Where is the love for the AE86.
Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2014 11:17 pm
A classic topic from the bowels of Club4AG archives that sure to hit a lot of nerves.
Though lengthy, it is a must read!
It's what separates:
the posers from the purists.
players from the professionals.
knock-offs from the originals.
Let's explore this great divide!
Post Title: Where is the love for the AE86.
Posted by: 2kwik2c at 7:09 AM 2/7/2008
First of I know I’m gonna get grilled for this sensitive subject that I’m about to disclose.
But the beauty of it is that you can see the difference of other people opinions and criticism and it’s their opinions and criticism that count the most. This is where mistakes are realized and improvements in life are made.
Anyway here goes:
Being in this forum since 2004 I’ve seen many members come and go as well as new AE86 owners and members that are born because of this trend. In this forum you got a mixture of hardcore track members and hardcore show members. I wouldn’t call this forum a “melting pot” since each and every member are outspoken about their passions and what they’re into so in short their opinions differs from others. I’d rather say that this forum site more like a “salad” where all of us here are like the vegetables. We all belong to the vegetable group yet we’re different because of our appearance, shape, texture, and taste. Everyone have their own ideas, prerogatives, and passions.
Anyways, it is the subject of Real Deal vs. Knock offs. as well as Values that I’d like to talk about. Recently, I’ve seen too many knock off products that are sprouting out of the classifieds lately. What’s so great about getting the copies/ knock offs? For one they are very affordable. Every single knock off or copies out there are within everyone’s budget line. You don’t have to skip a meal every lunch time just to save a penny towards a JDM part for your car or a JDM wheels to sport with. Every knock off or copies are always in stock, very available, and within easy reach. There are no back orders so there’s no waiting. Everyone likes to have their parts immediately instead of waiting for months before it arrives. Knock offs or copies when damaged are expendable since they’re cheap. You can always buy another one or another set in the event that you damage it.
I am not saying that I, myself isn’t a knock off buyer too. I can admit that there are times when I bought knock offs or copies in the past. I have bills to pay like everyone else does and there are times when I have to budget my expenditures and stick with cheaper priced parts. Or sometimes in desperate measures I would settle for a knock off just to get that part(s) on hand. One thing I do realize about buying knock offs are their quality. Like for example a copy side skirts. Quality wise the product does not meet any of my expectations. Fitment is poor, surface texture is rough and off, strength and rigidity is weak, and you’ll end up spending more time installing the bastard. Where as the OEM side skirts quality is excellent, fitment is superb, surface texture is smooth, rigidity is strong, and most of all you can install it in a jiffy without any modifications. With this realization I’ve committed myself to buying nothing but “real deal” products.
As for the ”real deal” products what’s so good about it? For one their quality is at the utmost specs, those products are backed by a company that’s in the business for a long time and have vast experience in the racing world, consumer satisfaction knowing that the product you just bought is produced with care and quality in mind. Not to mentioned bragging rights since you happen to own a “bling, bling” product. The downside of this though is that the parts are very expensive and pricey. You have to neglect all your bill payments just to save up money to buy one or a set of these things.
These items are not expendable since they’re expensive to replace when it gets damaged. So you end up not using them so much since you’re afraid to hurt them and hurt your wallet. They’re often back ordered and have to wait for months before you can have them, so that means it’ll have to come from the Motherland of performance products (Japan).
Now that I’ve presented those two (2) factors we can clearly see the pros and cons, the advantages and disadvantages of both the knock offs and the real deal. Every member in here has different life style. Some are students and some are working professionals. Some are big earners and some are just living off the minimum wages. Not everyone can afford a real deal product so therefore has to settle with the knock offs.
By now some of you are probably scratching your heads and thinking “What’s this fool up to and what’s the point of this thread” Well the point I’m making is RESPECT! Respect for your car and respect for its value! I’ve been to two JCCS event over the past couple of years and I’ve seen so many restored cars there. They’re so beautifully crafted and immaculate. From one side you see 240Zs. Beautiful cars, awesome paint job, and every nook and cranny of that car is all original and/or JDMed. The same goes for the older Honda S2000 coupes and the Mazda RX3 cars. The number of beautifully restored cars is countless. There’s just too many. You can basically get the idea and the impression that these cars have drained all of the owner’s money just to get into that state. I can just imagine these owners are probably on a cup-o-noodle diet just to save up money to fix their cars up. Now when I reach the AE86 section you can almost count the number of AE86 that are beautifully restored and/or modified and the rest is just so-so. As an AE86 owner myself, I find this shocking. You would think that as an AE86 owner you would beautify your car to make it look decent and respectable. I believe that we (AE86 owners) fall short of this category. Not a lot would spend the time, effort, and most of all money to make their car look like a champ. It’s a 20 plus year old car and you’d expect that this car could be treated as a vintage vehicle. That’s not our case. Most of us buy AE86 because we saw it in an anime called Intial D or we buy this car because we like to drift it around like the pros does in D1 events. I’ve seen so many videos and stories of new AE86 owners that disregard the value of the car by drifting the sucker and end up in a curb or a ravine because they try to be Takumi or Keichii damaging the car to a point that it’s un-drivable. Where’s the respect for the car? I bet a fully restored 240Z owner wouldn’t drift their car around especially after all the work and money that was invested in. But on rare occasions they might just test out the performance of the engine by driving it at high speed, but that’s rarely. Call it “exercising the engine”. But for us AE86 we just buy it to make it faster for drifting. If we damage it, then we can always get another shell or buy an SR5 and swap the good parts from the bad ones. I mean come now. Where’s the love there? We lack the respect for our cars. TheAE86 couldn’t be appreciated much. They’re just cars that you can drift around and wreck at the same time. No appreciation for it’s value.
