Growing up in the Bay Area in the ’90s, my experience of Japanese-import car culture was limited to observation—sitting in a car next to some souped-up Toyota or Honda that revved at a red light and then left us in the dust. We called them “rice rockets,” a phrase I was never quite comfortable with. (I’m Asian American, after all.) Ky-Phong Tran’s piece on the joys of modifying cars goes further than nostalgia: He argues that Asian Americans didn’t just participate in import car culture during those years—they created it. And when The Fast and the Furious came along, it erased them from their own story. This is a short yet rewarding read about identity, belonging, and the magic of a car that can take you back in time.
Now when I hit a loopy freeway interchange at night and my GR Corolla carves through the turn, it’s 1996 and I’m cruising in my CRX, getting pho in San Gabriel or rushing to a flyer party at Naga in Long Beach. My old Alpine face-off stereo plays O.D.B. rapping on Mariah Carey’s “Fantasy.” The Pioneer subwoofer in the trunk thumps that iconic bass like a heartbeat. Of course, the sunroof is open. I’m 21 years old again, and the whole world is still in front of me.
More stories about cars
Route 66 Is Turning 100 This Year. It Still Has Stories to Tell About America.
“The country’s legendary main street celebrates its centennial against the backdrop of the nation’s 250th birthday. Could there be a better time for a road trip?”
‘You Killed the Car’
“A Ferrari and a distinctive Highland Park home combined for an iconic scene in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”
He Tried to Save Himself. He Killed An 11-Year-Old Instead.
“’If you’re going to classify this story in any way, the story that you classify it as is a tragedy.’”
He Wants a New Start. So He Is Taking the Hardest Driving Test in the World.
“In a world of GPS and car-hailing apps, some Londoners still want to drive a traditional black cab. First, they must memorize thousands of city streets.”
Car Talk
“I’d kept up my license, but now I needed a car. What kind of car? As in the usual run of things—a congenital tilt towards irreality, an obdurate wistfulness—I pined for something that did not exist: the car at the end of the mind.”
Asleep at the Wheel in the Headlight Brightness Wars
“The crusade against bright headlights has picked up speed in recent years, in large part due to a couple of Reddit nerds. Could they know what’s best for the auto industry better than the auto industry itself?”
