that his club made him feel more accepted and more united amongst his group of friends and peers. He also stated that even though members were from all different walks of life and different backgrounds, this common interest that they had with cars wiped away any differences that they had, and banded them together for a common goal. The thought that car modification provides teenagers with a means of exploring their identities is supported by other writers as well. Lauren Howard addresses why teens trick out their rides in her article, “Secondhand and Souped-up” (2005). She illustrates all the different ways that teenagers are improving their cars to make them stand out and stand strong. In this discussion, she outlines how much excess cash, time, and effort goes into the development of a really cool, fixed up car. Not only that, but when teens “soup” up their cars, they pretty much take apart all the original parts and replace them with different aftermarket parts. Basically, by the time the kids get done with the cars, they have completely rebuilt the car, with very little to nothing left original. These extreme measures of rebuilding, redesigning and redefining are both external and internal. As teenagers develop and define their cars, they are also exploring what is important to them, how they identify themselves and how they want others to see them. Although there is plenty of evidence to indicate that status is a prime motivation for kids to trick out their cars, there are also several counter indications. For example, in Howard’s (2005) article, although she argues that teenagers soup up their cars as a means of demonstrating their identity and forming a group, her interviews with snappy car owners indicate that status has almost nothing to do with the reasons why teens soup up and trick out. “We just want to add something extra to our cars, so that nobody else has the same thing” (Drew Johnson cited in Howard, 2005). According to this teen, and his friends that are standing around, the reason why kids spend thousands of dollars fixing up an old Toyota Celica or ’81 Camero is not to show off or to gain attention or to attain status among their peers, but is instead just a means of differentiating their car from everyone else’s car, defining themselves by the personal touches they apply. This sounds a great deal like a bid for status as teenagers attempt to identify themselves in a unique way among their peers. The kids want their cars to be as unique as themselves, essentially re-inventing themselves as they re-invent their cars from the brand new stock condition they got them in or the various stages of disrepair the family car has undergone before the teen receives the hand-me-down. Howard also suggests that teens trick out their rides as a way of being seen or calling attention to themselves. This is particularly evident in relation to the TV show, ‘Pimp My Ride’, which transforms seemingly everyday junkers into super-prized possessions through the addition of every kind of toy and traveling entertainment a kid could want. By the end of the vehicular make-over show, the owner of the previous junker is thrilled with their ‘new’ car and is seen as a new person altogether simply as a result of the changes made to his or her ‘ride.’ He isn’t just the poor guy who just can’t get ahead in life anymore. He is now the guy who has it all and is, for the duration of the show, the center of attention. This concept of the tricked out car as a means of attracting attention is also suggested in Gross’s article. In this article, he claims, “You go downtown cruising in one of these old cars, you’ve got everyone looking at you … It’s like when you walk into a room with a pretty girl. It’s for the attention. That’s why we paint them as pretty as we do and make them loud — the louder the better” (Tommy, a teenager, cited in Gross, 2007). Louder doesn’t necessarily mean just making noise, although it can be. Paint jobs, fancy tricks or other new technologies can be utilized to make the cars ‘loud’ in their ability to attract and hold attention. However, the other definition is having an engine that can beat everyone else’s engine either off the line or down the strip, proving you are faster and better than everyone else. Again, this seems like a means of gaining attention and as a means of obtaining or announcing status. If you have a tricked out car, you are somebody, you are worth something and you have the tools it takes to get somewhere. While this isn’t necessarily the case, it continues to be the message that an expensive trick job can communicates to other teens. There are many ways that teenagers trick out their rides. As Howard (2005) suggested, many of the ideas that teenagers express are geared around what they see on TV shows, but they do generally stay within the realm of the practical for a teenager’s lifestyle. In other words, instead of worrying about getting hardwood floors for their car or Jacuzzis in the trunk as the celebrities might, teenagers spend their money on things they can envision themselves using. This includes using their cars as a means of defining their own space. Zach Fox, in his article, talks about how he observed a group of teens with tricked out cars parked in a general circle one evening. Through his description, it was obvious that the teenagers used their cars as a means of establishing a paved dance floor for themselves. “They were just in a parking structure bumping music and dancing together.” By tricking their cars with massive sound systems and high profile speakers, the teens were providing their own entertainment in an impromptu