Crazy Lines

Words by: Alexi Smith  Photos by: Mark Pakula

“Looks fast sitting still” is a common description of cars with hot styling, but this Z33 could be described as “Looks wide from every angle”.

It’s often said that fashion trends are cyclical in nature. Whatever is considered stylish today will soon become last month’s news, but will eventually swing back around and once again become the centre of attention, or so the theory goes. This is a nice thought for those waiting for their own personal style to cycle back into vogue, but nothing that was once considered cool will ever be re-adopted by the general public as truly fashionable again. Vinyl records, second hand grandpa cardigans and 8-bit videogames all had their periods in history and have attempted to make a comeback, but have really been replaced by iPods, (insert trendy clothes brand) and Playstation 3. They all perform roughly the same task, but the modern ones do so in a way much more suitable for this decade.

The car modifying market is no different from the rest of the pop-culture fashion industry in that sense. Some things that were popular a long time ago make a comeback, but in a different context or style. Airbrushing used to be of dragons and wizards or the perfect barrel wave, but now it’s usually tigers or realistic flame graphics. Cars that were once popular simply because they were the latest expensive model become popular again as their price drops, and spending money on modifying parts becomes viable for more people. Even changes in what we use our cars for can have an influence in popularity, such as the resurgence of the AE86 when drifting became popular.