Modifying cars is an art form - at least it is to those of us who appreciate the beauty of cars. That beauty could be in the body, could be in a lush interior, or could be residing angrily under the bonnet. Get it right, and the result is generally something quite special.
Like all art, it's far from being easy . It's not unusual for a clever amateur to come up with results that make pros look like newbies. And sometimes you'll see efforts from so-called experts that look as if a kindy kid with a box of crayons has done the design.
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As safety regulations, emissions regulations and other rules to manacle creativity are dreamed up by people in offices with very large desks, the opportunities for enthusastic amateurs to give it a go and keep it road-legal are getting thinner.
Car companies, particularly at the upper end of the financial scale, are increasingly offering to customise cars before they've even left the factory. These custom jobs go much, much further than ticking a few boxes of optional extras.
During a tour of Aston Martin's factory at Gaydon, in the UK, last week I was lucky enough to sit down with the design team from the company's Q divison. These designers are often given an open chequebook and a half-formed idea to take an already beautiful car and personalise it for the new owner.
Some of the buyers' choices were, um, interesting (think metallic gold leather) but other customers allowed the designers a bit more freedom and the results were stunning.
Read more about the Q workshop here.
• Do you think modifying cars yourself is a good or bad thing? Or have you had a crack at it? Let us know below or at facebook.com/DrivenNZ