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Boston Globe

Want to add some attention grabbing oomph to your car? Then in today's lingo you go to a tuner to get your whip tricked out. As Ayer's Impala shows, modern day customization means much more than popping in a powerful stereo system or slapping on some new wheels. The 21st century options are limited only by the owner's imagination, and judging from the vehicles prowling the streets of Boston and its suburbs, people have become very imaginative.

American and foreign cars with slammed bodies that hover just a few inches above the ground. Upholstery fashioned out of Gucci, Louis Vuitton, or Prada fabric. A GMC Yukon tarted up to look like a high end Cadillac Escalade. Supersized rims that stretch as wide as 28 inches spin or sparkle with shiny chrome. And for extras: How about a PlayStation 2, a DVD

player, television monitors, or a navigation system? Yes, yes, yes, is the rhapsodic cry of a national array of Americans who spent an astounding $27 billion last year to spruce up their rides according to the Specialty Equipment Market Association, which represents the manufacturers of aftermarket parts that turn a car buff's vision into reality.

"I spend a lot of time in my car," says Sammi Tong, 25, of Weymouth, who in fact owns two a sporty 2002 Subaru WRX that she drives on weekends and a 2003 Mercedes CLK 500 that her father urged her to buy because of its safety. "So I like to make it look good, make it look nicer, perform well, and be safe." A business major at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, Tong has invested $20,000 to soup up the Subaru. "I think it's worth it," she says.

Catching the bug'

People in the business describe the customization craze as a "sickness," a "bug," an "addiction." Those suffering from the disease are young and old, celebrities and regular folk, fake louis bag men and, increasingly, women. They're a multiculti hodgepodge who turned 2001's love letter to speedy cars, "The Fast and the Furious," and this year's sequel, "2 Fast 2 Furious," into huge movie hits.

This crowd is serviced by a multitude of television series, magazines, movies, car shows, and websites dedicated to the culture. You can turn on Spike TV's replica louis vuitton "Ride With Funkmaster Flex"; flip through Dub magazine to admire luxe vehicles owned by Adrien Brody, Missy Elliott, and Kobe Bryant; or attend last month's Custom Car, Bike Concert Supershow at the Bayside Expo Center in Dorchester. "Cribs," MTV's insider look at the houses and garages of athletes and musicians, inspired a new generation to buy bigger rims for their cars. The customization craze is now so mainstream that a Pepsi Vanilla commercial features a tricked out delivery truck unfurling its massive speakers and bouncing on its hefty wheels.

As it goes with most replica louis vuitton bags from china obsessions, Dwayne Mills, a 30 year old barber at Finest Cuts Barber Shop in Grove Hall, can't quite explain how he caught this bug. But he's definitely been bitten. His gold 2000 Lincoln Navigator with the distinctive license plate "FUNK" sports an interior fully lined with cheap louis vuitton bags from china uk brown and 1:1 replica handbags tan Gucci fabric. Leather flaps hide the television screens on the back of each headrest, and additional monitors lurk in the dashboard and the rear view mirror. The whole thing sits on 22 inch spinners, wheels that mesmerizingly continue to turn after the truck comes to a stop.

"It's all for the ladies, he'll tell ya," says Ayer, 32, owner of 4130 Car Audio in Quincy, who installed two stereo systems in Mills's Navigator and procured the clear bucket and fake ice cubes for the bottle of Cristal champagne Mills has tucked in the SUV's trunk.

"Nah, no girls," Mills says.

He does it for the car shows. (For the discerning car customizer, designer fabric interiors are this year's hot accessory.) "I can honestly say," Mills says, "I was the first [to have it] in Boston."

Quest to be the best

Those bragging rights are what it's all about for the people who run in these circles. Customizing won't help a car appreciate in value, but they give owners a shot at being the first, the one, the only. "You always want to be better than the next person," says Ayer, which may explain why this industry thrives even in an economic downturn. Sales of aftermarket parts increased 4 percent last year.

"Before, it was a matter of putting wheels on," says John Jarasa, managing editor of Dub magazine. "Now the next person can put wheels on, so what do you do? You put in a Gucci interior. If someone does Gucci, you do Prada. Everyone's trying to push it to that next level."

