I have been playing around with the idea of a website that showcased Asia’s Custom Culture scene for a while now but had not come up with a format that I liked at last I think I am getting close, it is my plan to give the many thousands of Custom Culture lovers from across the globe an intro to the Asian scene and try to show what it is that makes it different from the scene in Western countries.
As a Westerner who has been involved in the Asian Custom Culture scene for the past nine years the differences that stand out to me are; Motorcycles are the most popular style of powered transport in Asia therefore many more people have access to and can afford to customise motorcycles, you can readily fabricate parts and modify bikes, spare parts are cheap and easily sourced as are custom parts, in fact due to the numbers of motorcycles in Asia the custom parts industry is huge.
Home built Custom, Kustomfest JogJakarta
A private car (a car that is solely for personal transport) is a luxury item out of reach of the bulk of the population in most Asian countries and those who do own a car generally own one car which practical and economical to run, given the choice between a 1960’s Ford Mustang and a 3 series BMW it would be the Beemer every time, for the younger generation JDM is the way to go, fortunately there are a few folks who dream of owning a Custom Car and are prepared to buy American, European or Japanese cars to modify, some wish to build a Hot Rod (these cars will more than likely resemble a Rat Rod) from scratch using random parts salvaged from whatever they can find, whichever way they roll the cars are always built with an Asian interpretation of the style and a sense of fun, be prepared to have your custom horizon widened.
Because Asia does not carry the baggage of 70 years of Hot Rodding folk lore, builders are free to interpret, imagine, design and build Customs using whatever Car they like, they are not bound by the need to blend in like a lot of Western enthusiasts, we have all seen the rows of Mustangs at a show with similar stance, similar wheels and similar paint or all the black Harleys Customised straight out of the Harley catalogue, Asian builders are not afraid to say this is my Bike or my Car and i don’t give a f@#$k what you think! the need to push the design and construction envelope particularly in the custom bike scene is rampant in Asia driven by visionary designer craftsman and home builders using a wide variety of brands and style of Bikes to work their magic on.