Showroom

Sure, it may be hard to get your hands on a PT Cruiser without mortgaging the house, squandering the kids’ college fund and selling the furniture to pay the “extra dealer markup” some Chrysler dealers are charging just because they can.

But if you’ve got one, or are getting one, the automotive aftermarket is already working at hyperspeed to turn out goodies so you can make sure your Cruiser doesn’t look, sound or ride like any other.

One example is the hulking PT Bruizer, designed and put together by the folks at Performance West in Vista, in San Diego County.

The fat-tired, fancy-wheeled, bulgy-fendered and supercharged Bruizer puts out 300 horsepower, versus 150 for the stock version.

The various modifications, a Performance West spokesman says, would cost about $11,250--not too bad when you consider that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently paid $10,000 over sticker for a stock PT Cruiser from an East Coast dealership so it could crash it into a wall for a safety test.

The itemized PT Bruizer list: wheels, $3,600; tires, $1,200; exhaust system, $695; body-modification kit, $1,200; performance springs, $329; dark window tint, $230; supercharger kit, $4,000.