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It doesn’t matter how hard manufacturers try to improve their cars, there are always drivers who want more. There’s something about getting behind the wheel that brings out the urge to be different: to look better, go faster or simply sound louder than anything else on the road.

The Tuning & Styling section of MPH is all about the companies that try to satisfy this urge. When it comes to bling on the road, nobody does it quite as well as a highly paid footballer and one firm that will be represented, TKO London, whose specialities include diamond-studded dials and even alloy wheels, plans to feature a Mercedes SLR Roadster customised for Chelsea’s Didier Drogba and the Bentley GT of Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor.

The company, whose workshops are next to the London Motor Museum in Hayes, also imports American hot rods and custom cars of the kind that dominate the museum’s exhibits. The central attraction of its arena display will be a 2009 Dodge Challenger into which TKO has shoehorned a 425bhp supercharged V8 engine from a 1974 Chrysler.

“We love to do something that’s unusual. People often put new engines in old cars; we’re putting an old engine in a new car,” says Elo, TKO’S managing director.

Importing your own car, preferably a model that doesn’t sell in this country, is another favoured way of expressing individuality. Kingsley Read, managing director of importmyvehicle.com, says the credit crunch has hit sales of the American motors in which he specialis-es because people wanting to import are having trouble finding finance.

But there is still a lively market for body kits and other bolt-ons such as superchargers and customised exhausts. There is also a steady stream of drivers who want help with the paper-work to import cars they have bought while visiting the US. “We’ve been going for three years and we find more and more people who have hired cars while on holiday in the States, see just what value they can get there and want to import one,” Read says.

Films, too, have an influence on the market. Ford produces its own version of the Bullitt Mustang in tribute to the film that features one of the cinema’s greatest car chases. The “Eleanor” Mustang from Gone in 60 Seconds is also a cult object together with the fearsomely powerful Shelby GT 500 Mustang that featured in the more recent I Am Legend.

Another specialist in customising even the most expensive of supercars is Kahn Design, based in Bradford. Its latest projects include the extraordinary Kahn Cosworth Sport 300, a highly tuned and distinctively styled Range Rover.

Afzal Kahn, the company’s founder, who began by designing individual alloy wheels, says: “This is taking the luxury 4x4 market to the next stage.”

For the driver who wants to take individuality to the next level, there is the Trike, the motorcycle-car hybrid popularised by Billy Connolly in his World Tour television series. Ian Roberts, managing director of Boom Trikes of Manchester, is hoping for a boom in business from Trike rental, having just secured insurance to hire out the German-built machines.

He admits, however, that sales are down this year as the credit crunch bites. But he hopes that his latest toy, a Swiss-made quad bike with an 1150cc, 167bhp BMW engine and 130mph top speed, will stir up enthusiasm.

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