Import tuner evolution

The late 80's, California. It was a turning point in counter-culture revolutions, as the last of the anti-war flower power hippies died out, to be replaced by skateboarders, grunge and heavy metal enthusiasts, and street racing.

The Valley, geographically significant as the waste run-off of Hollywood, was teeming with these new counter-culture phenomena. Cars wise, spurred on by the mad creations they saw on TV and the epic car chase sequences that were, by then, the staple of the action movies, sixteen-seventeen year olds took to the streets in whatever they could find.

Naturally, they were mostly family heirlooms passed on from generation to generation, the father and son bonding over wrenching on the car scenario, and unsurprisingly, the majority of these were domestic muscle cars. Chargers, Novas, Darts, even El Caminos, in various states of tune and wildly varying conditions, took to the streets to participate in illegal drag races against the newest invasion of American culture: imports.

Honda started selling motorbikes and motor-vehicles in the US sometime in the mid-70s. Along with Toyota, these fuel efficient, cut price Japanese cars were seen as convenience tools which helped the American populace cope with crippling fuel costs which prevailed during the 70s fuel crisis. At the turn of the 80's however, the Japanese manufacturers were moving towards hotter cars, having established stable positions in a large foreign market.

It was the heyday of efficient performance, kicked off by the incredible Honda CRX Si. A tiny hatchback with futuristic styling, funky interior and a gem of an engine, the CRX was the import that would go on to define tuning culture in the US for years to come. Finally, here was a cheap car that was brand new, ran well as a daily driver, had low maintenance costs, and had power that could keep up with the ancient muscle cars and their oversized V8 engines, largely thanks to an innovation that has become the world standard today: variable valve timing (VTEC in Hondas).

Imported cars were driven, to be completely blunt about it, by the “imported” people: the huge economic success of the US during the early 80's induced a large number of immigrants to move to this seemingly great nation and its lavish ways of the American Dream. Once they reached America, though, the culture shock took hold and forced these immigrants to seek out more of their kind so they could band together in a state of familiarity. There grew the moderately hostile dynamic between the full blooded Americans and the new kids on the block. This rivalry between imports and domestics culminated in late night brawls, with shredded tires and blown engines left behind. This was where the slangs “ricer” and “rice burner” appeared, invoking the farming roots of Japan in a crude mockery of the import tuning scene.

As attention from law-enforcement increased, the rivalry moved from the streets to the auto-shows, and that's when things came unstuck. Crass bodykits, loud colours, even louder stereo systems, scissor doors, suicide doors, transparent doors, no doors, and spoilers everywhere, the showcar culture put back the tuning scene by at least ten years. The term “ricer” was adapted to refer to these over the top creations, and the iconic Fast and the Furious movie fueled the flames raging around the import scene. Need for Speed Underground had a huge role to play in blowing the import scene wide open, and soon enough, the import customization scene expanded into a billion dollar industry.

Now, things are returning to its roots. Legal drag racing and awareness campaigns took teenagers off the streets into safer environments, and import culture evolved into the cleaner styles and methods of customization we see today.