An indepth look at horrible ideas…Part 5…Tow Hook “Charms”…

Let me start off by saying that this isn’t a totally bad idea in general. Like if you actually know the original meaning behind why this trend exists, then this doesn’t concern you. For an explanation, let’s have Antonio Alvendia from Cipher Garage explain…

“For some reason, it has become some sort of trend for people to hang toys or other items of thier cars’ rear tow hook, but the origination of this trend came from the Bosozoku (street gangsters with fixed up cars) in Japan. It was a Bosozoku trend to hang a small tin bucket from thier rear tow hook to show off how low thier cars were- they got the idea from seeing cement trucks in Japan, wich always had a bucket hanging off the rear of the truck. The cement trucks used the bucket as a “catch can” of sorts, so that excess cement from the truck would’nt spill onto the pavement. Inspired by this, the bosozoku trend setters attached small buckets to thier rear tow hooks to show how low thier bucket could hang- if your car was so low that the bucket could scrape on things as you were driving , they thought it was cool as hell.”

Pretty cool right? I know it may be a bit alarming, but people do things for other reasons other than to be trendy. There are original meanings and purpose besides doing things. For those guys, it’s all fine and dandy. The problem exists because of those kids nowadays that hang shit on their cars just because they see someone else, who also saw someone else, do it. It’s gone the way of the Wakaba/new driver badge. It’s become a stupid trend that has lost all meaning….

Nothing says “I don’t have any direction as to where my car is going”, then having a doll or stuffed animal of some sort hanging from a tow hook of a Honda. Some people even do it in an attempt to be more “JDM”…These people are easy to spot. They usually have a car that’s basically stock, kinda beat-up, possibly on Rotas or something of the sort, angled Wakaba badge, generic fart can muffler, super angled stickers, and something hanging from a stock tow hook, or a Datum 1 hook…Oh and when they take the pictures of their cars it’s angled sideways and you hurt your neck having to look at them…

All arguments about this are null and void really…You can’t say “Oh well, I’m trying to be Boso too…” Homie, no you the fuck are not. You are everything that Boso doesn’t want to be. If the Boso guys woke up from a nightmare of what they were scared of becoming, it would be you. “I wanna be like the drifters…” Umm, where do you think they got the idea from? And you want to be like a drifter in your FWD stock suspension Civic? It’d be easier to believe that you did it just because you saw your friend do it or you saw it at a meet…

I really don’t understand how this caught on. I guess it’s the kid with no money’s way of doing a “mod” to his/her car. These are like the simple trendy things you can do to “set yourself apart from the rest” even though all you’re really doing is following someone else. I believe it’s called a “paradox”. Someone can say “Oh I’m just doing it to be different, and I like it so fuck you.” Okay that’s cool, but if I rolled up to a Tea Station in San Gabriel or some shit, I’ll see 80% of these motherfuckers rocking the exact same shit. So who the fuck are you differentiating yourself from? People with creativity?…

Again, let me reiterate that I’m not saying anything to those of you whose tow hooks serve a purpose or guys who actually understand where this idea originates from. It’s for those individuals who do nothing but every pseudo-JDM trend to their cars just to claim to be “JDM”. Some say that hanging something from your hook is a drifter thing and they do it for good luck…Okay, I’ll take that. But for you Honda heads, what do you guys need that shit for? Luck so that no one tries to jack your shit? If that’s the case you probably shouldnt deliberately draw attention to yourself by hanging some gay shit on your car. You’re better off trying to hang a thing of seasoning on your tow hook…..for good taste. (Uhh, okay that was stupid…)

Take the dolls off and give it to the children.

Tow hooks are for towing.