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Assignment 2 Background / Introduction: I am guilty, like most of us, of spending more time than I should on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. But because I am a gearhead, most of what youll find on my feeds is going to be car related. I like modifying my car, and I sometimes use this to find inspiration in what others have done to their cars so I can better plan the future of mine. I can look at different wheel choices on a variety of cars, see how low you can go with different brands of coilovers, and examine the plethora of other aesthetic modifications I could do to change my car from factory. But Im sure I am not the only one that does this, which raises the question in my mind; how original can you be when youre constantly basing your decisions off of what others have already done? Every day there are a growing number of cars you will see on these social media websites attempting the cookie cutter approach to becoming famous within the community. All you have to do is take a Volkswagen, Audi, Lexus, Infinity, or similar automobile, add bags, a lip kit to the body, and a set of played out 3-piece wheels and get a photographer to post pictures of it online. Before you have a chance to blink youll have people all over Facebook and Instagram going goo-goo over your car. In recent years, there has been a trend where people think its cool to do the easier and more minimalistic modifications in an attempt to become known quicker and with less effort. In a culture based off being original and different than others, I find this movement to be quite ironic. This brings me to wonder, is social media helping or hindering innovation within both the modified car culture and the automotive industry as a whole? Based on my personal experience I feel that social media overall is helping innovation within both the modified car culture and the auto industry as a whole.

Comment [ds1]: Add cover page

Comment [ds2]: Great first sentence Comment [ds3]: Define gearhead Comment [ds4]: Social media feeds

Comment [ds5]: Define coilovers Comment [ds6]: I am not Im

Comment [ds7]: Good use of a question, Oooo Kill um

Comment [ds8]: Define

Comment [ds9]: Good word selection

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Literature Review: My E9 was a smash hit the constant kind words and appreciation I received for doing something outside the box. But to what extent could I really call it my own? At the end of the day, anyone with a checkbook could replicate it. Mike Burroughs. Mike Burroughs is somewhat of a common name around the modified car community. He is known as a man who is always working on something new; something game changing. In his lifetime he has created more wild high class builds than most college kids have had cars. His latest creation, a 1928 Ford Model A, is possibly one of his best creations to date. The Model A is powered by a 1995 BMW 740is V8 mated to a BMW M5 6-speed transmission, which is not the normal engine choice for a hot rod. Mike mentioned, I'm well aware that the engine will be the point of contention for many hotrod purists, and likely BMW fans too. "It's out of place." "It sticks out like a sore thumb." "It needs a Ford/Chevy/XXXXX motor." It hasn't even been a week and I've already heard it all. It is not your average hotrod. Another who is going on a unique path with their car is Omar Hashmi. Omar has a 2012 Mustang GT on bags. That in itself is something you dont see every day, but his has a few extra ponies under the hood to further set itself apart from others. He built his car with two goals in mind. He wanted to be able to lay frame and still be able to run a 10 second quarter mile. The result was a 756 rear wheel horsepower, bag over coil monster. With the car in race trim it can run a 10.16 second quarter mile at 138 miles per hour. This is truly a mustang that, you can have your cake and eat it too! Lastly, Vic Morales is a name that, while well known within the Subaru community is not quite a household name yet. Vic is one of the guys where, not only is his build of obvious high quality when you first see it, but the devil is really in the details that take it to the next level. From the Victory pipes to the Tsurikawa subway handle that, back then, had to be stolen if you wanted one in your car, shows that Vic was heavily influenced by the Bosozoku style of car modding that took after the wild

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custom motorcycle crews that used to run all throughout Japan in the 80s and 90s. Looking back at Vics STI and this BRZ, it would be safe to guess that the bosozokus philosophy of pro-anarchy and the anti-establishment thinking has really influenced him. One aspect of the car that spurs the most conversation is the negative camber on the front and rear wheels. This car has 9 degrees in the front and an astounding 15 degrees in the rear. Some consider negative camber just a fad but to some, its a lifestyle. With modern car meets, the preferred way of communication is usually a Facebook event or a page. This way you can allow people to share the event or page to get the word out to make the meet larger and larger. It works quite well. The police in Ocean City, Maryland know this all too well. Way back in 2010, it was had the largest attendance of any past year and the local police force took note. They said, It just keeps getting bigger and bigger because of the internet It concerns us. While I havent personally attended H20i yet, I have seen the effects of internet advertisement of a car meet ending up with an unexpectedly large crowd. I used to regularly attend the Charlotte Cruise Ins car meet at Buffalo Wild Wings on Independence Boulevard from 2011 till mid-2012. In the beginning, if we had more than 10 cars, it was larger than the average night. A few friends and I had a Facebook page for the meet and promoted it heavily. Within a year, if we only had 200 cars, it was a slow night. We eventually got to the point where we had almost taken up two whole parking lots with over 1500 cars at every meet, some driving hours to attend the meet because they were told online that it was worth the drive. As far as the automotive industry is concerned, internet searches for information on automobiles have been up for a long time. In 2000, approximately 54% of new car buyers used the internet as a tool to gather information to base their purchase off. This was up over 14% from 1999. If the population of people using the internet to source information was growing at such

