Return of the Barry

[Curtis]

Me and adam73bgt were talking cars the other day (extraordinary I know) and we came across the topic of Max Power and Barry Boys. Such is the current trend of Euro with bags and wheels or JDM and skid bitches with their beaten panels and zipties adorning the covers of our magazines, it made us somewhat miss the late 90s, early 00s trends of get a small eco-hatch, pile 5 figures into it and end up with something that may or may not have been touching the boundaries of taste, but certainly showed the effort of the time and money the owner spent on the car. I'm talking stuff like this:







Now obviously these beauties have seen their day, and have been pushed aside by the aforementioned, 'simpler' and 'less cluttered' styles of tuning, however I have noticed in more recent times they are starting to make a comeback. Bodykits, big wheels and neons are all making their way to show grounds across the country.

What are your thoughts? The 'scene' could do with a bit of variety again, or should all that stay back in the history books?

I for one welcome our new Barry overlords.


(pictures welcome and encouraged to demonstrate your points for and against)

[joem83]

While some were of questionable taste/quailty, at least there was out of the box thinking and something to bare in mind is most were built before/with very little internets. Ebay didnt even exist!

I think it would be good to see the whole 90's/00's thing done now that tech has moved on so much - only negative is, as great as the internet is, it can stop people from being as creative as they are more likely to get ripped to peices by people with nothing better to do.

While I do like the stuff being built at the minute, it seems all you have to do to build a "Show" car is stick expensive rims & air ride on a brand new car.

*off to the laptop for some self pic whoring of my maxpower (redline actually lol) ride from 2004

**Now at the laptop, so cue shamless pic whoring lol







(No the front tints werent legal even back then)

Quick run down of the spec:
205 Rallye (Yellow)
Ecosse arches
M3 Side Skirts
DTM Mirrors
206 WRC spoiler
Saxo VTR rear bumper with Dimma valance
Seat Arosa Headlights
Custom Fibreglass bonnet with pins
JDM style front bumper
Twin 5" back box (remember those!)
Smooth all the things
17" Oz Titans
Respray in MGZR Yellow

Sold to a young guy as his first car, now listed as Cat B

[mikeymk]

It was a good way to spend thousands of pounds (usually borrowed), and spend it on something which would soon be worth nothing.

[fordperv]

I love the work it took creating the fibreglass delights

[HoTWire]

Surely the wide bodied Liberty Walk/Works kits are the modern equivilent?

[SmokeEm]

Jamie that built that R5 up top went on to be the guy that did pimp my ride in the uk... He should've stuck to his day job lol

[stealthstylz]

Back when you could tell when a car show was on because you could spot the show cars driving there from a mile off. The proliferation of air ride doesn't help, as now when the show cars are out on the road they look like a stock car with nice wheels.

[tdk]

Didn't get it then. Don't get it now. Can't we move on?

[VIP]

Jun 11, 2016 10:41:16 GMT tdk said:

Didn't get it then. Don't get it now. Can't we move on?

Move on?

On a forum about retro cars?

Modified in a retro style?

Interesting concept.

[bmcnut]

I must admit I don't like the style, but I do apreciate the skill it takes to produce a good one, as with anything when its popular there will be alot of dross, but when one is well built its hard to deny its impressive. Its not too dis-similer to the 70's style of crazy paint, again I'm not a fan of that but its sort of plays by the same rules. Back in the day when cruises were full of this sort of thing i was rolling about in a scruffy Austin Maxi with a boot full of speakers. Killed it.

[Foxy]

My mates and I have been discussing this for a while. The 90s will be back and with a vengeance.
Fashions and trends always bounce back.
I'm currently looking for a MkIV XR3 cab in pink with white hood to go full 90s spec.
Alpine/fido dido stickers. TSW venoms/hockenheims. Big stereo. Everything. Relive my youth.

[benw456]

I wonder if any of these cars are still tucked away in people's garages or if they all got stripped for bits? There must be a few out there still.

[fordperv]

I know a guy who built a top notch purple Renault 5 back in the day, he has it tucked away from prying eyes, my god it's gorgeous the quality of the work is fantastic, he's scared to bring it out and drive it incase someone crashes into it that's why it's been tucked away for years

[Deleted]

[darrenh]

while there were some exceptional cars made like the red civic ? (Lanos ?) saxo and ren 5 in the original post, my main gripe with that kind of modifying scene was the other 99.998% of attempts from the rest of the civilisation, which were more like this

NOPE

[pistonpopper]

Holy cow that Astra is er, well it's um, well you know, its different, to be fair I kinda like the asymmetrical front bumper, but the less aid about the rest the better! I'm not a big fan of whale tail spoilers... apart from this one, this one is obviously cool!

[darrenh]

ORka genious

[daslandroverman]

That one scores on originality, and possibly being so bad it's good?

[quasimoto]

Did the Barry scene really go away or was it interpreted by a following generation that had intrnet inspiration and a whole lot of ebay parts to acquire.
The whole modifying scene is an individuals creative imagination executed either to a reasonable standard or not often dictated by skill and money.
Being around through the evolution of basic modifying where a big bore peco and bullit mirrors passed as customising through to air ride and extreme engineering it is difficult to say any one era was better than the next.
Each era threw up the genius and the cuckoo in equal amounts.
For me if an enthusiast as the genuine interest and core credentials of an enthusiast i would never judge another mans work looking to find fault or ridicule.
That amounts to us turning on each other
Ok you all see the ridiculous modified vehicle in your time but that person as tried and that is the spirit.
If we were all gifted engineers / body styling gurus and had oodles of cash we would be churning out something that was virtually the same
By being different we become individuals and yes lets see the Barry era return with the added technology
Should be refreshing to see what can now be built.

[skinnylew]

Jun 11, 2016 15:09:45 GMT darrenh said:

while there were some exceptional cars made like the red civic ? (Lanos ?) saxo and ren 5 in the original post, my main gripe with that kind of modifying scene was the other 99.998% of attempts from the rest of the civilisation, which were more like this

NOPE

Delta kit (asymmetrical one so Delta 3?) and Smiths Twister wheels.

Retro enough for me, now all I have to do is finish the filler and rewire the neon on my Fiesta and join the renaissance!

Modern day Barry to me is forced rat look on a modern car or fake drift on a fwd. Facepalm.