People would buy an AE86, but they’re not willing to spend extra cash just to make the car look good or better. That’s when they just settle to buying copies or knock offs just so they have the same thing as the real deal. Again where’s the respect there? A good comparison and analogy to that is the clothes you wear. A majority of us consumers like to buy brand named clothing. If we come across a clothier store or item we’ve never heard off, we get suspicious about it and end up not buying those items. They might be cheap, but don’t like it since it’s not a name brand. Heck we don’t even know if the textile will rip easily. Plus wearing clothes that came from Anchor Blue, Old Navy, Ambercombie and Fitch, Hollister, GAP etc. etc. make us feel good about ourselves and it reflects the type of person we are. We take pride into our lifestyle. Buying knock offs is like going to Anna’s linens and buying a raw textile in which you yourself will sew your own clothing except the quality that you have put on to this work is sloppy and unmatched. Where as you can save up a couple to dough and buy you better clothes from Anchor Blue, Old Navy, etc.etc. It’ll make you look good, make you feel better, take pride into yourself, and maybe catch some women’s attention along the way.
I’ve heard time and time again about wanting to own AE86 because you love it so much that it’s always been my dream to own one, but you wouldn’t want to spend more money on OEM/JDM parts to further beautify the car. You’re better off with what’s cheap out there in the market. This is where you are wrong. I’ve seen many people ask question about ”Should I buy an AE86 or should I get newer, much more reliable car other than the AE86” That question is now a classic since I’ve seen that many times in the forum and I’ve always been tempted to answer these questions in a sarcastic / cynical way. Luckily I’m able to restrain myself from posting a reply, but now I think it’s time to express those feelings. First off when you’re buying an AE86, Corolla GTS or whatever you call it you are buying a 20 plus year old car; it’s actually almost getting into 30 years. Anyways, previous owners of this car might have or have not taken care of this vehicle so you can expect some problems along the way. It’s the most unreliable car around because of its age. Every now and then your car will run smooth and good and all of a sudden “poof” you have something broken. It can be an engine, suspension, electrical, or body issue or it can be anything. Be prepared to spend more money to it because of these issues. The AE86 is a money pit and I can attest to that. You want your AE86 to be reliable, run well, and look good on all sides? That’s when you really need to put some serious money in buying the parts that will last you years. Knock off or copies cannot assure you on those matter. There’s no assurance on the longevity of the product. Remember, this is an old car that you are restoring. Every vintage car owners can attest to their experiences with older cars and how much they have invested in making that car look good and run good. I bet the money they have invested into their cars is almost equal to the money they’re spent in buying a house. If you’re the type of person who’s not ready to commit into getting the best for your rides, then the AE86 is not the car for you. Don’t buy it if you’re not going to spend money on it. You’d be better of getting yourself a newer, much more reliable car than the AE86. Nowadays the AE86 cannot be dubbed as a performance car especially now that Nissan just released their new R35 GTR skyline. Now that’s a performance car. The AE86 is simply a vintage relic that need’s to be given the utmost attention to detail by its owner. If you’re just going to disrespect the car by driving it hard and wrecking it in the process, then don’t buy it. There are many true die hard enthusiasts out there that are willing to spend money on the car to keep her immaculate and clean.
In conclusion to my novel like post I just want to say to everybody to please give some respect to your car. Take pride to your work, your craftsmanship. What you put into your car reflects your personality and the type of person you are. Take good care of your car and live up to those words when you say that you love the AE86. Treat the car well and it’ll treat you good as well. Buying knock off or copies not only hurt your car’s value, but also it hurts the economy since it affects the other retailers. Show the other model car owners what the AE86 is made off when the stuff is made right and done right. Last but not least please don’t take this post as a “put down” and insulting. I’m just trying to make a point about the way we treat our vehicles. Instead of feeling negatively about this post, treat this post as a challenge among yourselves and strive for best that you can do for your car……The AE86.