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exponential rates in the last decade, it makes you wonder how high the numbers were at the end of the past decade. One detail of a car that is valued differently among different people is their miles per gallon. If its too low, for some this can be a deal breaker and could cause them to not buy a specific model of car. President Obama passed a bill in 2010 that in a nutshell requires the fleetwide average of every automaker to be above 50 miles per gallon. While the requirement varies per automaker based on the size of the cars produced, air conditioning credits, and the vehicle designation, compared to todays average it is a very optimistic goal. Is this helping or hindering progress though? Have automakers focused more so on higher fuel efficiency and have let actual progress and innovation go by the wayside because they are worried about getting fined within the next decade? One thing that has happened because of the legislation is automakers bringing their highly efficient European diesel passenger sedans to the United States. Previously, Volkswagen was the only automaker to offer a decent diesel sedan in the United States. As of the 2014 model year, there will be upwards of 3 new automakers entering the ring with diesel sipping contenders. Chevrolet has a diesel Cruze, Mazda has a diesel 6, and BMW is bringing a variety of diesel engine offerings to their whole lineup. The reason why diesels are gaining popularity quickly is that you can average 40 or greater miles per gallon with ease! Ram is even bringing a diesel option to their 1500. If you know much about trucks, you know that there has always been a diesel pickup truck. You are right, but the diesels in the trucks of the past were large displacement V8s. They were built for towing, only put in the 2500 or heavier duty pickups, and got poor gas mileage. The new diesel engine is a smaller 6 cylinder option for the light duty 1500 model. The engine is said to have more towing capabilities than their gas V8 model and get better fuel economy too!

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If you ask any gearhead if they like to go fast, the obvious answer is going to be YES! But previously if you wanted a car that could go fast, you really had to pay quite a bit for it, or you had to put in countless man-hours to build it. Enthusiasts have been asking for a car that we can go fast in but not go bankrupt, paying more than an average family sized house for one. Ford finally took note of our pleas and created a 200 mile per hour supercar that wont cost you your firstborn to buy! With a base price under $55,000 for a no frills model, it is obvious that Ford was reading our Facebook and Twitter posts when they crafted the 2013 GT500 Mustang. Enter the Conversation: I feel that social media is fostering innovation and creativity within the modified car community and the automotive industry as a whole. I know that I frequent the Facebook and Instagram app on my iPhone and because of the pages I have liked or followed on each, my feeds are overcome by cars. When I see cars that are truly different from the rest like the three I listed above, it makes me feel good knowing that I am not the only one that aspires to be different and do what I want with my car instead of following some unwritten formula to building a clean car that everyone will compliment you on. I can relate to people like Mike Burroughs who aspire to have a car that is more than just something that anyone with a checkbook can replicate. I also really appreciate the fine attention to detail that you see on Vic Morales BRZ. I consider myself a fairly knowledgeable figure in the history and rational behind many different modifications, but he had such a fine level of detail that I found myself actually learning a lot from his build. Items such as the tow strap from the subway handle that had to be stolen from Japan I had no idea of the awesome backstory till I read the article. As far as the internet and social media spreading car meets, I have personally experienced this. There is a downside to this though. Once a meet reaches a certain size, its like the organizers lose control. Thats when the cops will swoop in and intervene in the situation as they
Comment [ds10]: Rephrase

