What constitutes "Rice"?

Who cares.

-Mike

non-performance

To ME rice is:

Cheap high rise aftermarket spoilers that do nothing NOS / VTEC / any performance or otherwise stickers on anything that isn't so. Fluorescent anything a fartcan muffler that is as big as a coffee can and sounds like you are farting through it. import cars with all the flash and falderal that makes them look ridiculous.. you know.. what all the kids are doing these days LOL. Shabby body kits, weird science. Mods that have nothing to do with how your car performs other than making look or sound like it might be faster Any car with any of the above foolishness.

Rice is also an attitude. The kid with the lowered japster and the half glued on body kit that is three different colors at the stoplight that thinks you want to race him.

Check google on the group, there are some pretty funny things in here from the past

As for myself, your old car doesn't sound like you riced it up too much. Back then we had to make do with what we could find. Though I may have thought it looked pretty silly and wondered why you would put rice burner exhaust on it... if it goes fast, then it's ok. I still prolly would have pointed and giggled *wink*

Kate

98 Cobra Drop Top

I would not consider this to be even slightly Rice. Most of your mods were done for performance reasons and the rest of you mods were fairly common at the time.

Hey, that exhaust served a function... honest. ;-) My glasspacks were too loud. The Monza tips had really small mufflers that quieted down the ride at highway speeds. I won't say I had too many stickers on the car, just the ones that came with the parts I modified with, Hooker headers, MSN, CompetitionCams, etc, etc. They were all plastered on my quarter windows. Oh wait, I think I did have a Speed Racer sticker on the hatchback. OK, maybe I was Rice before Rice was popular. :-(

It's something that comes with red beans or sushi....

Ray,

Engine/performance mods are not rice. "Rice" is aftermarket cosmetic junk tacked onto cars.

Patrick '93 Cobra '83 LTD

By today's standards I might call it old school, but not rice.

Rice = wannabes and poseurs.

MadDAWG

** My question about "Rice" is if it has to deal strictly with non-performance ** import cars being made to look like performance cars (including the ** gratuitous use of decals, body kits and bad paint jobs) or can it transcend ** to any vehicle that has useless accouterments?

'Rice' equipment is strictly for show, not for go. Yes, any tacked-on, non-performance oriented JUNK qualifies, and I've seen plenty of it on Ford Mustangs. Way too much of it, if you ask me.

And if these people don't think the general public doesn't laugh when they see this nonsense, they are fools.

For example, Charlene's subframe connectors and 4-pt. K-brace cannot be seen at all, yet both serve very important performance functions. I continue to believe that most worthwhile modifications are those which cannot be seen from the outside. In fact, it is doubtful that most Mustang owners could even tell that performance suspension equipment has been added to Charlene.

If you were parked next to her as she was idling, you might believe that

*something* has been done, but you wouldn't be able to put your finger on what it was.

-JD

Oh HELL Yea! I had all of the stickers on the back window of my Chevy 4x4 back then too... Edelbrock, Holly, Hooker and so on. But it seems that back in the day they were an indication of things you had actually done to your car/truck. Nowadays thay are just so much goo on the glass. Ahhh yes... and side pipes... otherwise known as "striped twice pipes"... burning the back of your leg getting out of the car,

*sigh*

Kate

White beans kid... or black beans. You a communist or what? Red beans.. HUMPH!

*wink*

Kate

| | It's something that comes with red beans or sushi.... | | | -- | |

You juss ain't been a Sutherner long enough yet. Monday is wash day and that means red beans and rice.

Oh mannnnnn I have to take a bath on Mondays TOO ??!!

sheesh.

;¬D

Kate

| > *wink* | >

| > Kate | >

| | You juss ain't been a Sutherner long enough yet. Monday is wash | day and that means red beans and rice. | | -- | |

While not technically riced up like todays imports, people have been adding non perormance junk to their cars from the beginning! blue dots,side pipes chrome this & that, wide whites,flame throwers,scoops,spoilers,stickers & shit hanging from the rear veiw mirror,etc. mostly added to make the car emulate some version of race car, salt flat,oval,drag, etc. Nothing looked uglier than 60's,70's cars with air shocks,long spring shackles & rear tires sticking 4 inches out either side, with 2 glasspacks hanging off the the stock exhaust right under the seats. It's all called rice now, In the day around here it was referred as _______ ing (insert minority group) up your car!

Winze,

Exactly! (I've been trying to remind folks of this for quite some time.)

In the 70's, it was the Pro-Stock stance, glass packs, side pipes, fog lights, air shocks, wheelbarrow size hood scoops, etc.

80's had tricked out mini-pickups, or the Pro Street look with a stock/near-stock engine under the hood.

Now it's the Rally-car wannabees. Same old thing, it's just with a new generation's twist...

Patrick '93 Cobra '83 LTD

It might be a new twist, but the access to these types of parts far exceeds what was available in the 80's when I was busy moding my ride. Of course I was more in it for the light-to-light racing, and didn't care too much about handling. Things are different now. Now I'd like to pick-up a '01-'03 GT and have it stop on a dime and hug the corners with about 350hp under the hood.

Thinking back to those days, there's no telling what might have been done to cars had we had the access and resources that are available today. It was a Saturday journey to drive 90mins to the "speed shop" to see what they had available, and thumb through their catalogs to order parts. Now you just jump online...

In regards to decals, I have a select few on my 90 GT. They are on the quarter windows. One is a large Edelbrock, because all my major engine parts are by this brand. I also have a small BBK sticker since many of my suspension parts are by them, and I purchased a lot from them. To round things out I have an American flag and just for grins a small "Hot Wheels" logo decal. These are all matching on each side. A long time ago I had a sticker for the shop that did my performance work, but those eventually wore out, and I removed them. Ironic, since the shop also closed. :-)

My mods have all been carefully chosen within my financial limits, and while I feel they added decent power I'm still not a serious contender with many of today's cars. That's just a sign of changing technology and improved basic performance.

Perhaps the worst thing about "rice", in my opinion, is the attitude that goes with it. Folks who've grafted a six foot high wing on their car, or put a Folgiers exhaust tip on it, feel they are now magically empowered to race anything with wheels. Lately I'm seeing more stories about street racing in my town, and the accidents caused by it. Interestingly enough the cars most often shown are not performance cars at all. They are ordinary stock cars or "rice".

Anyway, just wanted to add my 2 cents.

Randy

90 GT

We're living in a world that's been pulled over our eyes to blind us from the truth. Where are you, white rabbit?

the only sticker I EVER put on my car, and that was my GT was a little bitty dive flag. that was only so that my buddies could tell if I didn't make it back or not, and to come looking for me.

Kate

Precisely, which is why I've come to consider the term "rice" to be a derogatory slang against any and all vehicles imported from the Japanese manufacturers, where eating rice is commonplace. Personally, I find the term to be disrespectful; however, acknowledge that this is my personal opinion on the origin of the term, and also acknowledge that most people using the term probably direct the term towards modified cars like the ones found in The Fast and the Furious and not necessarily as a racist comment.

Sean