The death of the tuner
Mugen S2000 at the 2008 Tokyo Auto Salon
Ok, so the tuner is not truly dead. But it is not in a good position. Tokyo Auto Salon showed proof. HKS a no show, Honda a no show, Mitsu a no show, GReddy is bankrupt. The girls? Slim pickings. Sad day for us jap car lovers.
Tuners used to be laughed at. A supposed offshoot of the muscle car guys, little punks who thought they could soup up their 4-bangers and burn V8′s. It’s a billion dollar industry, Mr. pony car gear-head.
Am I a tuner anymore? No, not really. Though there is something very sensual about the smell of burnt rubber, the sound of nitrous being injected into the cylinder. The sweet whine of the supercharger, the hiss of a blow-off valve. Ah, and the distinct sound of VTEC kicking in. I like go-fasters and good-lookers, especially when they are go-fasters.
Even though there is a part of the tuner world that can afford to spend thousands of dollars into a civic just to make it go faster, not all of us were gifted with that kind of money. Those guys bred what drives the core of the tuner world (not rice): ingenuity. Finding all sorts of ways to tweak a little extra power out of that 4-banger or 6 cylinder.
Though I still have friends who are into that life, I’ve pretty much left it behind. Too many close calls with the cops on too many street races. I gambled enough and it was time to get out while the gettin was good. Yet that life is still a part of who I am, the ingenuity, the passion, the fight against the established mindset. Even though some guys will spend $40k in a $16k car to beat a car that cost $33k, I’ve grown up a bit, so I’ll take the $33k car and spend $5k to win 
We'll miss you ladies! Come back soon
It is sad to see this industry hurting though. Another blow from this recession. Even for the non-purists who scream at those brats weaving in and out of traffic, their world has positively affected yours. It got enough attention to bring in the manufacturers. Lessons learned from the R&D work of these aftermarket shops eventually find their way into your stock engine, improving power and fuel economy. People fail to realize one of the easiest ways to draw more power of the engine is to make it more efficient, which means you use less fuel for more power. That’s bang for your buck.
Hopefully most of the best players in the tuner world will survive these recession. We’ll know it when those scantily clad models make their return debut at the big time auto shows.
