Personal choices are a good and bad thing.
Any civilized member of humanity will agree a decision to shoot the guy who just cut you off in traffic is a really bad choice, but a decision to put your own personal stamp on a retro ride is totally within the realm of acceptable behavior.
Even when your vehicle enhancement choices go against the grain in terms of taste.
Jim Sutherland
Your tastes may differ from their tastes, but you have the upper hand because you own the retro ride and have exercised your freedom of choice. In a very big way in some cases.
A good example is slamming a ride to the point where the oil and transmission pans get ripped off by a microscopic change in pavement elevation. Some car guys simply cut their springs and hope for the best rather than put in an air ride system to gain enough height to drive their rides on the road and avoid ripping out their vehicle’s mechanical heart and soul.
The most important point for the spring cutters is they look very cool before scraping mechanical components off their slammed vehicles. Your opinion may lean toward an air bag system but either way, that is your choice as an owner.
Another example of ride height choice is any vehicle that has been jacked up so high it has its own glaciers at the top and Sherpas to help guide you to the cab. Again, skyscrapers on 4 wheels are a personal choice by the owner. Maybe he is simply a short guy who wears an elevator truck to seem taller, or maybe he’s a tall guy with an even taller need to navigate down a muddy moose trail and get stranded 50 miles from nowhere.
At the risk of excessive repetition, the choice is yours if you own a tall truck. Just remember that you own one every time you exit the vehicle without a parachute.
Maybe our third example will fall into your zone for personal choice: an overly chopped roof. There are many vintage vehicles that have undergone a roof chop and came out the other side with a much cooler overall style. However, there are also many examples of chopped roof vehicles that look ridiculous when the owner gets out a cutting device and takes too many inches out of the pillar posts.
The net result is a vehicle that looks beautiful to you the owner but is largely an ugly ducking with no neck to observers. The good news is you own it and make all the decisions in the chop department.
The fourth personal choice element is exaggerated wheels and tires. If you decide to put outrageously wide wheels and rubber band tires on your vehicle, that is strictly your choice-despite the cartoon wheel look and incredibly rough ride after your decision.
Just don’t be surprised if the next owner heads directly to the nearest tire shop to change your decision after he buys it from you.
The fifth and final addition to our list is the electric motor choice.
If you replace your internal combustion engine with an electric motor, then we recommend you drive it directly over the nearest cliff and do your best imitation of Wile E Coyote on the way down.
We can’t get behind this kind of decision.
Jim Sutherland
BY: Jim Sutherland
Jim Sutherland is a veteran automotive writer whose work has been published by many major print and online publications. The list includes Calgary Herald, The Truth About Cars, Red Deer Advocate, RPM Magazine, Edmonton Journal, Montreal Gazette, Windsor Star, Vancouver Province, and Post Media Wheels Section.
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