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did in Ocean City, Maryland at H20i in 2010. An example from my life when this happened was back at Charlotte Cruise Ins near the last few meets. We would have almost 1500 or more cars by 9pm and inevitably you will have one or two of those guys who think its cool to disobey rules like no burnouts. We would always have at least one; sometimes as many as 3 -4 guys go to the back of the parking lot and do burnouts. This would always attract the attention of the police and more than once ended up with us getting kicked out of the parking lots that we would park in. That was not really an issue when there were only a few hundred cars at the meet. I feel that the internet is most likely used almost if not close to 100% of the time when anyone is searching for a new car. Id think that word of mouth through friends and family on social media also has a great deal to do with the make and model of car purchased. An example of this is when I was looking to purchase a different car this past spring, I asked my friends on Facebook their opinions of certain cars reliability and overall. With Obama having already passed the C.A.F.E. laws, there is not much we can do about that, but I personally think that they will have both a positive and negative effect on both the auto industry and the modified car culture. The benefit being that we actually will get more fuel efficient cars but at what cost? If the average car in 2020 has to be a hybrid to attain the minimum miles per gallon requirement, there will be many gearheads upset. Although, if we do indeed just add many diesel options, I feel we could consider the law positive. Diesels are easy for gearheads to modify and attain very high amounts of torque while still getting ridiculously good gas mileage. Conclusion / So What: Social media has a large influence on everything in this world from politics, to friendships, to business success. The modified car culture and the auto industry are no
Comment [ds12]: Social media Comment [ds11]: At not near

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different. I think though there are quite a few areas that could use a little further research. It would be interesting to know how much influence word of mouth through social media websites has on new automotive sales. Blogs like Stance:Nation, Canibeat, and Stance|Works are some of the main sources for information about the quality stanced car builds. It would be worth researching to find how much influence these blogs have on specific model wheel sales and other part sales.

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References Burroughs, M. (2013, May 28). The Art of Hot Rodding Mike Borroughss BMW- Powered 1928 Ford Model A. Retrieved from http://www.stanceworks.com/2013/05/mikeburroughs-ford-hot-rod-bmw-model-a/ This is an article about Mike Burroughs and his Ford Model A which he used to transform what is possible in a hotrod. He took the Ford Model A and used a BMW V8 out of a 7 series mated to a BMW M5 6-speed transmission to make a Frankenstein hotrod. It is something that had never been attempted before and probably not even thought of before. This shapes my viewpoint because in a more extreme way, anything is possible. If you can dream it you can build it. This really proves that with a 28 Ford truck mated to a 95 BMW engine. Biggs, S., & Brady, D. (2013, September 22). Speed & Stance // Omars 700+ HP Ford Mustang. Retrieved from http://www.stancenation.com/2013/09/22/speed-stance-omars-700-hpford-mustang/ This is an article about Omars high horsepower bagged Ford Mustang. It is not only a neck breaking show car, but has enough power to do a quarter mile in a quite respectable 10 seconds. There are few other street cars that can make a faster pass on the drag strip, and to be on bags and show quality is definitely not the norm. This is a car that goes to show the potential of any car. I say this because most people when they think of a modified mustang, its almost never going to be close to what Omars brings to the table! This shapes my viewpoint because it goes to show that you shouldnt limit yourself to doing what the popular or easy thing is. If you have a goal or a dream, dont stop till you succeed, and in Omars case, it was a mustang that can both lay frame on bags and then turn around and run a 10 second quarter mile. Ackers, B., Fligel, S., & Petruccio, C. (2013, September 28). Part Deux // Vic Morales Bangin Subaru BRZ. Retrieved from http://www.stancenation.com/2013/09/28/part-deux-vicmorales-bangin-subaru-brz/ This is an article about Vic Morales Subaru BRZ which is truly something that is not a cookie cutter build. This is something different. Its a summery and explanation of a build which has successfully made just about every sect of car enthusiasts mad for some reason or another. From the obscene amounts of negative camber, to the boso inspired exhaust pipe, to the VIP inspired Tsuna ropes, it certainly has the devil in the details and is not your average build. This shapes my viewpoint because this is someone who has really went above and beyond the average slam it on a set of 3 -piece wheels build that seems to be taking over social media at the moment, and created something special.

