Re: Dime a dozen (SAY IT AIN'T SO)

[cyng <cyng@lamere.net>]

>I agree that it must have been ugly. You do have to take in mind that 
>everyone
>has diffrent taste.  You think headlight covers are ok where I think they are
>ugly. To each his own.  One question though?  Why are VW people so worried
>about other VW owner's taste.  I have yet to see other types of car people 
>act
>in this way??

I'm going to send this to the Corrado and JettaGLX lists, too, since maybe
some of them will be able to add their input. Maybe I'm way off-base in 
what
I'm about to say. Then again, maybe I'm spot-on.

You're absolutely right about individuals and their tastes. I tried to 
make it
clear that I was offering my opinions, though, and opinions are a dime a 
dozen.
   As to your question, I don't know that I can provide a satisfying 
answer. I
can only answer as I believe and feel, so here goes.
   Seems to me that VW has long been an underdog as far as popular car 
marquees
go in America. It's had bad press. People always say, "Oh, you can park 
next to
that little VW over there." It's rarely been treated as the serious 
performance
car that it is. This tends to put those who do like and support the brand 
on the
defensive, which in turn makes them feel as though they're sort of in a 
club.
It's the exact same way with Macintosh users. They're very close-knit, 
very
supportive of and helpfule towards each other, very enthusiastic about 
another
person's VW. On the other hand, I see a lot of "rice boys" bash each 
other, act
in a very competetive manner where other people's cars are concerned, 
even if
that other car is yet another Mustang with blackouts and forty pounds of 
chrome
and stickers and so forth, just like their own. Thus, it seems as though 
people
become upset when a "rice boy" gets a VW and customizes it in "rice boy" 
style.
Their reaction is like the sixty-year-old golfer who sees some chumps 
come onto
the course wearing cut-off jeans, tye-died t-shirts, and long hair. "Who 
let
HIM into the club?!?" It also seems to me that a lot of VW owners also 
try to
make use of this low public view by making their cars into wolves in 
sheeps'
clothing. This means subtle styling effects, quiet and nonetheless 
aggressive
exterior mods which make the car low-key to look upon but still 
aggressive and
serious-looking - not some chumpy garish boom box on wheels covered in 
fifty
pounds of stickers and looking like every other piece of crap on the 
road. You
know? Perhaps it's a form of egotism - an elitist feeling. Regardless, I 
think
that it makes a lot of VW owners feel cheapened when they see something 
that
they consider to be a serious perfmorance machine degraded in this cheap, 
ugly,
garish manner.
   <disclaimer>Again, these are my opinions. I think that this "PHAT VW"
sticker-style of stuff is ugly and cheesy. But I'm sure that your opinion
may differ. Please do not flame me for having opinions. </disclamer>
   -Tom
'95 JettaGLX, couple of styling mods, couple of performance mods, more on 
the
way

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