Link to the original thread:
http://forums.club4ag.com/zerothread?cmd=print&id=20594
Though lengthy, it is a must read!
It's what separates:
the posers from the purists.
players from the professionals.
knock-offs from the originals.
Let's explore this great divide!
Post Title: Where is the love for the AE86.
Posted by: 2kwik2c at 7:09 AM 2/7/2008
First of I know I’m gonna get grilled for this sensitive subject that I’m about to disclose.
But the beauty of it is that you can see the difference of other people opinions and criticism and it’s their opinions and criticism that count the most. This is where mistakes are realized and improvements in life are made.
Anyway here goes:
Being in this forum since 2004 I’ve seen many members come and go as well as new AE86 owners and members that are born because of this trend. In this forum you got a mixture of hardcore track members and hardcore show members. I wouldn’t call this forum a “melting pot” since each and every member are outspoken about their passions and what they’re into so in short their opinions differs from others. I’d rather say that this forum site more like a “salad” where all of us here are like the vegetables. We all belong to the vegetable group yet we’re different because of our appearance, shape, texture, and taste. Everyone have their own ideas, prerogatives, and passions.
Anyways, it is the subject of Real Deal vs. Knock offs. as well as Values that I’d like to talk about. Recently, I’ve seen too many knock off products that are sprouting out of the classifieds lately. What’s so great about getting the copies/ knock offs? For one they are very affordable. Every single knock off or copies out there are within everyone’s budget line. You don’t have to skip a meal every lunch time just to save a penny towards a JDM part for your car or a JDM wheels to sport with. Every knock off or copies are always in stock, very available, and within easy reach. There are no back orders so there’s no waiting. Everyone likes to have their parts immediately instead of waiting for months before it arrives. Knock offs or copies when damaged are expendable since they’re cheap. You can always buy another one or another set in the event that you damage it.
I am not saying that I, myself isn’t a knock off buyer too. I can admit that there are times when I bought knock offs or copies in the past. I have bills to pay like everyone else does and there are times when I have to budget my expenditures and stick with cheaper priced parts. Or sometimes in desperate measures I would settle for a knock off just to get that part(s) on hand. One thing I do realize about buying knock offs are their quality. Like for example a copy side skirts. Quality wise the product does not meet any of my expectations. Fitment is poor, surface texture is rough and off, strength and rigidity is weak, and you’ll end up spending more time installing the bastard. Where as the OEM side skirts quality is excellent, fitment is superb, surface texture is smooth, rigidity is strong, and most of all you can install it in a jiffy without any modifications. With this realization I’ve committed myself to buying nothing but “real deal” products.
As for the ”real deal” products what’s so good about it? For one their quality is at the utmost specs, those products are backed by a company that’s in the business for a long time and have vast experience in the racing world, consumer satisfaction knowing that the product you just bought is produced with care and quality in mind. Not to mentioned bragging rights since you happen to own a “bling, bling” product. The downside of this though is that the parts are very expensive and pricey. You have to neglect all your bill payments just to save up money to buy one or a set of these things.
These items are not expendable since they’re expensive to replace when it gets damaged. So you end up not using them so much since you’re afraid to hurt them and hurt your wallet. They’re often back ordered and have to wait for months before you can have them, so that means it’ll have to come from the Motherland of performance products (Japan).
Now that I’ve presented those two (2) factors we can clearly see the pros and cons, the advantages and disadvantages of both the knock offs and the real deal. Every member in here has different life style. Some are students and some are working professionals. Some are big earners and some are just living off the minimum wages. Not everyone can afford a real deal product so therefore has to settle with the knock offs.
By now some of you are probably scratching your heads and thinking “What’s this fool up to and what’s the point of this thread” Well the point I’m making is RESPECT! Respect for your car and respect for its value! I’ve been to two JCCS event over the past couple of years and I’ve seen so many restored cars there. They’re so beautifully crafted and immaculate. From one side you see 240Zs. Beautiful cars, awesome paint job, and every nook and cranny of that car is all original and/or JDMed. The same goes for the older Honda S2000 coupes and the Mazda RX3 cars. The number of beautifully restored cars is countless. There’s just too many. You can basically get the idea and the impression that these cars have drained all of the owner’s money just to get into that state. I can just imagine these owners are probably on a cup-o-noodle diet just to save up money to fix their cars up. Now when I reach the AE86 section you can almost count the number of AE86 that are beautifully restored and/or modified and the rest is just so-so. As an AE86 owner myself, I find this shocking. You would think that as an AE86 owner you would beautify your car to make it look decent and respectable. I believe that we (AE86 owners) fall short of this category. Not a lot would spend the time, effort, and most of all money to make their car look like a champ. It’s a 20 plus year old car and you’d expect that this car could be treated as a vintage vehicle. That’s not our case. Most of us buy AE86 because we saw it in an anime called Intial D or we buy this car because we like to drift it around like the pros does in D1 events. I’ve seen so many videos and stories of new AE86 owners that disregard the value of the car by drifting the sucker and end up in a curb or a ravine because they try to be Takumi or Keichii damaging the car to a point that it’s un-drivable. Where’s the respect for the car? I bet a fully restored 240Z owner wouldn’t drift their car around especially after all the work and money that was invested in. But on rare occasions they might just test out the performance of the engine by driving it at high speed, but that’s rarely. Call it “exercising the engine”. But for us AE86 we just buy it to make it faster for drifting. If we damage it, then we can always get another shell or buy an SR5 and swap the good parts from the bad ones. I mean come now. Where’s the love there? We lack the respect for our cars. TheAE86 couldn’t be appreciated much. They’re just cars that you can drift around and wreck at the same time. No appreciation for it’s value.
