There was a very good documentary about the import tuner scene last night on Speed Channel's Redline TV program.

You can view the program air date here: http://www.speedtv.com/programs/420/.
There are plenty of materials from that program alone for your preliminaries.

Good luck!

PS: oh, and dont forget to mention NOPI chics in your report eh? Insert some photos in the appendix A or something
http://www.nopi.net/contest/models/

 

you might get more hits if you ask this in the car chat section.

 

I think the "tuner" scene is maturing. The current trend is the higher end luxury platforms like Bimmer, Benz, Infiniti, Lexus....as the tuners get older with more disposable income, the cars are reflecting this. I'm trying to gain interest for the Japanese VIP cars....but this may have to include other platforms here in the US.

 

Racing to me is something that I had inside me from a very early age. I can remember being 3 or 4 years old driving with my dad and telling him to pass a slow-polk. As he passed the vehicle I got this fussy feeling that I know today is an adrenaline rush. As I grew up I felt this overwhelming need for speed in bicycles, mini bikes, whatever had wheels. I then got older and at 14 I started reading everything I could about cars and going fast. By the time I got my license to drive I had bought, fixed up and sold several cars. I accumulated enough money to get a decent street racer (sleeper). This was in the 70s. It was a 67 Merc with a 427ci V8 making 425hp stock. I began the life of street racing. I soon realized you need to always make more power to faster and quicker. I ended up spending every penny I could save from working and street racing to go faster and faster. After several years of doing this a friend got a Z1 Kawasaki (900cc 4 cylinder) and after 1 ride I realized that it was the thrill of power and speed that I needed. I sold everything car related to racing and started racing motorcycles. To this day I find myself jumping on my bike (capable of mid 9 sec ¼ miles and a top speed of 200mph) just to get that childhood FUZZY feeling. What I’m getting at, is, I think it is something inside a person (thrill seeking gene) that causes you to need this thrill, at least it is for me. I hope this helps in some way.

Koz

 

I have my reasons for going into the import scene as well. I guess it is easy to explain if I place it into three categories. First my car is an interpretion of who I am and what I want to be. Not only does my goal of fixing my car a overview of how I see my self, it is also a General Expression of Me. Next I am ADDICTED to the rush of racing, speed, and skill. From driving down the highway against another car who thinks they have what it takes to taking the risk of losing against someone better (with a better car or skill) it gives a sense of True excitement. This leads me the the last reason, I like the culture that we as a whole are creating, MrMark has a point we have matured the view of Import tuning and of tuning in general. I believe that people who like speed and racing are doing so, not only for speed and rush (and sometimes money), for other reasons like pride, leadership (crews and clubs), and a sense of belonging for a few. So far I am very impressed by the number of people who replied to this and at first I though people would not take this seriously but as of now I am very appricative of all the comments, and i hope the thread can continue until I have a little more 411. Thanks

 

I can relate to all the comments above. Been there, done that. However, (IMO) it must be done without involvement of innocent bystanders. In addition, the driver must be able to control the car in an event evasive action is needed. I've seen way too many accidents/deaths right after The Fast and The Furious movies. Adrenaline rush can be very dangerous when not in a controlled environment. Just my 2 cents.

 

I loved cars all my life. In high school I was into drag raing muscle cars as well as helping to restore those types of cars. As I have reached a point in my life whre i can afford to have a "nice" car again I found myself pulling away from the muscle type cars and into the "tuner" car scene. Cars that I once use to give the cold shoulder to as I passed by have now become a point of interest. The freel of a good quaility car with great handling is now more important to me than breakneck acceleration. As stated above the "scene" is moving away from the kids with the lowered civics and massive stereo systems to the more mature crowd of fine luxury sport vehicles.