Hey all, just curious about something...

You see them almost every day; those anti-social (redneck?) guys driving the town streets as if the devil is on their tail. When trafficlights turn green they sprint off with roaring engines and screaming tires and far exceed the speed limit only to stand before you at the next trafficlight (if they not just ignore them and drive through red).
They switch lanes, passing cars left and right, don't use direction lights and think they are excellent drivers, although the fact that they don't crash is due to the other road users who carefully react on their crazy driving.

In Dutch we call them ASO-s and mostly they have these things in common:
- they got their driverslicense somewhere within the last 5 years;
- they ALWAYS sit slant in their driverseat, so that their head is in the middle of the front window. Still don't know why that is...
- when they have a girl in the passenger seat, she's always an ornate blonde;
- their choiche of music is mostly everyting with a house beat, because it's simply the most effective music when you want everybody else can hear it to;
- the cars alwas have a two-way exhaust pipe, or otherwise some thing added that makes it look like a two way exhaust pipe;
- they add blue lights effects on the most strange places on their car to let you think they played in Fast and Furious
- mostly they wear a cap, and if they do, it's placed backwards on their short cutted head;
- mostly they have AT LEAST a golden double earing;
- the car is lowered, but mostly to low so they hit streerbumps (I once saw a car that was 'lowered' by using bricks on the floor )

But now I come to what I'm curious about. In my country those guys 90% of the time drive a blue or black Volkswagen Golf, a black or a red Honda Civic.

What are the ASO cars in your country???

PAUL

In poland its pretty much the same with one exception: their golfs and civics are in wide variety of colours;) And there are also guys like that driving seicento fiats

All I'll say is I just love watching them hit pot holes,and speed bumps...... We have lots of pot holes in New Jersey, and speed bumps......... :-) :-) :-) :-)
Even more entertaining is watching them bottom out, and stuck in 2 inches of snow........ and no one stopping to help..... :-) :-) :-)

We have them in Denmark as well. Here they often drive BMW, Honda Civic, Audi A3 or Peugots. There are two different hairstyles for these types. If they haven't shaved their heads, they have fairly long oily hair.

Hell yeah... we do have them here. Those car fans who put a lot of detail on their cars. Most are of the 1990s version. Add huge mufflers that roar too much, spoilers, bumpers and lowering springs. Annoying I must say

The car doesn't even look beautiful... I even put their so called "beautiful" car to shame. My 1.3 engine can beat the hell out up to 2.0 engines And no... I don't plan on adding such things to my car :-) :-) :-)

Pretty much call them the same thing here... LOL... SOmetimes I even add one or two expletives to that too... . .HOw about the guys that spend all their money on the air dam packages, only to not have enough left over to have it painted the same colour as the car... :-) :-) :-)

And there is nothing better then seeing one of these fine examples sitting on the side of the road whilst the local constabulary has a walk around to make sure the car isnt set up with Nitrous... LOL

Dave

Pretty much t he same in the U.K. we call them F.....g idiots or when I was a policeman "an accident going somewhere to happen" Ive been to enough R.T.A.s and seen what these idiots cause I dont really care if they end up in a body bag but I care about the poor innocent victims of this trash. sorry about the rant but they get my blood boiling.i think the modern term for these people is CHAV

I agree... they're the leading cause of accidents and frigging traffic here in our country which pisses me off Swooping corners in a flash, sudden acceleration and passing into tight spots, they make the road a race track!

We're actually blessed with 2 versions of ASO. The first is the "Dukes of Hazard" version in pick up trucks with bodies 5 feet off the ground, oversize tires, loud or no muffler, and at least ten hunting/fishing bumper stickers. Second is the more sophisticated "I'm all important and in a hurry" version, usually in a Jag, Lexus, Mercedes, etc., and of course with the ever present phone in the ear.

Art

We certainly have our share of "drivers" here in the states. There are kids who think they are in the last sequel of "The Fast and the Furious," (why the spoilers, guys? Are you afraid you are going to get squirrelly in the turn when you hit 65 mph? Come on...) We also have our share of guys who think they are on the way to a monster truck show, pickups with 5 foot tires. Then there are the people with chromed out SUVs with spinner rims that cost 5k a set.
I mind my on business and assume that everyone has a pistol under the front seat. Road rage arguments in Indiana tend to be a hell of a lot louder and a hell of lot shorter than they are elsewhere, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Two guys in pick up trucks chased each other for two hours on the Interstate last year, throwing beers and eventually lead at each other...

