The Modified, horrors and honeys, opinions and pics please

[paulplom]

17 hours ago, Tamworthbay said:

I saw one get stuck on a speed bump (the plastic/ rubber triangle type) at the Malvern show a few years ago. I thought it was very funny but from the way the guy dealt with it, it obviously wan’t the first time it had happened and he didn’t seem at all bothered. I don’t get it personally, why would you chose to make a vehicle worse? But each to their own and there are a lot like that now so people must like the look.

I agree here. They get a very practical van and lower it to the point it becomes totally impractical. I've never understood it. You're fucked if you need it for ikea or whatever, or a relation you've never heard from for 30 years wants to lend it to move a sofa. As is usually the case.

[cobblers]

1 hour ago, paulplom said:

I agree here. They get a very practical van and lower it to the point it becomes totally impractical. I've never understood it. You're fucked if you need it for ikea or whatever, or a relation you've never heard from for 30 years wants to lend it to move a sofa. As is usually the case.

There's a sparky on Youtube that's got a T5, absolutely on it's bollocks with some gaudy "urban camo" orange wrap. about every fortnight he knocks the front bumper off trying to get to a job or turns work down because he can't get his van up a farm track. Fucking madness man!

I agree that's a bit rich coming from my mouth, my work van is a Caddy with cheap coilovers on. But it's not low enough to hinder me earning money!

[bunglebus]

1 hour ago, paulplom said:

I agree here. They get a very practical van and lower it to the point it becomes totally impractical. I've never understood it. You're fucked if you need it for ikea or whatever, or a relation you've never heard from for 30 years wants to lend it to move a sofa. As is usually the case.

Exactly - stops people borrowing it just because you happen to own a van.

To be honest a 1960s VW van is not going to drive nicely at the best of times, it's about fashion not practicality. I've always liked old VWs so I won't be slagging them off, but I do agree that seeing them scrape the ground is painful. Air/hydraulics is a good solution, up for driving and on the floor for showing.

I've got shorter springs on my Passat and it doesn't look especially low, but it will still catch the undertray occasionally - and I have to be very careful over those plastic triangular speed bumps or it thumps down on the front suspension brackets

[Tamworthbay]

I love old buses, had a few before they went stupid, last was a Sumatra green under white Bay reg HHU925N. People can do what they want obviously but it does make me a little sad to see how ‘scene’ they are now and how they are out of the price range of most late teenagers who, when I was that age, were using them to break down all around Europe. Times move on. The only thing I genuinely hate is the fake patina and company logos. I love seeing an old works van so it really irks when someone does a fake ‘Memphis belle’ type paint job on them, but again, their van so if they like it.......

[bunglebus]

My buses were both T3s so less cool at the time, and both free. That's never going to happen again! 

Much as the one I had as a daily (2.0 air cooled panel van) was tatty, I have never known anything cheer me up so much just from getting behind the wheel. Fire up that noisy engine, turn up the tunes and hunch over the wheel while wearing a grin like a banana. De-icing the inside of the windscreen not quite so much fun though.

[CreepingJesus]

I never did 'like' them as such - fake retro really clenches my arse - but each to their own and all that: and I do like customisation generally, there's usually some point of interest in everything; but...

One Sunday evening many years ago, I came off the M61 onto the M6 heading north, into a swarm of them. One pineapple'd sill-dragging splitty in particular caused me problems. Bearing in mind I was driving a Scanny R480 pulling a double deck, and loaded to a midgie's bawhair under 44t, I managed to pass it going uphill away from Bamber Bridge, and nearly toppled the damn thing in my wake. Not much further on, I watched in some concern as it wobbled through my wake into the middle lane, wobbled past me - being thrashed to get to maybe 61 mph - and then took the Preston North exit. Well, they certainly tried to anyway, and having narrowly missed the front of me, they were wobbling uncertainly, precariously, round the bend of the slip road when I lost sight of them. I do hope they made it ok, but it was food for thought.

So much so, that I pulled into Forton to phone the boss to ask what the procedure was for the dashcam footage, just in case the pigs needed it. I had several fags and a coffee, and cogitated on the consequences for the entire modifying community, if some dudebro had died trying to do the perfectly normal, in a £100k deathtrap that was theoretically perfectly legal, although incapable of 'normal' use.

Summer season always brought out the Sid'n'Doris brigade, tootling along at 50mph tops in the inside lane: I gave them a bye as they were driving within the car's limits, and generally being cautious and respectful of everything being faster than them, but the fud in the splitty? Flogging's too good for 'em etc., ?

[davocano]

The VW Allegro back there can often be seen with a companion.

