# How do you make a vehicle cool? **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussion\ **Tags:** van, e350, ford\ **Created:** [May 28, 2010, 2:51pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/how-do-you-make-a-vehicle-cool/49500 "2010-05-28T14:51:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![soundcloset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/edb3f5/32.png) [@soundcloset](https://community.cartalk.com/u/soundcloset)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 2:51pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/how-do-you-make-a-vehicle-cool/49500/1 "2010-05-28T14:51:57Z")
So I am forty-something with 4 kids and my school’s old 15-passenger Econo (HA!) Line van as my regular short-cruise commuter and long-haul carrier. Once a year to Maine, once a week to church, and whenever there’s anything that doesn’t fit into the Civic. How do you make something so completely utilitarian appear fun, cool, hip? Beyond tying a kayak permanently to the roof? ---
**Author:** ![mrb3990](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@mrb3990](https://community.cartalk.com/u/mrb3990)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 2:57pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/how-do-you-make-a-vehicle-cool/49500/2 "2010-05-28T14:57:25Z")
Hire some local artist to paint a beautiful mural on the side of the van. ---
**Author:** ![twotone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@twotone](https://community.cartalk.com/u/twotone)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 3:11pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/how-do-you-make-a-vehicle-cool/49500/3 "2010-05-28T15:11:09Z")
Put on chrome 22" spinner wheels. Twotone ---
**Author:** ![texases](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/texases/32/862_2.png) [@texases](https://community.cartalk.com/u/texases)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 3:19pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/how-do-you-make-a-vehicle-cool/49500/4 "2010-05-28T15:19:14Z")
Only one ‘cool’ van: [http://onceuponawin.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/win-pictures-ateam-van.jpg](http://onceuponawin.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/win-pictures-ateam-van.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![soundcloset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/edb3f5/32.png) [@soundcloset](https://community.cartalk.com/u/soundcloset)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 3:28pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/how-do-you-make-a-vehicle-cool/49500/5 "2010-05-28T15:28:59Z")
I pity the fool! Hey – where’s the Mystery Mobile? The Partridge Family bus? I think there’s a coffee table book here: vehicles featured in TV shows. ---
**Author:** ![Goldwing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@Goldwing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Goldwing)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 3:44pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/how-do-you-make-a-vehicle-cool/49500/6 "2010-05-28T15:44:58Z")
Paint it exactly like the Scooby Doo Mystery Machine. ---
**Author:** ![soundcloset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/edb3f5/32.png) [@soundcloset](https://community.cartalk.com/u/soundcloset)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 3:50pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/how-do-you-make-a-vehicle-cool/49500/7 "2010-05-28T15:50:44Z")
It’s tempting. Not to actually do it, but to “photo-shop” it, just to see how silly it would be. How about chopping it into a sort of semi-cabover pickup truck? ---
**Author:** ![oldschool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e19adc/32.png) [@oldschool](https://community.cartalk.com/u/oldschool)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 4:00pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/how-do-you-make-a-vehicle-cool/49500/8 "2010-05-28T16:00:26Z")
I think you hit on it the first time, the kayak is your only hope. ---
**Author:** ![hd72mm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/9fc29f/32.png) [@hd72mm](https://community.cartalk.com/u/hd72mm)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 5:01pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/how-do-you-make-a-vehicle-cool/49500/9 "2010-05-28T17:01:53Z")
front air damn,fender flares and rims sure would help ---
**Author:** ![soundcloset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/edb3f5/32.png) [@soundcloset](https://community.cartalk.com/u/soundcloset)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 5:20pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/how-do-you-make-a-vehicle-cool/49500/10 "2010-05-28T17:20:39Z")
Great! Anybody have a 14.5’ Perception Carolina sitting around? Green? ---
