Why Customize?

by Alejandro Figueroa

Nowadays everyone wants to be sitting on Dub’s (20” rims). There is so much going on in the car industry these days. Everyone seems to have a car with all these fancy gadgets on it. If you walk down the street, all you hear is the bass bumping out the back of someone’s Honda Civic or the exhaust roaring trough traffic.

Teens have embraced car customization because it reflects their individuality and sets them apart from others. Teens see cars and associate them with just about everything, from clubbing to money. People who have the body kits, exhaust system, rims, and TV’s are considered ‘ballers’. Ballers are the people who have everything they want plus what everyone else wants but can’t have. Nowadays boys who have the fancy cars with the carbon fiber bodies get all the girls, because that’s what girls want. They want the boys with the money and cars. So men, including me, try to get these things, thinking that we’ll get the girls.

People customize their cars with just about everything. There are people who work just for their car. What I mean is that they put all of their money into the car, but they can’t even afford gas. Then there are the people who hook up their car and then pull an insurance job on it to get the money so that they can get a better car or the same one but brand new.

I think that cars play a big role in popular culture because they help identify the ‘ballers’ while everyone else is forgotten just like homeless people are forgotten by the rich. Along with the girls and the money comes haters. If you have a nice car with a loud system, there are always people hating on you. They will find out where you live and while you’re sleeping, they’ll steal your car. Haters will take your car and strip it of everything from the seats all the way to the bumper. Then you have nothing any more, and you’ll probably lose your girl because you don’t have a car. Without your car, you can no longer be popular. You are just a regular guy.