setting based on where the police wouldn’t hassle them for a while. It’s temporary and transportable nature meant that they would be able to move their ‘space’ whenever and wherever they chose in response to a lack of such permanent locations for them to ‘hang out’. However, this need for self-defined space does not supercede the attraction of high speeds and expressions of power even within Howard’s investigation. Tricked out cars also featured several elements that were designed to either assist their vehicles in traveling at higher rates of speed or intended to at least make them appear as if they go faster. Howard talks about how the kids have replaced stock hoods with vented, carbon-fiber hoods, bumper skirts and performance tires as a means of giving their cars extra aesthetic flair, greater control, down-force and speed. Once again, this illustrates the concept of status and the impression that any teen whose car makes the most noise is the top dog of the pack. Not only that though, the same guy with the fastest engine and the sweetest looking car is going to be the guy who gets the best girl and an instant success such as idolization amongst his friends. With an understanding of how and why teens trick out their cars on a general level, we would now have to see whether or not genders and races play a role in the types of automobiles that teens fix up. After researching the topic of the types of cars that different ethnicities liked and disliked, I was able to find a lot of information about Asians preferring foreign compacts for show and racing. I also found out that Latinos prefer lowriders. However, to my dismay, it was near impossible to find out information about what white kids and African American kids might prefer. The only true reference that showed a detailed chart of what white kids were into was in the report by Gross in which ethnicity was not specifically mentioned, but the photo that accompanied the article revealed that the kids being talked to were predominantly white and fell in with a white culture (trucks, muscle cars). However, every effort to find out what African American kids might prefer was completely frustrating. Maybe the reason why there were little or no information was because of the concept of status or social place. While there isn’t a lot of available research on the types of cars that are driven by black teenagers, like the muscle cars that have been associated with whites, there are several stereotyped images of the ‘black’ car. These include a focus on the high end brands, usually in some form of used condition and the large and flashy. For example, the idea of the long and sleek lines of the Cadillac of several years ago would be instantly associated in many teenagers’ minds as belonging to the black teen regardless of the race of the people getting out of it. Like the Latinos, a good paint job is important, but here it is looking for a clean ride rather than a showy display. Special features of the paint may include metallic flakes or a gradual, tasteful fade from one color to another. This contrasts sharply with the iconic decorations seen on the Asian cars, the flashy mural-type depictions seen on the Latino cars and even the flames and racing stripes of the white cars. The inside of a stereotypical black car is also focused on a clean aspect, but with a higher degree of sumptuous quality. Rather than having a flat leather dashboard, the stereotypical black car might have a thick fur pile gracing his dash, with a matching fur headliner and seat covers and a deeper pile carpet on the floor. This is where the hardwood flooring of some of the tricked out car shows might come into play in reality. Rare hardwoods may also take prominent placement within the dash and ‘cool’ features such as colored interior lights, specialized onboard equipment or other items geared toward physical comfort are more often associated with the stereotyped black car than with any of the other groups. This focus on interior comfort and exterior conservatism is perhaps another aspect of the racial divide seen in this country. When thinking about why there might be such a strange hole in the available materials about the types of cars each race prefers, one cannot help but to start to think about ethnic hierarchies in this country. Caucasian people have always had the dominant culture on this continent since they first arrived here. They don’t have any need to assert their authority because it’s pretty much always been what they say goes. Looking at things from this viewpoint, it makes sense that no one would want to admit that white kids are just as susceptible to such outlandish spending as minority kids or that they might be associated with a particular group of cars. At the same time, the kids themselves find it absolutely necessary to identify themselves with a particular social group. As other races have appropriated particular types of cars and modification styles, white teens have naturally gravitated toward a style of car that is closely identified with the American way of life – the muscle car of the 1960s era. These cars have both the weight and the speed necessary to emphasize their dominance in the racial pile while still remaining culturally ingrained with their ideals and their need for freedom. African Americans are usually seen as the lowest group of people because they have been subjugated throughout much of this country’s history. Regardless of their current status, there is always an underlying knowledge that all black people in this country were once slaves and totally under the control of the white man. Even after they