**Author:** ![Caddyman](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/caddyman/32/23_2.png) [@Caddyman](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Caddyman)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 5:26pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/how-do-you-make-a-vehicle-cool/49500/11 "2010-05-28T17:26:49Z")
Vehicles just provide transportation…They can not be “cool”…It is their OWNERS that DESPERATELY want to be “Cool”…Unfortunately, that is usually impossible too… ---
**Author:** ![soundcloset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/edb3f5/32.png) [@soundcloset](https://community.cartalk.com/u/soundcloset)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 5:31pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/how-do-you-make-a-vehicle-cool/49500/12 "2010-05-28T17:31:20Z")
I don’t know…they seem to work on a short van, but something about that extra three feet they tack on just makes it about as graceful as a commuter train. Maybe an active camouflage system that makes it look like whatever I want it to – a 1938 Talbot-Lago T150 C SS Teardrop Coupe, for example. ---
**Author:** ![soundcloset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/edb3f5/32.png) [@soundcloset](https://community.cartalk.com/u/soundcloset)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 5:39pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/how-do-you-make-a-vehicle-cool/49500/13 "2010-05-28T17:39:25Z")
In many cases you’re right. I’ve been stopping in to do this thread as I wait for the server here at work to catch up to me. "cool"ness is the last thing I do anything about trying to reflect, except that as I work with children, it comes up now and then. The van has been a real workhorse and since the time we got it, an absolute blessing. And I do miss my green kayak, but that’s another thread. ---
**Author:** ![FoDaddy](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/fodaddy/32/717_2.png) [@FoDaddy](https://community.cartalk.com/u/FoDaddy)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 6:06pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/how-do-you-make-a-vehicle-cool/49500/14 "2010-05-28T18:06:50Z")
I dunno. Some cars are much cooler than others IMHO. A Ferrai 599XX is “cooler” than a beige Camary. ---
**Author:** ![Triedaq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Triedaq](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Triedaq)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 6:12pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/how-do-you-make-a-vehicle-cool/49500/15 "2010-05-28T18:12:28Z")
Loosen the fan belt so that it slips when you accelerate away from a stop sign. People will think you are “laying rubber”. ---
**Author:** ![Whitey](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/whitey/32/24680_2.png) [@Whitey](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Whitey)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 6:15pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/how-do-you-make-a-vehicle-cool/49500/16 "2010-05-28T18:15:14Z")
Here are some ideas. ---
**Author:** ![Whitey](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/whitey/32/24680_2.png) [@Whitey](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Whitey)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 6:16pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/how-do-you-make-a-vehicle-cool/49500/17 "2010-05-28T18:16:14Z")
Here are some more ideas. ---
**Author:** ![soundcloset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/edb3f5/32.png) [@soundcloset](https://community.cartalk.com/u/soundcloset)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 11:38pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/how-do-you-make-a-vehicle-cool/49500/18 "2010-05-28T23:38:31Z")
It already does, between applications of belt dressing. Stupid P\_P B\_\_S belt… ---
**Author:** ![soundcloset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/edb3f5/32.png) [@soundcloset](https://community.cartalk.com/u/soundcloset)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 11:41pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/how-do-you-make-a-vehicle-cool/49500/19 "2010-05-28T23:41:41Z")
It’s one thing to play electric guitar in church…can you see my family piling out of one of these on a Sunday morning? And some have about 6 square inches of stowage left in them for all the speakers. Very cool! And very impractical! But my wife and I like the one with the sports car painted on the side. ---
**Author:** ![waterboy](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/waterboy/32/764_2.png) [@waterboy](https://community.cartalk.com/u/waterboy)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2010, 1:20am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/how-do-you-make-a-vehicle-cool/49500/20 "2010-05-29T01:20:18Z")
Flames make anything cool [http://www.luxurycarpictures.com/data/media/2/40car.jpg](http://www.luxurycarpictures.com/data/media/2/40car.jpg) [Next page](https://community.cartalk.com/t/how-do-you-make-a-vehicle-cool/49500.md?page=2)