Letter Of The Month
This month's Letter of the Month will receive an exclusive eurotuner T-shirt for his effort. If you'd like the same, email us at eurotuner@primedia.com or write to: eurotuner Magazine Letters, 6420 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90048.
Quick Draw
Following the story you ran ("Quick Draw", et 5/06) I just wanted to show you some Photoshop chops I did. The BMW is my newest work. In fact, I only finished it a couple of days ago. It's of the recently released BMW E92 (the Coupe version of the E90 3-Series). The other is of a Seat Ibiza.
I noticed in the story that you wanted more people to send in Photoshop chops and I wondered if you'd considered running a competition to encourage more people to have a go?
Jon Sibal
Aliso Viejo, CA
Thanks for taking the time to send in these examples. We love the BMW in particular. We also want to encourage other readers to do the same and will be running a competition next month. It will be online and in the mag, and we'll try to get a decent prize. In the meantime, please email any other images you might have to eurotuner@primedia.com
Green-eyed Monster 1
You made some good points regarding the Euro scene ("Editorial", et 4/06) and generally it does have a wealthier crowd. However, to determine if the owner worked two jobs and busted his knuckles to build the car I compare their source of income with the dollar amount in the car. If he makes $10000 per year and put $25000 into it, with no help from his parents, what does the math indicate?
I travel throughout North America giving training, interviewing suspects and attending car shows surrounding the darker side of the sport compact scene. That is the Fast & the Fraudulent side. I know the majority of the industry as it relates to SEMA parts is good, but it only takes a fraction of the $31 billion dollars to add up to a lot of fraud. Not to mention the body shop side of fraud, which is millions of dollars.
The theft and fraud aspect does play a big role in the scene as I see it, but I do have a greater exposure to the questionable side. Anyway, you made some good points in your piece.
Mike Bender
Carlsbad, CA
Er, we were just suggesting people had rich parents... We weren't considering fraud. It obviously exists, although you may be jaundiced if that's what you see every day. I still maintain it's too easy to look at a young kid with an expensive car and assume the worst. Yes, he might be selling drugs to infants, but he could also be working three jobs and sacrificing everything to achieve it. I prefer to assume the latter.
Green-Eyed Monster 2
I read all the letters in each issue and reflect on them. One thing that bothers me is all the students who have these cars with ridiculous mods. While some say they may be just as dedicated as us, I'm not so sure. I mean, look at the lower income guys. Don't they spend more time building their cars? Any rich kid can piece together a car in whatever amount of time they want and say they're dedicated. To me, dedication and passion equals hard work. Managing three jobs while in school and doing whatever it takes to get your project up and running: making sacrifices to build your car. And after a bad day at work, looking back and being able to smile because you know it's all for the car. If that's not considered more passion and dedication than the rich kid, then I don't know what to tell you.