To me, the car has to look good right off the bat, or I won't even buy it—I don't care how great it works. It's one of the reasons I never ventured into the X5, X6 or the BJ4. I think they are hideously ugly, and I don't care how well they work. I love the old school off road look, and would buy a car that looked like a real buggy if it was a viable race option. I hate the fake, cartoon-looking Stratus sedan bodies, so I buy bodies that look good, even if they don't necessarily work as well as some others. The Protoform Cadillac CTS-V is a great body, and I will enjoy making it work. I can't wait to get my hands on the new PF Charger, too.
A perfect example is the Losi XXXT MF2. The body out of the box is one of the ugliest truck bodies ever. I opened it up and cut it apart to keep it from ever being used anywhere. It's just my small contribuion to making life better.
I bought a ProLine Crowd Pleaser before I even had the truck kit in my hands.
As for the paint, I feel that in all of motorsports—not just R/C racing—the professionalism and presentation are as important as the performance and the preparation. A car that looks like garbage will inevitably perform that way. To me, it's like wearing a cheap suit. Is that how you want other people to think of you?
I may not have the fastest car, and I certainly struggle to be a mid-pack driver, but my car's will always look flawless and be prepped to within an inch of perfection. It HAS to look as good as it works, otherwise, you're just racing incomplete.
