The psychology of 'de-badging'
Discussion
DE, PARTIAL-RE-BADGE
My Griffith had been changed from yellow to red and de-badged by a prior owner; when I sourced a rear Griffith 500 badge I went in to the boot, found the filler spots from having the mounting holes filled - and with a trembling hand drilled the holes to set things right. Later I had the car repainted to factory yellow, and decided to still leave it only partly badged - I didn't have the heart to drill the nose of the car, so it doesn't wear its TVR badge up front.
Yellow_Griffith
by ukauto, on Flickr
EXTRA-BADGE
On the other end of the spectrum I bought what was the first or second Mini Clubman S in the country for my wife (we never physically saw one prior to our purchase).
When we ordered the car we also ordered a new registration plate and got "CLUBGIRL". When the car arrived and we had the plates put on we realized that no where on the car did it have the word Clubman.
To ensure that people didn't have the wrong idea I sourced out the appropriate style of stick on letters, and badged the car as a CLUBMAN. Car is gone now, plate is sitting on a shelf, likely to never be used again!
Untitled by ukauto, on Flickr
My Griffith had been changed from yellow to red and de-badged by a prior owner; when I sourced a rear Griffith 500 badge I went in to the boot, found the filler spots from having the mounting holes filled - and with a trembling hand drilled the holes to set things right. Later I had the car repainted to factory yellow, and decided to still leave it only partly badged - I didn't have the heart to drill the nose of the car, so it doesn't wear its TVR badge up front.
Yellow_Griffith
by ukauto, on Flickr
EXTRA-BADGE
On the other end of the spectrum I bought what was the first or second Mini Clubman S in the country for my wife (we never physically saw one prior to our purchase).
When we ordered the car we also ordered a new registration plate and got "CLUBGIRL". When the car arrived and we had the plates put on we realized that no where on the car did it have the word Clubman.
To ensure that people didn't have the wrong idea I sourced out the appropriate style of stick on letters, and badged the car as a CLUBMAN. Car is gone now, plate is sitting on a shelf, likely to never be used again!
Untitled by ukauto, on Flickr
Edited by UKAuto on Friday 15th April 04:02
UKAuto said:
EXTRA-BADGE
On the other end of the spectrum I bought what was the first or second Mini Clubman S in the country for my wife (we never physically saw one prior to our purchase).
When we ordered the car we also ordered a new registration plate and got "CLUBGIRL". When the car arrived and we had the plates put on we realized that no where on the car did it have the word Clubman.
To ensure that people didn't have the wrong idea I sourced out the appropriate style of stick on letters, and badged the car as a CLUBMAN. Car is gone now, plate is sitting on a shelf, likely to never be used again!
Untitled by ukauto, on Flickr
Well done for not doing what they do on the new Clubman and space the letters across the back. 7 letter word, across the centre shutline for the 2 doors. Yeah that's going to work On the other end of the spectrum I bought what was the first or second Mini Clubman S in the country for my wife (we never physically saw one prior to our purchase).
When we ordered the car we also ordered a new registration plate and got "CLUBGIRL". When the car arrived and we had the plates put on we realized that no where on the car did it have the word Clubman.
To ensure that people didn't have the wrong idea I sourced out the appropriate style of stick on letters, and badged the car as a CLUBMAN. Car is gone now, plate is sitting on a shelf, likely to never be used again!
Untitled by ukauto, on Flickr
Edited by UKAuto on Friday 15th April 04:02
tty Austin A10 (or A35??)ajprice said:
Well done for not doing what they do on the new Clubman and space the letters across the back. 7 letter word, across the centre shutline for the 2 doors. Yeah that's going to work
LOL at that. I hate these stupid modern Mini derivatives with a passion and that just about sums up the marque frankly.... what a crock!Troubleatmill said:
When I see a debadged car.. I think.. "Oh dear.. the driver of that car does not have any confidence in his social stature, and is trying to disguise what he can afford"
Er.... yeah whatever. I guess that Audi RS4 owner was hoping by taking the badges off everyone would think it was an R8? 
Troubleatmill said:
When I see a debadged car.. I think.. "Oh dear.. the driver of that car does not have any confidence in his social stature, and is trying to disguise what he can afford"
So you just look down on any driver of a debadged car because they can't afford a better model? Says a lot about you!My previous car was debadged because I preferred the look of the car that way, my current car is left standard because I don't "feel" anything for it. Nothing to do with the car's values/performance/"social stature".
mon the fish said:
Does no-one debadge a car because it's easier to clean? I spec'd my R53 with no 'Cooper S' on the rear, as I know what it is, and it's easier to polish with no badge
You are right, that is definitely another bonus. No wing or boot badges on mine do make it much easier to clean.Alex@POD said:
So you just look down on any driver of a debadged car because they can't afford a better model? Says a lot about you!
My previous car was debadged because I preferred the look of the car that way, my current car is left standard because I don't "feel" anything for it. Nothing to do with the car's values/performance/"social stature".
Is your sarcasm detector not working today?My previous car was debadged because I preferred the look of the car that way, my current car is left standard because I don't "feel" anything for it. Nothing to do with the car's values/performance/"social stature".
cheesesliceking said:
Alex@POD said:
So you just look down on any driver of a debadged car because they can't afford a better model? Says a lot about you!
My previous car was debadged because I preferred the look of the car that way, my current car is left standard because I don't "feel" anything for it. Nothing to do with the car's values/performance/"social stature".
Is your sarcasm detector not working today?My previous car was debadged because I preferred the look of the car that way, my current car is left standard because I don't "feel" anything for it. Nothing to do with the car's values/performance/"social stature".
Reason I have or wanted to de-badge
S2000 - design was so good I wanted it as clean and simple as poss. No snobbery (inverted or otherwise) as there was only one model
Passat W8 - badges aside it looked like any other Passat Estate. De-badging would enhance it's Q Car status, and surprise people. Except a lot of people didn't know what W8 meant so would possibly have been pointless anyway.
BMW M135i - ordered de-badged, it arrived badged. Didn't get around to removing them myself. Similar to the Passat, without the badges the man on the street would have trouble distinguishing it form a cooking 1 Series. This, I like.
For me it's about subtlety, stealth, Q Car looks on the most part.
Which is why I'll never understand why people put an M or AMG badge on their car when it's not. People who don't know, don't care and people who do know think you're a knob. Looking at you Mr (apparently) BMW M7 driver on the M25 the other day!
S2000 - design was so good I wanted it as clean and simple as poss. No snobbery (inverted or otherwise) as there was only one model
Passat W8 - badges aside it looked like any other Passat Estate. De-badging would enhance it's Q Car status, and surprise people. Except a lot of people didn't know what W8 meant so would possibly have been pointless anyway.
BMW M135i - ordered de-badged, it arrived badged. Didn't get around to removing them myself. Similar to the Passat, without the badges the man on the street would have trouble distinguishing it form a cooking 1 Series. This, I like.
For me it's about subtlety, stealth, Q Car looks on the most part.
Which is why I'll never understand why people put an M or AMG badge on their car when it's not. People who don't know, don't care and people who do know think you're a knob. Looking at you Mr (apparently) BMW M7 driver on the M25 the other day!
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