Exploring Global Car Cultures:
A Journey Through Automotive History
           In this blog, you will get to know about a company that helped the entire automobile industry to reach where they are today. Can you guys guess the name of that company?
Introduction:
           If you are a car enthusiast and specially from India then you might find yourself alone among non – car enthusiasts. But you might find it fascinating when you get to know about the car communities of other countries where car enthusiasts meet, showcase their cars, discuss about problems, organise drives in-fact some groups modify their cars in a particular manner. In the car world this type of particular car modification is known as car – cultures. In this blog we will talk about some really famous car cultures.
The car cultures:
1. Donk:
           Donk is a very famous car culture in USA. In this car culture cars are typically lifted with large shiny rims, thin looking tyres and having a plenty of chrome and custom art work. The term ‘Donk’ was introduced around 1990s but these type of cars spread all over the USA way before 1990s. The first ‘Donk’ cars were made by using Chevrolet – Impala and Caprice. If you noticed these cars had a huge bumper that looked like a big nose.
2. Low - Rider:
           Low – Rider is another famous car culture in USA. Low – Riding culture started around 1940s during post war prosperity years. These cars have height adjustable hydraulics. As the name suggest ‘Low – Rider’ these cars kept lowered and have custom paint jobs which reflects the Latino – American culture. Chevrolet – Impala, Buick – Riviera & Pontiac – Torpedo are some popular cars in this car culture.
           Where most car culture promotes fast & aggressive driving. Low – Riders are exact opposite; they prefer to cruise as slow as possible. Their motto is ‘Low & Slow’.
3. Hot – Rod/ Rat – Rod:
           The Hot – Rod is a stapled with American history, often called as ‘Street – Rod’. This Hot – Rod culture started around 1920 – 30s when the young American car enthusiasts started modifying their cars to get more performance. It is basically a classic American car with oversized engine modified for high speed. It is basically the engine which gave it’s the name hot – rod, the term ‘rod’ came from the connecting rod that connects the high – power engine or hot engine.
           The original idea for hot – rod was very simple find a cheap that is readily available, cut out some less important parts to make the car more light weight, change the stock engine into a big size engine, lower the car, install fat tyres and last but not the least paint the car into wild colours to portray who you are and there you have your Hot – Rod. The 5 most eligible cars to turn into a Hot – Rod is,
- 1929 – Ford Model T
- 1937 – Lincon Zephyr
- 1933 – Willys Coupe
- 1932 – Ford Roadster
- 1933 – Ford Coupe
4. Bosozoku:
           The Bosozoku car culture originated in the 1950s by the Japanese WW-II veterans who modified their cars and bikes. The ‘Bosozoku’ culture is known for its rebellious nature and chaotic driving. The term ‘Bosozoku’ translates to ‘Violent Running Tribe’. This is a very unique & strange culture by its looks. The cars belong to this culture have flashy designs, big body kits, loud exhaust along with big bumper lifts and ultra big rear spoiler along with funky paint job. The Bosozoku enthusiasts mostly use Datsun – 240z, Nissan – Skyline GTR, Honda – Prelude & Toyota – Cressida.
5. Raggare:
           Now days the Raggare car culture is mostly found in Sweden and some parts of Norway & Florida also. But surprisingly this car culture was started from USA. This Raggare is a cocktail of working-class teenagers and early rock & roll music. The Raggare movement was started around late 1950s as a youth’s car culture, but today middle-aged men also enjoy this culture.
           This car culture is a mix of classic American muscle cars, Hot – Rods with 1950s American pop – culture. The cars which belong this culture is likely to have a V8 engine. In this culture most preferred cars are Pontiac – Bonneville, Dodge – Phoenix & Buick – Roadmaster.
Other Car Cultures:
There are still many to cover some of the rest is,
1. Bangkok’s VIP car culture:
            Where the cars have flashy colours outside and very colourful lighting in the interior. It gives a very flashy looks to the car.
2. Sleeper car culture:
         In this car culture the cars are completely stock from outside as well as the interior parts the main change is done under the bonnet. The enthusiasts change the stock engine into a very powerful engine and tune it as high as possible. Then they organize drag race events and legal street races.
Importance of car culture:
- If someone faces any problem with a car then others who own the same car and faced the same issues, they might help each other to solve the issue or suggest the mechanic who can resolve the issue.
- If the same car culture/community members faced some regular issues with the car then, they can raise their issue collectively to the manufacturers. And under the pressure the manufacturer might have to solve the issue.
- As we discussed earlier some car cultures required to modify their car in a particular way for that we need automotive engineers. By this engineers will get a freehand to experiment and invent something new.
- We all know mental health is a big issue among the teenagers, this type of car culture/car community helps to get rid of depression, loneliness and anxiety.
After reading all of this you guys must have 2 questions, I will try to answer those as per my analysis,
- Is there any car culture in India?
    Ans. – Unfortunately No, in India we don’t have any car culture. One of the main reason of it in India modifying cars is illegal. Only in Kerala you might find some modified cars but that are also not street legal.
- Do we need any car culture in India?
    Ans. – Yes, Definitely Yes.
As we have discussed earlier in the importance of car culture part but not only that, the car modifying is a very big industry around the globe. So, having a car culture will help to create new jobs in India.
Conclusion:
           After discussing all of these let’s conclude this discussion with good news. Skoda took an initiative to unite all car owners under their ‘Skoda – Gearhead’ program, not only for Skoda owners any car owners can join this program.
           In my opinion this might be a start of having a car culture. Make a new car culture is a time taking process it can’t happen overnight. More over that we also have to take care of the Indian laws. So as of now, we have to wait and watch how Skoda will take care of it.
Thanks for tuning in. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this post as much as I have enjoyed writing it. There’s still so much more to explore in the world of cars and bikes, and I’ll be back soon with more exciting content that’s sure, to get your engines revving. So don’t forget to subscribe our newsletter and stay tuned for our next instalment. Until then, keep on exploring all the thrilling adventures that the open road has to offer!
— by Shubhradwip Paul
