WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - How can you explain the success of areality TV series with a title that's incomprehensible to probably 99percent of adults and a premise that makes eating a bowl of wormsseem almost reasonable?
Worms, after all, are protein. The value of a beat-up MitsubishiMirage with a garbage bag for a window is a little harder to peg. Buteach week, MTV's "Pimp My Ride" (Sundays at 9:30 p.m.) showers$20,000 or more on some lucky viewer to bring a car like that backfrom the rolling dead.
Pimping a ride is street slang for turning an ordinary car into adazzling showpiece. Each week, the show picks one 18- to 22-year-oldSouthern California viewer with a hard-luck car story. Rapper-hostXzibit knocks on the lucky winner's door, and they drive off togetherto a custom-car shop.
By the last commercial, the viewer's barely drivable, rusty-floored, crumple-fendered heap is transformed into a paragon (orparody) of automotive art and electronic gadgetry.
Even the humblest car or truck gets TV monitors and video games.Does that make sense? It does to fan Eddy Cebreco.
"When you're into this sort of thing, it's all about the look -about being different," he explains. "You want people to look at whatyou're driving. You're putting on a show."
Cebreco knows car shows. He's East Coast president of Xtreme Lowzcar club (hence his nickname, XLEddy) and organizes an annual customcar extravaganza at the South Florida Fairgrounds. He also drives oneoutrageously pimped-out pickup.
Since Xzibit refuses to knock on our door, Accent decided to knockon XLEddy's. We asked him and a few cool-riding friends to show ushow to pimp a ride. Here's XLEddy's advice.
Shave it
Nobody wants a bumpy ride, and in the custom-car world the bumpsyou see are even worse than the bumps you feel. A cool car has to beshiny and smooth all over, like a jelly bean. So anything that sticksout has to come off.
Door handles, for instance. You don't need them, XLEddy says.
Bag it
Just look around next time you're at a light. Don't see anyonenext to you? Look down. Low riders like XLEddy lower theirsuspensions to get their frames right down on the pavement. Then theyinstall springs bolstered by a sort of balloon called an air bag (notthe kind that can save your head), which raises the car or truck backto a drivable height.
Roll it
Forget the wheels that came with your car. No matter how big andshiny they are, they're too small and dull to impress anyone. BigSUVS roll out of the factory with 17- or 18-inch-diameter wheels, buta properly pimped ride needs 19s, at least.
These days, 24- or even 26-inch wheels are the rage but XLEddycautions, "Style is more important than size." Wheels that are toobig can stick out like ... well, door handles. "You want your wheelsto be tucked."
That means when you're riding low, the top of the tire disappearsbehind the fender.
It's a fashion statement, like showing just the right amount ofcuff.
Wrap it (or glass it)
Even if your car's interior is in good shape, it's full of badshapes - seams and logos and lumpy plastic. The trick is to pull allthe panels out and wrap them in something as smooth as the body.Maybe vinyl or leather. Or just cover all the plastic with fiberglassthat's painted to match the body.
"The thing is, you have to get somebody who really knows what'she's doing, or it looks really bad," XLEddy says.
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