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Shane, B., (2010, October 19). OC Cops complain car show ran them ragged [Abstract]. Delmarva Now. Retrieved from http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/20101019/OPI01/10190349/OC-cops-complaincar-show-ran-them-ragged This source is an abstract from a news article where the Ocean City Police are complaining because a car show, H20i, was much larger than ever before in 2010. They noted that the show being advertised and spread via the internet has caused the show to grow dramatically in size. This shapes my viewpoint because the police are even acknowledging that the internet is a main source of information for car shows and the like. Without the internet, car meets and shows would not nearly be as large or have people coming from all across the country as some do now. Bogert, M. Assignment 1 [Word Document]. Available on https://moodle2.uncc.edu/course/view.php?id=17616 This is my observations from three car meets that I attended and took notes at. I have since attended about a half dozen other similar car meets and I feel like my notes and observations represent a good portion of the activities that go on at most car meets. This shapes my viewpoint because this could give anyone who has not attended a meet but wants to an idea of what to expect at a meet. Ratchford, B. T., Lee, M. S., & Talukdar, D. (2003). The Impact of the Internet on Information Search for Automobiles. Journal of Marketing Research, 40(2), 193-209. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.librarylink.uncc.edu/stable/30038848 This source compares statistics for the use of the internet as a means for information retrieval in relation to automobiles between the years of 1990-2000. It was found that the internets use for information search in relation to automobiles had went up dramatically, though it was also found that people would have researched cars much more regardless of the presence of the internet. This shapes my viewpoint because if 54% of new car buyers used the internet as an information source in 2000, up 14% just since 1999, today the numbers must be far more dramatic. Vlasic, B. (2012, August 28). U.S. Sets Higher Fuel Efficiency Standards. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/29/business/energyenvironment/obama-unveils-tighter-fuel-efficiency-standards.html?_r=0 This is an article about the new (for 2012) C.A.F.E. laws that President Obama passed in an attempt to try and make all new automobiles highly efficient. Their goal is to get the average miles per gallon up to over 50 average for each automaker. This is causing both innovation and hurting innovation. This is causing automakers to focus more on the fuel efficiency of their cars but is causing some other, specialty automakers, to add

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extraneous, poorly designed and poor selling cars to their lineup. This shapes my viewpoint because it gives an insight to the governments knowledge of the automotive industry. It also shows that the government is trying, albeit doing so poorly, to help with innovation within the automotive industry. Wendler, A. (2012, October). 2014 Mazda 6 2.5L / 2.2L Diesel. Retrieved from http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/2014-mazda-6-sedan-first-drive-review This is an article about the 2014 Mazda 6. The 2014 model is going to be a refresh for the styling of the outdated-looking family sedan. With the refresh, Mazda is bringing their highly efficient 4 cylinder diesel engine to the US. This is very innovative because in previous years, Volkswagen was the only company to offer a good diesel option and this could be the first car to successfully take a share of the high-efficiency diesel sedan market. This shapes my viewpoint because of the innovation that Mazda is bringing to the new car market with the newest generation Mazda 6 and their low compression, high efficiency diesel engine. Stoklosa, A. (2013, February 14). Ram Announces 2014 1500 EcoDiesel Pickup Coming For Later This Year. Retrieved from http://blog.caranddriver.com/ram-announces-2014-1500ecodiesel-pickup-coming-later-this-year/ This is a short article basically announcing with certainty that Ram (formerly part of Dodge) will be bringing a smaller, efficient 6 cylinder diesel to their lineup for the 2014 model year. This is innovative because in recent years is the only light duty pickup to have a diesel as an option. Previous to this, if you wanted a diesel, you had to get a heavier duty model with a large and inefficient 8 cylinder diesel. This is going to be good for those of us who like the power of the diesel trucks and their towing ability but do not wish to own a dually (a heavy duty consumer truck with 4 rear tires instead of 2). This shapes my viewpoint because it shows that not only is Ram listening to their consumers by bringing a smaller and more efficient diesel to America Smith, S. (2012, May). 2013 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500. Retrieved from http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/2013-ford-mustang-shelby-gt500-test-review This is an article about the 2013 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500, a car that was widely noted as one of the most innovative cars to date. It is a car that, out of the box, can hit 200 miles per hour and yet can be purchased for under $60,000. The 200 mile per hour mark was once something that was allusive to the average man and could only be had in a car that cost as much as a moderate family sized house. Ford broke that trend when they made a car that is not only competitive with cars $150,000 and higher but attainable by the average working man. This shapes my viewpoint because almost every enthusiast wants to eventually buy a car like a Lamborghini or a Ferrari, and Ford made it possible

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for almost anyone to have the speed and power but at an affordable price. They were innovative and conquered what was thought to be impossible.