were freed, the black people remained heavily oppressed until only very recently. The Civil Rights movement of the 1960s gained them significant legal rights and privileges, but it has not been successful yet in eradicating the hatred and bigotry of much of the country, particularly in the south. It seems that most people do not acknowledge the fact that this ethnic group would have the necessary funds and interest to participate in the tricked out trend. At the same time, blacks had a need and a desire to demonstrate to the world that they were indeed capable of doing anything any other race was capable of doing, such as earning enough money to own a really nice, tricked out ride. In the inner cities, such as Detroit, this started with the purchase of a high dollar brand name vehicle such as Cadillac or Oldsmobile and was followed with making the used car look better than brand new through the addition of a tastefully understated paint job and matching rims and tires. Rather than push the white people into violent action by showing up the cars that they were driving, the blacks may have simply determined to keep the outside understated as a means of reducing any conflict, much like the Latinos in their lowered cars, as will be discussed. To compensate, the blacks focused on making the insides impressive, reserving the right to display their tricked out rides when they wished, but retaining the ability to hide it when necessary. The other races, Latinos and Asians, do not seem to have had such difficulties in asserting their cultural identity. Latinos have proven too persistent to be ignored and Asians have much of the money of the country, so both of these groups demand a lot of attention without the same fear of reprisal experienced by the black kids or the culturally ingrained sense of superiority experienced by the white kids. Thinking about things like this from this perspective can be very overwhelming and concerning as it forces one to realize the cultural stereotypes that exist not only in the general public, but in the knowledge base of your own brain regardless of how equitable one believes themselves to be. It may be because there are more Latinos in America or because more Latinos are into fixing up cars, that there seemed to be more information about Latinos and lowriders than there were about Asians and souped up compacts or Whites with muscle cars and trucks. There are many different beliefs about the origin of aftermarket modifications here in the U.S. One belief is that the lowriders were actually the start of the tricked out craze. This assertion is justified in both Tennant and Le’s articles. Tennant points out that much of the preferences of Latinos were ignored in earlier times as “lowriding is said to have been born in Los Angeles among Mexican immigrants as early as the 1930’s. Even though this scene was started in the 30’s, it did not catch the attention of the media until much later” (Tennant, 2005). As the concept of the personalized car grew, the lowriders began to get more and more high tech and distinctive. Richard Wright (1999) illustrates the development of increasingly more detailed paintwork depicted on lowriders and the various new accessories that help make them appear lower to the ground than they are. One of the necessities for lowriders, thanks to the dangers of the road, is the need for some means of protecting the car when the roads are bumpy. “Lowriders can be dangerous to drive on uneven pavement. Because of this problem, new hydraulic systems were invented to help raise and lower these automobiles at the push of a button. Many customizers go to great effort and expense to install hydraulic systems that allow raising or lowering the body – in effect, a lowrider only when you choose to be” (Wright, 1999). This in itself has developed into a means of customizing the car and introducing a new element to the competition. “By raising and lowering the car quickly, it begins to ‘hop’ dramatically like a jumping bean. There are contests to see whose car can hop the highest, which remarkably can be as much as three feet” (Tennant, 2004). While many authors offered up their descriptions of what a lowrider was, Tennant seemed the most willing to explore why it was preferred by the Latino crowd. One of the first rules of the lowrider is that it rides on very small tires and rims. “Since the beginning of lowriding, there have been several unspoken rules to this game: one would be that a sharp set of wheels will set you apart. This was especially true back in an era undergoing many changes with equality for minorities and the growth of individuality, and it remains true today. The final rule would become the ultimate code for lowriders, and that’s the smaller the wheel, the closer to the ground it gets you” (Fuentes & Perea, 2007). This begins to suggest the reasons why lowriders might have a special appeal to the minority Latino crowd, particularly in places like California where the weather is often nice, road hazards are few and money and car shops are plentiful. In Tennant’s article, one of the first reasons she offers for the Latino connection with the lowrider coincides with the general reasons why anyone chooses to spend ungodly amounts of money on tricking out their ride, the need to be seen, which relates back to the conception of a need for status. If you are seen and recognized, then you have a place within the community and you belong somewhere. This is where the specific makes and models and the direction of modification is determined. In order to belong to a specific crowd, you must trick out your ride according to the