Alien C2: an electrifying creation

Some terrible crimes have been committed in the name of "modding". Woeful examples of this way of modifying a car can be found in most DIY-store car-parks on a Saturday night. Big money is spent on alloy wheels, spoilers and paint jobs - sums that often exceed the market value of the donor car. And Ill-advised mechanical modifications, such as removing the suspension, can render the vehicle dangerous and worthless.

"So far, so prejudiced," were my views on the modding scene until I met a very special Citroën C2 in Southend, an appropriately meretricious setting. The fact that it had something like £100,000 spent on it is irrelevant. What lifts it out of the usual run of tat is the skill, imagination and ingenuity of the people who made it: Phil Leach of the Manchester firm SQ Plus, and his colleague Darren Horton, who applied the intricate paintwork.

Wherever you look on this car there's something you hadn't noticed before to intrigue and excite. A single, central seat to optimise the media experience! With an aircraft-style joystick! The boot turned into a womb for amplifiers, developing the audio-power of a rock concert: 15,000 watts from 36 speakers. Then there are the smaller details: the absent fuel filler cap, for example, smoothed away to make the body flush, and relocated behind the rear light-cluster. You might notice those tiny mirrors, which are in fact cameras, with on-dash screens showing you the view behind. As night falls you'll notice the soft blue neon glow. And when you look for the exhaust, you'll see pipes in the front bumper, because the floor has been scooped out. This car stopped Southend. It made modding look cool, even artistic, to an old codger like me. What an alien idea.