Car-racing fans and other young drivers thinking about modifying their cars after seeing the car-racing movie, “Initial D,” should think again, experts say.

The new movie, starring superstars Jay Chow, Edison Chan and Shawn Yue, has been well received.

A Guangzhou Daily investigation found there were many illegal modified cars in the city and car modifiers usually changed their original engines to racing-capable engines.

“I could not find the car I wanted,” said a car modifier surnamed Liu. “So I bought a Xiali 2000 for about 90,000 yuan (US$10,900) and changed its engine to improve its performance.”

Liu’s car could easily accelerate to 180 kilometers per hour after the modification, similar to some high-class cars.

Experts warned that illegally modified cars were not guaranteed safe and might not pass annual inspections.

An expert said illegal modifications to cars’ engines reduced the vehicles’ life span.

“Also, illegal modified cars could cause safety problems to drivers and passengers,” the expert said.

However, the country’s law bans car owners from changing a car’s length, width, height and color, but does not specifically ban owners from modifying the car’s engines.

The expert suggested car modifiers consult the city’s car management departments before making any modification, the newspaper said.

The average cost for car modification ranges from 900 yuan to 100,000 yuan in Guangzhou. However, the newspaper said many car modification shops did not hold a license for the service.

(Shenzhen Daily June 28, 2005)