12 Trendsetting Builders Forecast The Future Of Hot Rodding - What's Next?

Grand Touring Garage
As a "builder of fine motorized contraptions," Philip Koenen's breadth of automotive building experience is impressive. He's pieced together everything from rare prewar classics at Pebble Beach-winning standards, to modern SCCA racers. His page of past projects showcases just a few of his builds from the 1900s through the 1970s. The latest contraption to roll out is the genre-bending Trans-Cammer. Inspired by vintage Trans-Am racers, but assembled like a high-end show car, the Trans-Cammer was a showstopper at SEMA where it was awarded the Sony PlayStation Gran Turismo Best of Show award. Those accolades mean that it'll soon join a very short list of real cars that have been digitally recreated to be playable in Gran Turismo. Look for it in version number five.

Grand Touring Garage puts its full efforts into only a handful of full projects per year in addition to repairs, so Philip has been able to keep fairly busy with clients, however, he's noticed a change of tone in their decisions on the direction of their cars. "The trend I see emerging today is no matter whether it's a simple repair or a million dollar custom build, the customer wants the best their money can buy, so they can ultimately enjoy the benefits for a long time," Philip says. In other words, there's still a willingness to spend money to get the good stuff, but people are paying much more attention to the return on their investment both in terms of the car's value, and the return they'll see in use and enjoyment. "It is apparent that customers are paying much closer attention to what they are buying, and focusing more on the real intended use of their vehicle. They want to be able to drive their investment instead of just having another bubble car," he says. For example, a customer may decide that rather than the top-of-the-line, race-ready brake package they initially wanted, their plans really only necessitate a good street package. In a way, that's good news for builders and parts vendors; people who spend their money wisely tend to get projects wrapped up in sensible time frames and at sane budgets, leaving more money for additional purchases down the line. Or better yet, more money spent on getting out and enjoying their investment.