First and foremost, why do people want to feature their cars to the public? Is it simply to show it off? The answer is yes & no. Many car tuning companies will want to show off their cars to get noticed, to promote their company and to get business. However, reason varies for the individual owners, well some may say "show-off" but most I feel (just like me) is that - after all these hard work, creativity, money spend on the your car, you would want to ensure that all these are paid off, that people actually appreciate your work and to prove that it's worth the effort you put in and ultimately you get documentation of your hard work before you finally sell your car.

Many people have emailed and asked me the secrets behind getting my BMW on the THREE Car Magazines just like this previous BMW M3 that was featured in the publications of Performance BMW, Max Power and Options Auto France.

So what are the secrets behind it? The question you need to ask is: "Why would a car magazine want to feature your car?" When there are millions of cars out there on the road...

Here are the answers:

BE the FIRST (NEWS SELLS)

Car magazines works like newspapers, they need news to sell their magazines, hence to make them notice you need to make news for them. If your car has the first new modifications from a tuner (a new prototype), that would be ideal. In my case, my car was the FIRST Rieger BMW in UK. As such, the FIRST #1 Rieger BMW brings attention to UK readers, it created news and curiosity.

BE DIFFERENT: CREATE a whole unique car:

Your best bet is to start off with your mind to create something different and unique to your own liking, of course according to your taste. You don't want to create a unique car only to hate it after the modifications. People want to see something out of the ordinary. "Specials" always catches attention. But remember to do it tastefully otherwise it will only attract negative feedback. Be creative, don't limit yourself to parts from one car tuner, you may mix and match with products of other car tuners or even from other makes of car tuners. I got several parts from other makes or car tuners and modified to fit my BMW. Some even create new parts for their cars in custom modifications.

CUSTOMISED MODIFICATIONS: ATTENTION TO DETAIL:

Custom modifications attracts attention, it shows creativity and uniqueness too, that nobody else's has. Car Magazines wants to show customized parts to the world and people will want to buy the magazines to read and to check out the new parts. In my case, my car has lots of custom modifications that I work with my tuner to produce which eventually became a product for them. You may want to use new materials or an all new design for custom parts for your car.

BRIGHT COLOURS:

Car magazines love BRIGHT colored car, so if your modified car is one of that, you have a point ahead of other car owners. I was told of this tip by the 3 publications that my BMW was featured in. All of them said that it was a pity that my BMW M3 was dark blue! If not, it would have made it to the cover! And true enough the three covers of the magazines that my BMW was featured in came with bright colors! You may have noticed that in all other cover magazines too. So if you plan to repaint your car, catch attention and make it to the cover, choose bright! (important note: choose a bright color that you can live with!)

CONTACT YOUR LOCAL MAGAZINES:

Well you need to let the magazines know the existence of your unique car. Find the best magazine that suit your car theme or make and contact them. If your car is modified by a tuner, you may want to ask your tuner to call the Car Magazines as they will have direct contacts to the publishers. In my case, I didn't actually thought of getting it featured in the magazines but the idea came from my tuner - Alan Pentacost of PSG BMW body kits. One thing lead to another and many other magazines come after to feature my BMW M3.

I am confident that if you have a tastefully modified unique BMW car, many car magazines are more than willing to feature it. Just think of it this way, Car magazines need cars to feature in their magazines every month! (At least five cars per month). How are they going to find these cars? If you have one and feel like getting it featured, get some good photos now and email them to all these Car Magazines. You just have to let them know the existence of your Unique car. For more tips and pictures of modified BMW check out #1 World's BEST modified BMW. Good Luck!

By Bobby Leong | #1 World's BEST modified BMW