Remembering import tuning origins

need4speed

A lot of people think of import tuning in this country and think
Of the japanese drift king and racing legends.
But in this country its influence started much smaller.
When I was a kid in puerto rico. 75% of most men entered a
The workforce in the trades. Most of them became mechanics
Cuz it was taught to them as children like kids learn to read and write.
Mainly cuz in those days in PR. You would be able to afford a car
But not the mechanic maintaining it. So do it yourself wasn't a hobby
It was necessary.
Puerto Ricos streets were vary narrow and paving was cobblestone n dirt.
Mountain roads were made of smooth dirt and highways were simple pathways.
This meant american cars were wayyy to big for most feasable driving and only
Few people owned american cars. Usually rich or affluent puerto ricans as
A status symbol. (So much can change in 25yrs.)
So most drove compact japanese cars like honda mitsubishi nissan isuzu suzukiand mazda.
From germany the volkswagen rabbit n beetle were as common as civics, sentras, mirages,
Etc.
Well these cars were what people owned. In the 80's there were 4 porsches on the island
And 2.5 million people knew who owned them. Lol
They were obsessed with sports cars and any good sports car from the U.S. or germany came with a 15k premium over the normal mainland US price.

So wat native PR's did was supe up the engine. Drop the suspension.
And often leave the car with primer as the paint look these cars were fast and agile.
Average displacement of these cars was 1.8 liters and moved like 5.7 liter v8's
This culture that began in the late 60's in PR was brought over to the east coast. Mainly NY
By the mid 70's lil pocket rocket 1.8's flying around NYC highways boggling the
Minds of many white affluent corvette and camaro owners.
The sight was comical in such a way. An old beat up RX7 or Z or corolla twin cam,
With a proper suspension drop proper tires. Strange growls coming out the engine
A house speaker rigged to the radio in the trunk as a stereo system... lol
White people made fun of us cuz they thought jap cars were crap.
African americans used 2 say we fit 20 relatives in our cheap compacts. Lol
We got it both ways and everyone thought why tune that junk when u can tune a V8 domestic. Answer. We couldn't afford them... anyway.
But these cars could pull an 11 second run on the quarter easily.
Even masta ace had a lyiric in 88 dissin us. "See this Puerto Rican Latin Chico Rico Suave
In a ReD COROLLA yo do he wanna play.
As a teen in 88 it pissed me off. But as a man in 09. I'm proud.
In the 80s driving a corolla was a joke. So it was meant as a diss.
In 09 that twin cam corolla is the most sought after drift car along with the 240sx.
As the years progressed and the pockets of puerto ricans grew.
Sadly many thru the drug trade. These corollas and jap sports cars got better bodykits
Flashy paint jobs n custom systems. By the early 90's people took notice of these
Cars. Soon after u began to see other races tuning compact imports. And the joke cars
Cars became domestic legends of today.
Sorry for run on sentences or if I jumped around a lil but I thought this is a cool story
That many of the young latino tuners would luv to hear and older latino tuners can reminice and enjoy. Everyone else. I hope u find it interesting.

CrownR426

Great write up.
Very interesting stuff especially, how the car scene changes.
The import scene will always be huge no matter what because us guys love our cereal box race cars! I still see people in bmw, lexus, benz all laughing at civics, z's and all but its real funny when they eat the dust.

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need4speed

Thank u... I'm really glad u enjoyed my write up. The import scene has changed a lot.
its on its way to becoming the largest auto culture in the country.

Romanowski

Nice right up! +Repp

Tim

it was an interesting write up but there are other views such as:

In SoCal as early as the 60's the beetles and other cars were being tuned to race larger engine cars

and also there is "japanese import tuning scene"which started in the early 90's where gas rose in prices, and the crx, civic, integra, prelude, eclipse, etc were perfect cars for gas and speed for teens who didnt have money in america and thats how the culture blew up

puerto ricans were pioneers but i wouldnt state that it originated from there or made it the youth or huge culture of what it is today.

I dont mean to be an a-hole, its an awesome story but from the story it seems that you're from there and it can be a little bias.

americans also attempted smaller cars for tuning/speed, it just kinda failed (ex: pontiac fiero) and anyways american cars cant be imports in the first place xP

need4speed

I'm not from cali. So I can't tell u bout how it started in cali.
I'm talkin bout the influence in the east coast. N I'm talkin way b4 eclipses n stuff
I'm talking specifically on original Z's, mazda rx 100 n rx 3 the first toyota corolla hatchbacks to name a few. The volkswagen n dunebuggy were popular in PR in the early 60s too.
We had our own auto trade system with mexico still until the late 90's
But in the late 60's to the late 80's the hot rod culture was dominant.
Japanese cars were considered crap. In th EAST COAST.
AFTER THE HOT RODS IT WAS ABOUT LINCOLNS AND CADDYS. Monte carlo camaro
Regal cutlass all ruled n people looked down on them.
In the east coast they looked down on imports so bad that if they couldn't buy new
American cars they bought em used. N when the gas crisis of the 70's hit.
Many went ford pinto or micro mustang.
Its not biased. Its truth on my side.
N even when u talk about the cali kids. U talkin bout volkswagens. I'm not talkin bout
German imports. I'm talkin japanese.
Some of u get up on here n talk b4 really getting the gist of the story.
The italian mob was the biggest influence on white n black america when it came to cars.
See what mobster then drove anything that wasn't american n german and HUGE.
I'm glad u liked the story or whatever. But. What u call bias is ur own lack of information and knowledge.

need4speed

Oh n addressing the whole thing bout puerto ricans migfht have been pioneers but doesn't mean we made it what it is today???,? That doesn't make sense. So since we were the 1st to do it doesn't mean we made it popular? Ok say we didn't make it popular? The person who did. Noticed the east coast culture.
So what u gonna tell me next. Mexicans didn't begin the low rider culture? It was poor teens from
Waxahachie.

need4speed

Oh n addressing the whole thing bout puerto ricans migfht have been pioneers but doesn't mean we made it what it is today???,? That doesn't make sense. So since we were the 1st to do it doesn't mean we made it popular? Ok say we didn't make it popular? The person who did. Noticed the east coast culture.
So what u gonna tell me next. Mexicans didn't begin the low rider culture? It was poor teens from
Waxahachie.

DannyGT

Just curious, how long have you been in America? ...and why is this in the gallery thread ? Pics or it never happened...

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bigaudiofanat

Nice write up +1 on rep, if you haven't check out my car audio 101 thread.

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Tim

dont get your undies in a bundle, i'm just saying there's many sides to every truth.
your answers are so generic and general the east coast or west coast or anywhere else isn't one person