Once upon a time ... Accessories
08/16/2024
Have you noticed? BBS has gone bust again. However, this is not that surprising, as the aftermarket for cars has been in sharp decline for years. As a passionate customizer, you think back wistfully to the days when you could choose from at least five different rear lights for even the least well-known niche model. In fact, there was so much aftermarket equipment available for the popular makes that you actually had to have the same car three times if you wanted to use everything you liked.
Almost as old as the car itself, the accessories industry really took off in the 1960s, culminating in an unmanageable variety in the 1990s. There were vast quantities of steering wheels, gear knobs and instrument dials, molded wooden parts for vehicles not fitted with the fine veneer ex works and chrome-plated cow catchers for small cars. Not to mention the countless body kits, alloy wheels and rear silencers. The D&W catalogs of those years were as thick as telephone books - even if not all pages were filled with pictures of car parts without exception.
Nowadays, however, there seem to be almost only various cell phone holders and adapters for the cigar lighter, so that you can always play with your cell phone while driving. On the other hand, what else could be offered? In today's fully networked cars, you would probably have to "teach in" every new rear light in a complicated way, because otherwise it would confuse the engine control unit. However, this would hardly affect BBS. Wheels are actually just as easy to change as they used to be.
