by Henri Zimand

Created on: May 09, 2010   Last Updated: May 10, 2010

Customizing a car depends on what you want to achieve with the car and the budget you have available.

The budget can be anywhere from a few thousand dollars to hundreds of thousand of dollars, depending on what you want to do.

You can keep the existing car and just make some exterior paint job to make the vehicle look completely different. You could add some different bumpers and a few accessories around the vehicle and that would not be very expensive but you would have something different.

The interior has many possibilities as well, from changing the chairs to changing every little item that exists inside from the dashboard, the gear stick; the door handles to adding a stereo and television system.

The engine can be changed and strengthened, the wheels can be wider and more beautiful, and the suspension can be hydraulic allowing your car to be raised or lowered.

The exhaust pipe can be changed and even lighting around and under the car can be done. There is no boundary that you cannot reach, remembering to remain within the law where you drive your car.

I bought a car, a Subaru Imprezza turbo to have a basic running car, took a designer to design a new car, got myself some offers and went ahead to change completely my car. What remained were the engine and its base plate.

From here I started to build a completely new car in two different garages, one building the outer shell and the second one building the complete new interior. When the car was finished, I sent it to Paris to the tuning car exhibition where it won the first prize for the interior and exterior design.

This was in fact, extreme and the budget was accordingly. Look at the television program pimp your car and you will see how even an old wreck can be remodeled at very low costs.

So the most important is to have a budget and see what can be changed in the car to make it look and feel different, otherwise it can become a deep hole where you can pour money without any end in sight. You cannot imagine that every accessory can have price ranges from very low cost to very high costs running in the thousands of dollars per each small item.

You can build a completely computerized car, with automatic atmosphere lighting, music, television and air-conditioning. Your designer can plan an outer shell that gives it a futuristic look.

Plan well ahead, check all the prices before starting, look at your budget and then decide what you can really do and go ahead and enjoy the finished car of your dreams.

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