People would buy an AE86, but they’re not willing to spend extra cash just to make the car look good or better. That’s when they just settle to buying copies or knock offs just so they have the same thing as the real deal. Again where’s the respect there? A good comparison and analogy to that is the clothes you wear. A majority of us consumers like to buy brand named clothing. If we come across a clothier store or item we’ve never heard off, we get suspicious about it and end up not buying those items. They might be cheap, but don’t like it since it’s not a name brand. Heck we don’t even know if the textile will rip easily. Plus wearing clothes that came from Anchor Blue, Old Navy, Ambercombie and Fitch, Hollister, GAP etc. etc. make us feel good about ourselves and it reflects the type of person we are. We take pride into our lifestyle. Buying knock offs is like going to Anna’s linens and buying a raw textile in which you yourself will sew your own clothing except the quality that you have put on to this work is sloppy and unmatched. Where as you can save up a couple to dough and buy you better clothes from Anchor Blue, Old Navy, etc.etc. It’ll make you look good, make you feel better, take pride into yourself, and maybe catch some women’s attention along the way.
I’ve heard time and time again about wanting to own AE86 because you love it so much that it’s always been my dream to own one, but you wouldn’t want to spend more money on OEM/JDM parts to further beautify the car. You’re better off with what’s cheap out there in the market. This is where you are wrong. I’ve seen many people ask question about ”Should I buy an AE86 or should I get newer, much more reliable car other than the AE86” That question is now a classic since I’ve seen that many times in the forum and I’ve always been tempted to answer these questions in a sarcastic / cynical way. Luckily I’m able to restrain myself from posting a reply, but now I think it’s time to express those feelings. First off when you’re buying an AE86, Corolla GTS or whatever you call it you are buying a 20 plus year old car; it’s actually almost getting into 30 years. Anyways, previous owners of this car might have or have not taken care of this vehicle so you can expect some problems along the way. It’s the most unreliable car around because of its age. Every now and then your car will run smooth and good and all of a sudden “poof” you have something broken. It can be an engine, suspension, electrical, or body issue or it can be anything. Be prepared to spend more money to it because of these issues. The AE86 is a money pit and I can attest to that. You want your AE86 to be reliable, run well, and look good on all sides? That’s when you really need to put some serious money in buying the parts that will last you years. Knock off or copies cannot assure you on those matter. There’s no assurance on the longevity of the product. Remember, this is an old car that you are restoring. Every vintage car owners can attest to their experiences with older cars and how much they have invested in making that car look good and run good. I bet the money they have invested into their cars is almost equal to the money they’re spent in buying a house. If you’re the type of person who’s not ready to commit into getting the best for your rides, then the AE86 is not the car for you. Don’t buy it if you’re not going to spend money on it. You’d be better of getting yourself a newer, much more reliable car than the AE86. Nowadays the AE86 cannot be dubbed as a performance car especially now that Nissan just released their new R35 GTR skyline. Now that’s a performance car. The AE86 is simply a vintage relic that need’s to be given the utmost attention to detail by its owner. If you’re just going to disrespect the car by driving it hard and wrecking it in the process, then don’t buy it. There are many true die hard enthusiasts out there that are willing to spend money on the car to keep her immaculate and clean.
In conclusion to my novel like post I just want to say to everybody to please give some respect to your car. Take pride to your work, your craftsmanship. What you put into your car reflects your personality and the type of person you are. Take good care of your car and live up to those words when you say that you love the AE86. Treat the car well and it’ll treat you good as well. Buying knock off or copies not only hurt your car’s value, but also it hurts the economy since it affects the other retailers. Show the other model car owners what the AE86 is made off when the stuff is made right and done right. Last but not least please don’t take this post as a “put down” and insulting. I’m just trying to make a point about the way we treat our vehicles. Instead of feeling negatively about this post, treat this post as a challenge among yourselves and strive for best that you can do for your car……The AE86.
Link to the original thread:
http://forums.club4ag.com/zerothread?cmd=print&id=20594