The Pop in 2014:

And again in 2017:

Personally, I wouldn't want to drive either of them but I am all in favour of this sort of lunacy.

[Matty]

17 hours ago, sierraman said:

It’s just scrap.

Looking at the photo of the back end of it is it an allegro estate on a beetle floor pan or is it just me? That big can on it makes it look like it's running an air cooled engine at the back (not that it makes it any less knackered)

[1duck]

I can understand coilovers for performance sake, but I always sort of assume whoever engineered the car in the first place knew better than me.

 

Hasn't stopped me in the past though, but to lower it to the point of scraping along with wheels on the piss just for stance makes my skin crawl.

[dave j]

1 hour ago, Matty said:

Looking at the photo of the back end of it is it an allegro estate on a beetle floor pan or is it just me? That big can on it makes it look like it's running an air cooled engine at the back (not that it makes it any less knackered)

Yeah it's on a beetle pan. Seen it at a show and I thought it was brilliant! 

There is also a white saloon one kicking around

https://images.app.goo.gl/2HVAHuFCWJPAQEx6A

[Matty]

Theres been quite a few with differant shells on a beetle floor pan now hasn't there? Must be a lot of money goes into a project like that

[bunglebus]

This is the most ridiculous one of all - and I mean that as a compliment 

It's completely useless as a car of course, it's a statement. Just the same as a 64 Impala ragtop with gold plated suspension and airbrushed inner wheel arches is, not really for driving, just for attention seeking.

Of course this leaves a lot of floorpan-less Beetles in need of a chassis 

[sierraman]

I’d love to turn up to the Rolls Royce Owners Club annual cheese and wine orgy in that Shadow with the beetle engine. 

[timolloyd]

Never knew you could spec a dildo in place of the Spirit of Ecstacy

[lesapandre]

[cobblers]

1 hour ago, timolloyd said:

Never knew you could spec a dildo in place of the Spirit of Ecstacy

Princess Anne had one, don't you know.

[bunglebus]

Couple more and I'll stop, promise!

 

DSC_0090 by RS, on Flickr

DSC_0335 by RS, on Flickr

 

I found this one sitting on a drive near Chelmsford years ago, he had a better gold one in the garage too. I put the word out and both were sold as the guy was moving house and sellig up (I bought a load of tools off him too). Years later it turned up at the Pod like this

 

DSC_0102_zpsbq0wosqc by RS, on Flickr

 

VWAction2012095 by RS, on Flickr

[camryv6]

Fucking hell I am amazed there are any original beetles left ? 

[dave j]

Luckily there were millions of them! I have seen a mk3 Golf, mk2 Jetta and a mk1 Polo on Beetle pans too, some were more finished than others! All were as low as you could get them as that's what looks cool in the vw scene. I love it but wouldn't do it myself as I like ride quality. Driving to a vw show in Belgium last year in my camper was nice and Comfy, my mates very low camper was not quite so refined! 

[davocano]

[davocano]

[camryv6]

That looks ruff ?

[lesapandre]

https://www.thedrive.com/news/28082/several-modified-and-stance-cars-seized-by-german-police-en-route-to-worthersee-in-uk

[davocano]

Non-standard Standard 8 with four doors...

PICT1005 by pjlcsmith2, on Flickr

.... became a non-standard Standard 8 with two doors

[davocano]

De Devil now tows a caravan...

OLY302E Ford Transit Custom Van by dave, on Flickr

... but it never towed a Mk2 Cavalier. Got a new plate at some point tho.

[martc]

On 5/31/2020 at 8:58 AM, timolloyd said:

Never knew you could spec a dildo in place of the Spirit of Ecstacy

I think it's off a VW Rabbit.

 

(see what I did there?)

[davocano]

 

[bigstraight6]

1 hour ago, davocano said:

Non-standard Standard 8 with four doors...

PICT1005 by pjlcsmith2, on Flickr

.... became a non-standard Standard 8 with two doors

I think it’s great someone built a gasser using a Standard 8, one of the most slowest miserable cars ever..

[Tadhg Tiogar]

On 5/31/2020 at 11:38 AM, bunglebus said:

....

DSC_0102_zpsbq0wosqc by RS, on Flickr

Such a waste of an already rare car. 

[bunglebus]

7 hours ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

Such a waste of an already rare car. 

To be fair it was in a bad way, it had sat outside for years.

The gold one in the garage was disassembled but in better shape, it popped up on eBay a while back with some bodywork half done but not seen it since.

There's also this one on a Passat W8 floor, so two very rare cars - but what a machine