n. a stock or factory-default automobile with, or suitable for, aftermarket modifications (to enhance speed, power, or style). Subjects:
English, Automobiles & Transportation
Editorial Note: A tuner is someone who makes special modifications to a car.
Citations:
1993 [Wade Guthrie] Usenet: rec.autos (July 21) “Monster Miata”: I saw a little blurb on a tuner car called the Monster Miata. It’s a Miata with a Ford 302 dropped-in and, optionally, some “looks” packages. 1995 John M. Clor AutoWeek (Mar. 13) “Ex Post Factory: Tuners can give you a lift over stock, but you need to do some homework” p. 15: If you’re dropping $100K on a tuner car, a warranty may not worry you too much. 1996 [RexVen] Usenet: rec.autos.driving (Oct. 28) “Re: Modern American Muscle Cars VS Ferraris”: At least in ten to twenty years I can still get money back out of the Porsche where the “tuner car” will have lost nearly all of it’s value. 1999 Matt Nauman (Knight Ridder Tribune Business News) (Mar. 26) “Accessories Help Owners Personalize Their Camrys”: Although the Camry certainly isn’t as popular as a tuner car as the Honda Civic, Acura Integra or Mitsubishi Eclipse with young, male drivers, magazine editor Nosek expects that it will become a popular platform for modification. [1999Usenet: rec.autos.marketplace (Oct. 20) “17” icw raceing tuner rims”: Sweet looking skinny 9 spoke, tuner style, you can change the color of the center cap, the center caps are chrome right now.] 2003 Thos. L. Bryant Road & Track: Ford Mustang Portfolio 1994-2002 (Jan. 1) p. 2: Steve Saleen stresses that his cars are not tuner cars.…S351s are sold only as entire cars, not a bunch of pieces. And though they are certainly modified Ford Mustangs, they are production cars, not one-offs with specially ported and polished heads and other tweaks that might help the care eke out a few extra mph. 2005 Steve Spalding Detroit Free Press (Mich.) (Jan. 13) “Cobo’s basement is a tuner wonderland”: Loosely and somewhat inaccurately, this is called the tuner car section, so designated because of the displays of sport or tuner versions of Subaru, Scion and Honda compact cars.