standards established by that crowd. The degree to which you belong is established by the bling in your ride. However, Tennant (2004) also offers some other explanations as to why Latinos in particular would prefer the lower ride. “The relaxed, leisurely pace of the Latino is in direct contrast to the frantic Anglo-American” (Tennant, 2004) and the lowrider both reassures the paranoid white person that Latinos are ‘lower’ than the whites and remains culturally identifiable with their lifestyles and values. By bringing themselves physically lower than the cars driven by the Whites, whether one is discussing the muscle cars of the teenage set or the normal, everyday cars of the adults and business crowd, Latinos are able to lay claim to expensive, tricked out cars and trucks without presenting a threat to White people who may not be able to afford such customization. The cultural identifiers include the ox carts mentioned earlier, the Mexican promenade along which young people strolled as a means of ‘strutting their stuff’ and in the mural artistic heritage of old Mexico. The ox carts were the Latinos primary means of transportation in the era before the engine and are still used in remote regions. They are wildly painted as a means of providing entertainment and identification to the owner, who must sometimes travel long distances in isolation or must make his wares known to potential customers who cannot read the writing but can interpret the images. The Mexican promenade refers to the practice of Mexican adolescent boys and girls strolling down the main street of town, one gender to a side, as a means of finding that special someone that they will date. Finally, from ancient days, Mexican art has been associated with large outdoor murals that celebrate the life and heritage of the country. Each vehicle becomes an expression of its owner, but also reveals how that person relates to their heritage, their culture and their current environment. The available literature showed a similarly strong link between Asian teenagers and foreign compact cars as what has been demonstrated with the Latino crowd. Le (2007) provides a handy list of the most popular types of cars used in this subgroup. They include the “Honda Civic and Accord, Acura Integra, Mitsubishi Eclipse, Toyota Supra and MR2” as well as the higher end cars “BMW, Lexus, Infiniti, Mercedes and Audi” and motorcycles. In this list, it can be seen that most of the cars and motorcycles used are originally developed by the manufacturer to be aerodynamically advantageous to speed. They are often lightweight in body style and size which limits, to some extent, the types of engines and other modifications that might be available. Despite this, the modifications that the teens make to these cars are generally geared toward increasing speed first and providing eye candy second. One of the prime means by which kids increase the capacity for speed in these cars is through the addition of nitrous tanks. With the flip of a switch, they can quickly boost the engine’s speed with a direct shot of NOX, turning their gasoline-powered car into the ‘rice rocket’ of the genre’s identification. This attention to speed is not necessarily in keeping with the trends of the other groups, who focus more on looks before speed, with the possible exception of white kids concentrating on restoring old classics which were prized for their engine’s power. But while the white kids are focusing on the engine sizes, the Asian kids are focused on decreasing weight and capitalizing on speed. While the focus on speed might also have come from Japan and the tendency for kids to race, it is also possible that Asian kids are reacting to a general negative social treatment of Asians as a small race. While identifying with a dubious physical characteristic, they are also sending the message that they may be small, but they are also fast, daring white people to try to keep up with them. Through this investigation, I have allowed my knowledge of racist attitudes to somewhat direct my thoughts in trying to determine why certain ethnicities might prefer to trick out different types of car classes in different ways. This was necessary particularly because I couldn’t find literature that discussed the preferences of white kids or African American kids, but could find plenty of information on Asian and Latino kids. Obviously, there is a race element involved. While there are a number of reasons kids will give for why they want to soup up their car, from searching for identity, to connection and status within their own chosen community group. However, it seems clear to me that they all boil down to one of the basic need to be recognized and acclaimed within the group. Works Cited Fox, Zach. “Late Night on Figueroa Street.” Daily Trojan. (April 26, 2004). University of Southern California. October 21, 2007 Fuentes, Ralph & Perea, Sammy J. “History of the Wheel.” Lowrider Magazine. (2007). December 6, 2007 Gross, Richard C. “Drive: Cruisin’ in a Bruiser.” The New Mexican. (September 12, 2007). SantaFeDrive. October 21, 2007 < http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/68404.html> Howard, Lauren. “Secondhand and ‘Souped up’.” The Decatur Daily. (July 19, 2005). October 21, 2007 Le, C.N. “Import/Sport Compact Racing Scene.” Asian Nation. (2007). October 21, 2007 < http://www.asian-nation.org/import-racing.shtml> Tennant, Lauren. “Art Car: Icon of Our Time.” The Orange Show Foundation. (2004). ArtCars. October 21, 2007 Wright, Richard A. “For Autorama Entries, Beauty is in the Eye of the Builder.” Joyrides. (February 1, 1999). October 21, 2007 Read More