Shaun

They're everywhere!
What I always find funny are the aero packages that create more drag than down force. Oversized wings that do the same, even when they're not installed backwards. "Sound" systems that I would have tossed because the bass is so distorted, but loud enough to rattle the trunk. Yeah, we get the side leaners, too, but more ridiculous are the guys with the seats leaned way back and trying to sit up to see over the wheel when they aren't reclined (Trying to make a smaller target, maybe?) And the phones, the two worst are people on the phone in parking lots and the ones with the phone in the left hand held to the right ear while the right hand tries to steer from the left side of the wheel. Then there are the SUV's tricked out with bling-bling wheels and way to low profile tires. Guess these fools don't realilze the sidewal ia part of the suspension of their behemoths.

I drive a showroom stock S2000 which gets me where I want ot go with style and invariably gets looks and good comments.

I can't say too much without being really nasty & ugly about this "epidemic" you guys have touched on. I will say that out of the countless over-accessorized piece of $%^& cars, seen by me, that reflect poor taste & what I feel to be an almost thug-like attitude - some really do look good. Maybe 1 out of a 1000...maybe. I don't really have to ignore them per say as they usually shut the (you know what) up when I pull up in my 2004 M3 anyways. :-) recognize.

I am shocked to know that this is not just some sick perversion unique to the USA :-)

Now I guess those guys are everywhere (who's to blame for this?).
But I was just very curious what brand of cars they run.
Phillipines???
UK - Vauxhall's???
USA /Canada Ford Probes???

John, now what's a CHAV ?? You can PM me if you think it's autocensured in your post :-)



No bother Alex, I thought it was typical Dutch :-) :-)

Pedro, Seicento's??? That's sad man! I can imagine an over-spoilered and lowered Fiat Seicento... My grandma would drive one :-)
LOL was driving behind a Polish Panda this afternoon, but that driver was OK.

When I got driving lessons waaaay back in younger years my instructor always warned me to stay in a reasonable distance behind of other cars, but keep FAR AWAY from Belgium ones

Mostly I see are Honda Civics (both the old hatchback ones and the new sedan series) ), Mazda 626 (or was it the 628?), both the hatch and the sedan, some old school Fiats, Kia Prides, Toyota Corollas. Basically any 90 era cars and few 2000 cars.

Paul,

Where I live - these cars are strictly of Japanese origin. Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi & Mazda are the primary base models - I have yet to see a Subaru or any European made car fall under this category - nor any U.S. made car. Mind you, I have nothing against these "brands" as I have driven/ owned many cars in my few years of life on this planet. My only guess is their relative affordability & good gas mileage - now to make things uglier - Toyota has unleashed a sub-brand called Scion here in the US which is 100% geared towards this entire "culture" so they obviously are well aware of it and support it.
I'd like to think it is just something that seperates the generations, but this kind of nonsense was around when I was in high-school and that was 20 years ago. What bothers me about it is that these modifications rarely do anything to actually enhance the car's performance & as I have mentioned in my previous post - they just look like - thugs, gangster wanna be's, hoods - whatever you want to call it.

Several of you have touched on it but one of my favorites is the "wings" that look like they come out of an erector set. You can tell they spent their last dime on them and can't afford to paint them. These look particularly "good" on four door POS sedans (for you guys overseas POS is piece of sh$t) that look like they'd be worth $100 only if they had a full tank of gas.

Another are the cars that should have 15" wheels on them but have had them replaced by 13" ones and tires that stick out about a foot on either side. Is this supposed to help them corner, because it sure doesn't help them go over anything bigger than a flattened road kill.

I'm also amazed that this isn't just a US thing.

To show you it isn't just a US thing, here some I found Googling around:

The 90% top in The Netherlands: VW Golf...








And offcourse, the international famous Civic...


The most funniest I saw: Believe it or not, it's a Renault Twingo (small shopping car). It must have a big strong engine of say... 0.9 liter???


:-) :-)

Paul, a Chav is a peculiar type of vermin which we have produced in the UK . it habitually wears a burberry base ball cap a designer T shirt and track suit bottoms and trainers its hair is usually short and thick with gel, usually when you look into a chavs eyes you can see the back of his head theres nothing inside, their girl friends arnt much better a Chav deals with problems by hitting them but never on his own he usually goes mob handed and gives his victim a good kicking but only if you arnt biger than them then they skulk off, i had a mob of them throw a beer can at me the other day but I dont turn the other cheek I went after them with an adjustable spanner the lot of them run . Cars are usually second hand Fiestas driven flat out disobeying every road law if they cant afford a car they steal one and then burn it after they have had their fun.

Clapped out Vauxhall Nova is another favourite in the U.K. Vauxhall is of course called Opel everywhere else in the world .

Ha....this (with the exception of the bad girl sticker) looks like my old car!!