Those sitting in the upper echelons of uniqueness acquire the shine of celebrity. People point, yell, and chase cars down the street just to get an eyeful.

"This is your car? It's ill," a wiry preteen says to Moises Junior Fils, 25, a manager at Hip Zepi clothing store in Mattapan Square, as he ambles past Fils's sparkling hunter green 1998 Lexus GS300. The rolling tribute to the Boston Celtics contains a miniature basketball court with hardwood floors in its trunk, Celtics emblems embroidered into its headrests, and a basketball signed by the entire 2002 Celtics team.

"People's reaction make it all worth it," says Matt Colella, 24, whose tricked out tan '95 Impala recently is parked in the sun next to Ayer's black one in front of 4130 Car Audio on Winter Street.

Ten cars sit in various stages of completion at the garage. A green Volkswagen Cabriolet is getting air bags, the first step in turning it into a show car. An automotive hag sits in the rear. It's a beat up burgundy '94 Honda waiting for white/blue pearlescent finish and a baby blue Gucci fabric interior to transform it into a Cinderella.

fake designer bags Ayer got his start tinkering on vehicles in the driveway of his parents' house. "I was working three jobs just to hook up cars," he says. People liked what they saw and began asking him to do their rides. Three years ago, he opened his own shop, which ostensibly specializes in audio but also installs air bags and customized interiors.

For years, import cars drove this industry, but Ayer's three rides are rolling advertisements for what can be done to American cars. He's got an orange 1985 Trans Am with a 400 horsepower engine, strobe lighting, air bags, zebra print interior, and 20 inch rims. There's a 1966 Chrysler Newport with fins that sits inches off the ground and sports a Louis Vuitton fabric interior. He's poured between $20,000 and $30,000 into the Impala, adding distinctive accents such as the car's funky custom made steering wheel with a flame design, 20 inch spinners, a black suede interior, and three televisions connected to a DVD player. "My girlfriend loves it," Ayer says of the monitors, which get a workout on road trips to Quebec and Florida. "Every time we go somewhere, she sits back and watches TV."

Getting in on the game

Lately, women are shifting from being observers of the wonders of customization to active participants. Personalizing import vehicles is hot in Tong's native fake designer bags Hong Kong, so she knew what to do when she bought her sleek silver Subaru last year. She took it to T 3 Motorsports in Jamaica Plain, owned by her boyfriend, Tony Wong, and had the suspension goosed up to give the car a stiffer ride. Since then, new Designer Louis Vuitton Replica Handbags work gets done incrementally, whenever extra cash flows in. She's popped on 17 inch rims and purchased a body kit, which changed the shape of the bumper, sides, and rear apron. She's added JDM headlights, clear ovals with interior circles that makes the Subaru look as if it has eyes.

"It doesn't look like a girl's car, you know," Tong says approvingly. "It looks mean. It's not feminine at all."

As she cheap louis vuitton bags from china eases the Subaru onto Huntington Avenue on the Jamaica Plain/Brookline border, the engine alternately purrs and roars thanks to the upgraded exhaust system. The recently installed bucket seats from Japan hug her body as the car darts through traffic and around the potholes that could damage the slammed frame. When Tong glides onto the Jamaicaway and guns the engine until the aftermarket Japanese gauge reads 80 kilometers per hour (50 miles per hour), it feels fake louis bag like a stomach churning roller coaster ride.

Tong can handle it. She test drives every addition at the New England Dragway in New Hampshire. "You have to take some time to know how the car functions and reacts," she says.

Her ride may capture admiring glances from fellow drivers now, but there's always the potential that something better lurks in the next parking lot. A tricked out black Lexus prowling city streets seems to be angling to take the shine off Fils's Lexus. "I told Junior he better watch out," Mills jokes. Meanwhile, Mills is keeping his eye on the yellow orange Yukon/Escalade hybrid that won "best replica louis vuitton bags SUV" at the Funkmaster Flex Celebrity Car Show last month. "If I would have been there," says Mills, "there would have been a problem. I think my truck is better than his."

To establish dominance over the high quality replica handbags china other competitors, Mills had his Navigator's door handles shaved off, giving his SUV the clean lines and uniqueness judges look for at shows. What's next for the vehicle that has everything? How about mobile computing and custom fuel doors that pop out and swivel.