I covered part one in this mini-series here.
After you’ve begun to think about what you want to end up with, you’re probably ready to just jump right in and start buying stuff. Unless you’re absolutely sure about it, though, I wouldn’t do that. That body kit might sound awfully cool, but do you really know how it’ll turn out? Or how about that set of wheels you wanted, have you seen them on your car yet?
Probably not, right? Which leads me to the point in part two…
Pictures are worth more than just words. It’s motivation.
Usually, you won’t be the first to do something. And, if you are, really think about why it hasn’t been done before, sometimes there’s a really good reason why nobody else is doing it. Finding somebody who’s done it before isn’t a bad thing, it’s a very good thing for you. Not only does it show that it can be done, but you can probably see a picture of the outcome and learn about what’s involved in the process of getting it to that point.
Pick a number, any number.
Whether you find one perfect picture of how you want your car to look or have a dozen different photos, it doesn’t matter as long as each says something to you. You may have one ultimate picture that symbolizes everything you like and what you want to achieve, and that’s great. Or you might have six different ones, where you like the color of one car, the spoiler on another, the wheels and stance of yet another and so on. There’s no wrong number, there’s just whatever number it takes to make you satisfied.
The closer, the better.
If you do end up with multiple pictures, please do be realistic. Not every wheel choice will go great with every color palette. If you do find separate pictures for something like this, try to find one that combines the two, just so that you can see if it does look good or not. If you can’t, there’s always photoshop if either you or someone you know has the skills for it. It would definitely suck to snag a killer deal on the wheels you wanted just to find out it clashes horribly with something else.
Research is good. It’s fun when not for school.
You probably can’t just google your car and come up with the photo that shows exactly what you want to end up with. That doesn’t mean that the picture isn’t in existence, though, it just means you need to dig a little deeper. I’m sure you’ll come across something someday, just be open to it when it happens. You might find it when you’re least expecting it.
Don’t forget about your friends.
Everyone needs a good support group to help you work on your car. Either to install the parts when they start to arrive, to talk you out of a really bad idea or just to sympathize when it seems like it’s taking forever to make any progress at all. They might also be able to help you find examples of what you want your car to eventually be. Share that you’re on the lookout for pictures of cars like yours, so that you can see what others have done. While you may not find a great picture, someone you know might just stumble across one you wouldn’t have found otherwise.
Network with new buddies, too.
Perhaps the one best thing is finding an awesome car that you can actually see in person. Make friends with people who have the same car as you do, or something similar, and have an interest in the same style of tuning. If you see someone with a car that you like, take a picture of it and ask them to show it to you. Just remember to be polite about it, and the person should have no problem showing you the car.
For me, there’s a white 240SX that’s local and is gorgeous. While the outside doesn’t match what I want to do with our own 240SX, this one does have a super, super clean SR20DET swap and some killer Bride seats. The engine’s built up way more than I’m imaging us doing to our own, but it still shows me what the car can be, if I wanted her to be that. She was my first proper introduction to an SR20DET swapped 240SX, and all I had to do was ask the guy to let me see the engine. Instead, I got an entire tour of the car! (Complete with a very short ride, but enough to make a huge impression on me.)
It probably wouldn’t have worked out well if I tried to impress the guy with some fact about the car. Don’t try to show off how smart you are, it’ll probably backfire… Just politely ask about it, say you noticed that it’s something you were thinking of doing to your own and you wanted to see how it looks before you did it. If you want to compliment the car, go right ahead, but do make sure you’re sincerely complimenting the car. You don’t have to kiss up to anyone, but don’t be a punk about it either.
I figured it wouldn’t hurt for me to share a picture or two of what I use for motivation… So here’s one for each of my cars:
Gorgeous!
More than I'd end up with, but a great direction to go in!
So beautiful, I hope our 240SX looks like her someday!
Once you gather up some good pictures, do a TON of research into exactly what you want. When you’re sure of what you want to end up with, keep a list somewhere of the parts, prices and places you can get them. I’ll answer why you want to do this and cover it in more detail in part three.
Related posts:
Finding (& Keeping) Motivation, Part III « Cars x Girl // Aug 16, 2009 at 7:11 pm
[...] August 16, 2009 by Foxie You can find part II here. [...]