For the love of Silvias!!! Aftermarket Industry rant....

[Teknolust72]

*Mods, I hope this thread becomes a decent conversation, but if it gets out of hand, please feel free to close it. Thanks!*

First off, let me say that I LOVE ZILVIA. It is always a good place for information and tough love. I've met lots of cool people along the way, and I want to say thank you to everyone that help the S-chassis scene grow. A 240sx is a relatively affordable car, and its nice that people put their heart and souls into driving and buidling cars.

But what seriously worries me is where will the industry be in 5, 10, or even 20 years?!? When I first began working in this industry 14 years ago, there were sooo many people with genuine intent to build this industry. I even remember when Turbo and Sport Compact Car magazines were a NECESSITY for every garage. Some of you guys might even have friends that started from NOTHING, and have now built an awesome career out of their passions (i.e. Dr. Charles).

So why is the current state of things different? I believe it to be lack of passion and respect for cars in general. I personally, always try to buy products from the big brands because I stand behind their tuning philosophy, passion, and reputation. If I want them to continue to make great products, the least I can do to pay them my respects is by buying their products. I know someone is gonna say "A strut bar is a strut bar!", but then I'm gonna say "Are you proud to tell all your friends you bought a $20 generic strut bar? Did you get it from the same store as your fake Louis Vuitton wallet?"

Especially with the economy in a dire situation, I feel that we, as a community(as a Zilvian), need to support the companies that literally designed everything we desire for our cars. I know this topic has been covered before, and it will probably end up in a stale mate like all the other times. But what would you feel if one of your OWN community members was responsible for replica's and knock offs?

Recently, I became aware of some individuals (ON THIS FORUM) that had the audacity to replicate Super Made body kits. I understand its expensive, but if you guys enjoy having Japanese parts brought into the U.S., then why would you want to have hundreds of copies floating all over the place....

I've worked all these years in an effort to bring the U.S. tuning scene to the same level as Japan, but now I seriously question "what's the point?" If no one is thankful to have nice parts on their cars, why even bother...

Industry old-schoolers to new schoolers, please discuss....

(sorry for the huge rant)