CARS WITH SCARS MANY ROLL UP FOR MAKEOVER ON WHEELS.

Byline: SUSAN ABRAM Staff Writer

VAN NUYS - The cars sputtered into the lot in macabre procession: headlights dangled like eyes from sockets, front fenders rattled like loose teeth, interior seats stripped of fabric exposed skeletal springs.

As the owners of these rickety, beaten-down wrecks began poking under each other's dented hoods, embarrassment succumbed to modest pride.

For the producers of MTV's hit show ``Pimp My Ride'' -- whose mechanics and bodywork specialists perform extreme makeovers on the homeliest of vehicles -- this congregation of clunkers was a sight for sore eyes.

``What's worst is what's better,'' said Beau Boeckmann, president of Galpin Auto Sports and member of the ``Pimp My Ride'' crew. This year, the show is based at Galpin Ford.

``It's about getting excited over the most horrible thing,'' he said. ``And it's also finding someone who is really a good person. That's the warmth and the heart of the show. It's about helping someone.''

An estimated 300 car owners filed into Galpin Ford on Sunday for an open casting call for the hit show that turns heaps of rusty, twisted metal pumpkins into tricked-out Cinderella carriages all in the name of ultimate transformation.

Boeckmann examined each offering as car owners showed off exposed wires, detached side panels and warped dashboards.

One was Spechelle Vickers' gold, 1981 Mercedes Benz. The 20-year-old Cal State Northridge student bought the car herself for $500. The muffler was held up with string. Her ignition switch was nothing more than exposed red wires. As for her back seat, well, there was none. But Vickers said she believed luck was in the air. Her audition number was 32, same as Magic Johnson's, she said. And her name is pronounced Special, after all.

``I keep it because I paid for it myself and I feel like it's my creation,'' she said. ``I'm gonna roll it 'til it's down to its last wheel.''

Youth pastor Justin Leas was indeed looking for some kind of divine intervention from the ``Pimp My Ride'' crew. His 1962 Chevy Nova suffered a few bumps and bruises in its long life, and the sunshades were withered down to the cardboard frame. Leas had bought the car seven years ago, when he was 17 years old.

``I'd just like a really cool car that the kids won't make fun of,'' he said.

A bumper sticker that read ``You have to be really secure to be seen in this car,'' covered a few sacred inches of Jennifer Thrush's smashed in, spray painted 1994 Ford Aspire.

``It's aspiring to be a better car,'' she said.

Producers of the show conducted interviews and took photographs of the cars, to be reviewed for future episodes.

From a Rolls Royce named ``Sophia'' in need of a new front fender to a somber hearse, in some cases the stories of how the cars came to be ran parallel with their owners' lives.

Self-proclaimed reformed gangbanger Tony Sinnhauser, 25, once known on the streets as ``Bloodhound,'' said he had been shot at 23 times on six different occasions. The bullet wounds on his stomach and chest had healed, though like his scars, they were still raw and deep on his 1978 Cadillac.

``Just like the doctors brought me back from the dead, I want to bring this car back.''

susan.abram(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

Luke Jonavic and Matthew Martinez take a look under the hood of Jonavic's 1975 Cadillac hearse. Jonavic claims that his car is haunted, but loves his ride. Galpin Auto Sports was the location for a casting call for the MTV production ``Pimp My Ride.''

John McCoy/Staff Photographer