So we now understand that badge can be too much - or too little - of a good thing. But just about every car still comes with some badge on the grille, so what prompts some owners to throw that away - sometimes with the entire grille - and go without badge altogether?
It's usually Vauxhalls that seem to get this treatment, which I can perhaps understand, although they don't look any better for it. But I've seen the same done to VWs, Volvos, even Audis. The one make that seems immune is MB, where the fashion in West London seems to be to take a badge from a truck or a Saturn V crawler - or if you can't find one just to draw an MB star on a dinner plate - and stick that on the nose of your W124 coupé.
In the world of cheesy bling, I can sort-of get the reasoning that badge is good, so more badge is better. But no badge? What's the secret code I'm missing?
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I always thought it was entry level BMW's and Mercs that had no badging to hide it was entry level. Or the very opposite making a 540 (or something) somewhat a 'Q' car.
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You miss my point, TMC. Not model badging at the back, but maker's name badging on the grille - or, in these cases, not.
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In the case of the badgeless Vauxhalls you mention, WDB, it is usually replaced with the badge of the company which makes the grilles, body kits etc.
My missus once said to me: "I've never heard of Irmscher cars. Are they German?" No doubt amongst the "cruisers" (not that kind), there is some cachet in the brands they use to "style" (ruin) their cars.
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hmmn. Don't know then. Can't say it's something I've particularly noticed.
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I wonder how long it will be before we have cars with the software providers logo prominently displayed. They control most of the cars functions and will eventually drive the car, The Windows wheels XL5, or Linux freeware super lux, or maybe the i mobile transporter?
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Well I shall be driving the z/OS
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About a month ago I saw around a dozen Vauxhall VX220s in a carpark with the owners closely examining each other's cars.
About half had the badges removed from the back of the cars. And most of those also had the front grilles replaced to remove the large Vauxhall emblem.
In de-badged form I think 95% of the population would struggle to name the manufacturer, and assume it was exotic specialist make. Since that would increase its perceived value does it effect the insurance premium? ;-)
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Ask yourself if you have ever seen, or could you imagine ever seeing, a Porsche, Lambo, Ferrari etc. that had been de-badged.
That is the key to the psychology here.
It is much the same impulse that produces the sad little pimped cheapo small cars of yester-year, except it's ironically applied. (A sort of post-modernist take on "less is more".)
Last edited by: FocalPoint on Thu 2 May 13 at 16:58
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A Beastie Boys revival, perhaps?
Back in the 80s, VW were giving the badges away free, to stop the scrotes from nicking them, and to blokes who'd had them nicked.
Last edited by: Ian (Cape Town) on Thu 2 May 13 at 17:00
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No badge at all - ToMoCo