Yeah, me and my buddies use to roll in these. But I got two stolen and now drive a mini-van (hey, it was free!). Some misconceptions though, we weren't thugs..we all disliked rap music. We all had good jobs (you gotta pay for this $hit somehow), and my head was not shaved.

I did blast my stereo though...and still do in the mini-van. Hell, I'm deaf from the 120 going off next to my head during my days in the Army.

Oh and I always used my turn signals when weaving in and out of traffic.

Stuke,

I am obliged to judge or assess a person by thier posts as I have only intentionally met 1 person in this community of modellers to confirm my feelings of friendship and having said that, I hold you in high standing. I apologize to you concerning my remarks about said "group" of individuals. Although my feelings about the matter still remain - you can just chalk it up as one of Alex Hodges' narrow minded shortcomings.

Stuke, I'm happy you 'came out' in this forum with your story. If I have offended you, I make my appoligees.

No, I don't believe they are ALL bad, their must be some exceptions somewhere. Specially when you really used your signal lights :-)
Of course we are generalizing a bunch here, but I think I'm right if you know from your 'rolling days' these types too? I mean, everybody else know those guys in whatever country they are in... Turned out even the cars are common...

Now don't get me wrong here. I have nothing against someone who likes to race a (what is IMHO) rebuilded shoppingcar, as long as they don't do it on the public road, endangouring everybody else, specially kids.

I love military vehicles owned by civilian collectors and fast classic cars like the '71 Mustang Mach I. Hell, I even like some of the modern muscle cars like the new Mustang.
But if these cars where used to terror the streets they may be crashed on the junkyard as well (together whit drunken drivers).

But Stuke, now I know you used to drive those cars I seriously curious and want to ask you if you also sat in that strange way I see all those guys drive; slanting with your bud on the seat and your head in the middle of the car, and if so, why do they do that??
Again; I'm not fooling you arround, you are as Vadster say a 'Big A Brother'. I'm just curious about it....

LOL....don't worry about offending me guys! I just wanted to give a view point from the other side. And point out a few differences between what we did and what I was reading here.

First off, the cars. I had two Hondas, an Accord and a Civic similiar to the one in my first post. Why? Hell, it's easy...they were cheap!! I later on got an Acura Integra, but I didn't spruce that one up much. I loved it the way it was stock. Well, could've used some bigger rims.

I didn't race them, so I never added the turbo kits, or racing mufflers and I sure as $hit never put on the giant spoiler...that's stupid. If I wanted to race cars I would've gone after a Suburu WRX or like others have said some good ol' fashioned American muscle. I did add the fancy dancy rims, lower the car a bit (never high centered the car on a speed bump) and put in some pretty big stereo systems.

I'm pretty sure that the volume of my music annoyed people, but face it they never had to listen to it for longer than 30 seconds at a stop light. Plus, it wasn't the "gangsta rap" that is so prevelant in America these days. It was good ol' Trance music. Yeah, thudding bass...but no screaming whatsoever. I still listen to the stuff as music nowadays seems to be utter crap.

Don't get me wrong, we weren't innocent boys by any means. We were what you most would know as "clubbers", you know the new term "metrosexuals". Very concerned with our appearance, working out, wearing nice clothes...no baseball caps here boys. We partied hard every weekend always chasing some tail at stripclubs or dance clubs. We did often use "designer drugs" and some of us even sold them for a short time. But we never got in fights, nor looked for them. We considered ourselves lovers not fighters.

It seems like a lifetime ago as I cleaned up my act the second I met my wife on New Years 2003. My other buds ended up becoming fed up with the scene and moved to Thailand right around that time. Now I am a normal 30 year old husband and father of one (with the exception of an armful of tattoos) and a supervisor at a major truck manufacturing plant in Oregon.

Just some insight guys. I do believe these kids that are about five to ten years behind me are completely out-of-control. I have a few 18-20 year olds on my line that are a constant source of disrespect to both management and their fellow employees. Tomorrow I am terminating one as a favor to him in the long run. He needs to get a taste of reality real quick and I am going to give it to him.

Oh, and I did sit low in my car, but never leaned over to the center. Honestly, I don't know why we did this?? Maybe to make the car seem even lower??

Now these do look hilarious and sad at the same time, race (road) track midgets:

fiat cinquecento






and an ancient fiat 126p



I made those photos on a "tuning" show/ picnic in Gdynia, aren't they cute?
Paul, Pandas aren't driven by ASOs here, I think that they aren't considered cool looking by those guys

Cheers
Pedro

Only the 4x4 with the woman drivers (sorry Ladies, but that how it goes over here... )...

They are as bad (or worse) as the ASO's, they just think they own the road

B.t.w. in a couple of weeks I get my new car, this one:



Kris