Different Car Styles

Hello! James here from The Digital Garage. Alright so you are into vehicles you say? That is great! Now chances are you have been surfing the web looking at cars or even checking out the car shows locally and the big ones. You will have no doubt come across some cool looking cars and trucks. And that is what this is all about. Helping you sort through the terminology a bit. I'll start with one that you may not see too much.

Original and Unrestored:

Image taken from the web

 

 

Alright Original and Unrestored is just like it sounds. The vehicle has had no restoration done to it and everything is original on the car. This includes paint, trim, drive train and so on. Now some original and unrestored cars are a little rough around the edges. And in a sense you could say your daily driver is essentially an original and unrestored car provided you have done nothing except maintain it. And that is the idea of this class. You are basically looking at a vehicle direct from whatever time period in whatever state it is in. This includes paint fading or chipping and a worn interior.

 

 

Restored:

 

 

Image taken from the web

 

Restored cars are again much like they sound. However sometimes this terminology can become a grey area. A truly restored vehicle is one brought back to the same specifications that it would have had straight from the factory. If this means mechanical brakes then to be properly restored it must have mechanical brakes. Some people do argue the concept of modern safety in areas like brakes for example. But a truly restored car should have the function of an original and unrestored car but with new life in it. Fresh paint, fresh tires, reworked chassis and engine and so on that all fit within the parameters of the time period. If this means an inferior OEM cable then so be it. Again this sometimes becomes a grey area but the technical definition is what has been stated. Also you would keep the paint on the car the same that was available at that time and if you knew the original color then most people would paint it back to its original color.

 

Resto-mod:

 

Image taken from the web

 

Alright this is my personal favorite and also a category that is open to many interpretations. I will be going over my view point on a resto-mod. It basically means a restored and modified car. The car is not only given new life but upgraded as well. So when does a restored car become a resto-mod? Well in a strict technical sense it does so as soon as you update any component on the vehicle. So adding disc brakes to all for corners could make it into a resto-mod. But more often then not a resto-mod is a vehicle with some decent modifications to it. Modern engine, bodywork, modern wheels and tires, updates sound system and the like are what you can expect. Also paint is fully open to your interpretation. If you want neon green on your 1930's vehicle then you do it. I love this category because for me if you keep it simple you have a nicely restored car and modern safety and convenience. Within this category you also may here other terminologies. The big one is a stealth resto-mod. This means the modernized additions are hidden. So you may have a modern sound system but the speakers and control panel would be hidden or made to look like they belong. Restoration purists usually dislike this category of cars. 

 

Custom/modified:

 

Image taken from the web

 

The gloves are off in this category. Anything goes here from just a wild paint job to a full blown assault on your car senses. You want a fishbowl vehicle with 3 engines? Boom! you got it. But in all seriousness this category is the most open, from modern cars tricked out with modifications and paint to full custom creations or a led sled everything goes. You could say tuner cars fit in here as well. If your just getting into cars the best advice I can give is if the car does not fit into one of the other categories then its a custom or modified car. This category is open to the most interpretation and it can be something as simple as a very nice and expensive paint job. It can also be as wild or more so then the above image.

 

 

Alright! Hope you enjoyed this walk through the different styles of vehicles that you may see. This was just an overview and in reality each classification's definition will depend on the person. You may even here of more categories then these but I feel that these 4 categories are the best over arching classifications for what you may see on the web or at a car show.

 

See you on the road.