Which Are the Best Old Cars to Modify?

To a certain degree, the answer to this question will depend on the end result you are looking for: an out-and-out speed wagon, a drifter, a custom showpiece…

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Historically, the custom car trend was almost totally driven by the petrolhead world of America, with modified 1930’s Fords, late-Sixties Dodge Chargers and the like. However it didn’t take too long for the rest of the world to catch up, particularly the Japanese.

Accordingly there’s a pretty long history of many Japanese marques getting the full treatment, with wide alloy wheels, bigger engines and even roll cages to complete the look. There’s the Nissan 240SX classic for the budget drifter, the Honda Civic, the Mazda MX-5 and of course, the Mitsubishi Evo- through the years. Then there’s the Nissan 350, 370Z, the Subaru WRX and of course, the Mitsubishi GTO.

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European cars soon began to be modified too, especially the timeless Porsche 911, although you need a fatter wallet than you would with some other cars to make this one work. The Volkswagen Golf GTI also deserves a special mention; it’s been out there so long and has a near-cult following, so the amount that are widely available to the would-be custom enthusiast are frankly mind-boggling. Of the rest of the German family we have the BMW 3Series, which again has been around a while, and not forgetting the unexpected but iconic VW Campervan.

American Muscle is where a lot of the classic and lasting mod-work has been put into effect. The Pontiac Firebirds, Camaros and Mustangs that appear in so many movies, splashed across so many car magazines, with the corresponding lifestyle to boot. Obviously, the power/torque stats have something to do with this: bigger, brighter, faster, fatter, louder is always better.

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However, where Street Rods, Hot Rods, Pro Streets, and Rat Rods from the 1930’s all the way through to 50’s, 60’s and 70’s are all epitomised, worshipped, exaggerated and customised to the hilt, is through one bog-standard, almost-overlooked, staple car manufacturer through the eras.

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This one badge has seen the most extreme and varied imaginings created from its modest beginnings. The make that keeps on getting reinvented by each generation as it comes along, is the common-or-garden, Lesser-Spotted Ford.

Yes. The humble, unassuming Fords are the vehicles that have consistently grabbed the attentions of amorous teenage boys with far too much time on their hands, their hard-earned cash burning a hole through the pockets of their painfully tight Levi’s.

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Every type of Ford seems to have caught the attention of the custom crowd, but especially the Fat Fender Fords (cars and trucks, mind), the Ford ¾-ton Fat Fender Side-Step, Flat-Head, 4-Speed and the Ford Coupe’s through the 1930-1950’s.

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For sure, movies have played no small part in this. George Lucas’s seminal dive into the world of ’rodding, street-racing and bravura that was the smash hit ‘American Graffiti’, certainly scrawled its paintjob large on the American psyche and perhaps prolonged - or gave new life to - a movement that might otherwise have been discarded much earlier, as a generation of post-war kids grew up and got sensible in a booming American economy.

And the reason that Fords remain to be the best old cars to modify are several:

• They were cheap to buy.

• They were incredibly robust.

• The engine bay was spacious enough to hold whatever anyone wanted to drop in it.

• Spares were cheap, plentiful and easy to come by.

• The cars were very simple in design and therefore easy to modify.

• A whole industry sprang up, ready and willing to supply the keenest enthusiast with whatever he or she desired to pimp their ride.

• The big, expansive lines these vehicles were designed with lend themselves to adventurous creative alteration.

• There is still, even to this day, a solid sub-culture supporting and celebrating these vehicles.

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