Ricer = Enthusiast

[Jay1970Z]

Go to your local Pep Boys and take a stroll down the "Import Performance" aisle. It actually says that on the little signs that show you what they have on each aisle. Look around there and you will have a clear and well defined example of what "rice" really is.

[Phantom]

Once again - do we put ground affects on our cars, do we tint windows, do we put tail wings on our cars, do we lower them and put custom wheels / suspensions on them, do we use nitrous, do we use turbochargers, do we install custom seats, gauges & other interior items like huge stereo systems. The only diffenernce is preference. What many of us thinks is in poor taste may be wonderful to someone else. another old saying - One mans trash is another mans treasure. My point is that they may have a different way of doing it but they are doing it for the same reasons that we are. It might be a tough decision for me between a fully tricked out Honda and a well done street rod. It would boil down to the individual car but I would probably opt for the Honda. the deciding factor for ME would be the ability to drive it daily to work. For someone else the criteria will be different. Don't judge lest you be judged. I'm guilty, but I'm changing my ways.

[Guest smoov280zx]

Just because you buy the uniform doesnt make you a blackbelt karate master.

 

But you can still wear it and look like an idiot when someone challenges you. It's just your personal "style". (this is not a flame, just an opinion)

[RPMS]

So' date=' chopping the top, frenching the headlights, channelling the body over the frame, etc. on a '49 Merc does not make the car a rod?[/quote']

 

No. That's a street rod. Yeah, it's picking nits, but it's like defining the difference between a sports car and a GT.

 

Y'all might keep in mind that the whole Hot Rod mentality came about when folks wanted to improve the performance of their hand-me-down cars. They couldn't afford the fastest car out there, so they made their own. They removed air cleaners, fenders, and rear seats in an effort to make the cars lighter and faster. Now, the Honda guys are doing the same thing. So in that respect, they ARE the next generation of hot rodders because they're doing the exact same thing as their predecessors. They're taking Mom's old Accord and trying to make it a bit faster.

 

Hot rodding doesn't start with a particular make of car, or even a particular nationality. It starts with a desire to take the car you've got and make it faster. Where it goes past that is up to the individual. If you have no desire to make it faster, I'd say you're not a hot rodder, no matter how pretty you paint it.

[Muskrat]

Enthusiast: a person filled with enthusiasm; one who is ardently attached to a cause, object, or pursuit; one who tends to give himself completely to whatever engages his interest

 

Like it or not, what some of you are calling 'ricers' are the next generation of car enthusiasts.

 

The great thing is, most of the 'ricers' that I consider friends don't really care what you have to say about them or thier cars. They do it because they like it.

 

So, by definition, a RICER IS AN ENTHUSIAST.

[Guest polarity]

Actually, I think that is why so many people here are having a hard time accepting anyone elses answer.

 

I think we should seperate these terms a little and then maybe we can work this out.

 

Hotrod -An automobile that has been rebuilt or modified to increase its speed and acceleration

 

So hotrodder - Someone who rebuilds or modifies an automobile to increase its speed and acceleration.

 

enthusiast - One who is filled with enthusiasm; one who is ardently absorbed in an interest or pursuit: a baseball enthusiast.

A zealot; a fanatic

 

So basically you really can't be a hotrodder unless you are an enthusiast.. But you don't have to be a hotrodder to be an enthusiast. Make sense?

 

Rice is a very generic term. It has changed definitions alot over the years. Most people refer rice as the kids with the APC stickers, the Type R badge when they are driving a ford focus, the 65" tip when they only have a 1" exhaust run through their car. Even I define that as rice.

 

But when I see someone who has put alot of time, money, and/or work into their car I still have respect for them. I see someone with an Eclipse that has a body kit, been lowered, rims, nice paint, custom interior, etc. While they might not have fixed their car up to how I like it, I like to admire the workmanship rather than just the way it looks. Blueovalz I hope you don't mind me using you as an example. Someone might look at his car and think it is horrible looking (though I can't imagine how), but when they look at it the might go it's ugly, but that man must have put 5000 hours into all that glass work. Someone really busted their ass to do all that.

 

I guess it all boils down to being able to respect someone elses hard work.

At the same time, it's hard to respect someones work when all they have done is put on some neons and a huge sticker that reads "FASTERTHANYOU" across their entire front windshield.

 

*steps down from soapbox*

[Mikelly]

OK I've got a real problem with this particular topic. We all have an opinion of the import performance scene and what defines a "ricer" and what doesn't.

 

Having been subjected to this culture through my kids, I can tell you that their level of enthusiasm, if a little mis-informed, is VERY high. Does it mean that every civic running on the streets is a hotrod? No. Not to me, but YES, to them it is. My oldest son's car club just went to the track and the fastest car ran 10's in the 1/8th. He is the pres. of the club and HE MADE FUN OF THEM. Did he run his car? NO. He has a good idea of what fast is and what fast isn't. That is the reason we are building a T3/4 B18 motor. The scene is what it is.

 

We all have opinions, and we are all in titled to them. But lets all remember that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I remember (Painfully so) how sooooo many people over the years have told me that ruining a SBC engine by putting it into a piece of japanise ricer CRAP.

 

We don't have to "Like" their personal taste in performance enthusiasm, but don't deny these kids their right to be in the ever growing pool of automotive enthusiasts.

 

I learn from every group of enthusiasts out there, from the import scene to the mini trucking, and trucking scenes, 4x4 groups, Choppers, sport bikes, most every facate of wheels or motorized vehicle out there... Come to my house and you will see that evidenced in the books and magazines laying around.

 

There is a LOT to be gained when you open you mind to new and inventive ideas from interesting and new groups... Sure, most of it will be out of your field of interest, but the true nuggets are the ones dug deepest for.

 

Closed minds open no doors to the future...

 

Mike 8)

[Guest Nic-Rebel450CA]

can u tell me that he is NOT rodding that car?

 

Yep, the term Hot Rod has always been understood to include a certain age group. That would be why most (if not all) Hot Rod clubs have a limit on the age of the vehicle, they have to be at least a certain age. When you see a picture of a "Hot Rod Acura Integra" on the wall in a Mel's Diner then I will agree!

 

Like it or not, they ARE going to be classics to these guys.

 

No, they wont. Just because someone wants to call it a classic does not mean that it meets the definition. If I call my car a spaceship it does not make it a spaceship. To be a classic a vehicle has to be over a certain age and only available in a current limited quantity (as well as possibly a few other qualifications, check with a classic auto insurance company for details). In 50 years when there are only a handful left on the road they will qualify as classics.

 

The important part of this topic is that we all are enthusiasts. We have different tastes. We all choose to acknowledge work done on vehicles in different ways and we all choose who we give respect to. I respect anyone who establishes any kind of goal with their vehicle and has to do something to obtain that goal.