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April 14, 2008
Viva Las Vegas: Interior Appointments
By Jen Dunnaway
Editor
At Viva, I was stoked to see what people have been doing with their rides’ interiors—infinitely customizable, dashes and passenger compartments were probably the only thing more varied than the engine bays. A lot of folks are using everything from beer-tap handles to hand grenades for shift knobs—I guess the whole 8-ball shifter thing has gotten old now that you can buy one at Wal-Mart (not so for the ubiquitous Mexican-blanket interior, which, despite also being in stock at Wal-Mart, is apparently still a ways from being played out). Novelties abounded, including these tailpipe speaker covers, which look cool but probably wreak havoc on your acoustics. There were a few fuzzy-dice holdouts left, but a variety of zombie, tiki, and shrunken-head mirror ornaments seem to be taking their place. Themed interiors showed off some serious creativity—this Falcon seemed to be going for a country-kitchen motif, with an antique glass doorknob on the shifter and gingham-tablecloth door panels. And the Virgin Mary figurine and fake-fur dash and steering column really seemed to match the personality of this pretty, white-primered Chevy. Probably the most unexpected thing I saw inside a hot rod was a Club on a steering wheel—but I guess things have gotten like that. Speaking of theft deterrence, this mean-looking Chev had a pretty straightforward system for keeping sticky fingers out of its engine: the security’s far from unbreachable, but the message is pretty clear. See more interiors after the jump!
Comments
Anonymous
Apr 14, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Awesome post, I love Rat Rod because theres no rules on how crazy and unique you can get with them. The weireder the better.
John Gelnett
Apr 14, 2008 at 12:57 pm
A lot of these rat rodders fab their own parts, so I dont think you could get those speaker covers out of any catalog. So much cool shit I wish I could have been to this show!!!
GTwildfire
Apr 14, 2008 at 2:15 am
BTW the bologna-cut chrome tubular speaker covers? OFF THE FREAKING CHARTS. That’s what I’m talking about (now don’t tell me they can be bought from a catalog or I’ll puke).
GTwildfire
Apr 14, 2008 at 2:11 am
Aside from the temporary 3″ resonator SS exhaust tips, I can’t bring myself to buy WalMart mods. The fear is too great that many from the hundreds of millions of customers are buying the same thing, and that’s for only a couple of items I’d actually consider anyway.
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Frankly even Pep Boys, AutoZone and others stock some stuff that almost entices me but is easily disregarded. Ironically they don’t stock stuff I’m really after, like stainless rolled split oval exhaust tips that fit 2.5″ pipes. They got ‘em for 2.25″ though… freaking stupid bastards. That shit angers me.
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The BEST STUFF is MADE, or at least tweaked somehow if you’re using something from the aftermarket. IMO that’s the best thing about auto shows… seeimg something that came completely from someone’s IMAGINATION, applied to something that was originally identical to many others. It’s a blend of machinery and art… form and function. It’s purely awesome, and to successfully mod a car in itself is extremely rewarding.