s130 said:

I hope this clarifies where I am coming from, why I am doing so, and in no way am I saying you can't personalise your car with RS Cosworth, RS Mexico, 1600 Rally badges but please don't use the original articles unless you poses said vehicle.

Click to expand...

Just to go off-topic (slightly) for a moment (if this were in the Classic Panda section, we'd now be talking about Twixes or elephants...): when I had a Mk1 Mexico, I used to get really pee'd off -- but please don't extrapolate this to my attitude to Abarth-wearing FIATs...(?!) -- at folks with 1.3 Escorts adding side-stripes, etc. (which mine didn't actually have -- like scout, I quite liked the anonymity of my secret weapon...!). :bang:

In a roundabout way, I therefore do understand where you're coming from; and sympathize. (I can't empathize -- because none of my classic Pandas is really rare enough for me to struggle to get badges, etc.: although Selecta clutches give me a nice insight into the costs....) :hug:

I also thank you for your input -- as this is the sort of thing I was trying to generate/provoke.... :worship:

Ganger said:

It's like adding go faster stripes to your motor, the abarth badge just makes your car quicker...

Click to expand...

Problem is, some of the numptys that put the badges on believe it does and improve the handling, so go into a corner too fast and end up righting off another set of badges. (Of course this may have happened anyway without the help of the badges )

I lowered my Palio about 1,5 inch with H&R springs, put an Ansa exhaust on it, a rear roof spoiler, and 15 inch MAK alloys with 195/50 Pirelli P6.
In fact, I did exactely the same as Karl (Carlo...) Abarth did in the sixties with f.i. Fiat 500 and 600.
So to speak, I "Abarthized" the car.
Than I got some non original Abarth badges, and put them on, instead of the original badges.
I did this about 10 years ago, still own the car, and still like the badges.
As the Palio Weekend is a very rare car even overhere, I like to see people wondering what it is in fact.....!!!
We often drive fast on German, no speedlimit autobahn , it is still fun to overtake Germans who clearly wonder what has passed them....

Peter Pick-Up said:

So to speak, I "Abarthized" the car.
Than I got some non original Abarth badges, and put them on, instead of the original badges.
I did this about 10 years ago, still own the car, and still like the badges.
As the Palio Weekend is a very rare car even overhere, I like to see people wondering what it is in fact.....!!!
We often drive fast on German, no speedlimit autobahn , it is still fun to overtake Germans who clearly wonder what has passed them....

Click to expand...

Now I have zero problems with this and respectfully Gavv8 may have misunderstood where I was coming from and I also respect everybody's opinions here be they in line with mine or against mine.

WHAT IS important is that we can share/exchange from our own personal point of views.

I think, please correct me I'm wrong all the posts to date boil down to the following:

1) vehicle personalisation, badging, etc is not an issue and indeed allows and supports owners pride in their cars. I've been to so many car shows and meets over the years to see well presented and loved cars, many badged with non original badges (be they Abarth, Lotus, Cosworth...not yet seen an AMG one) and I applaud this love and dedication to their cars. No problems or complaints from me.

2) their are also car owners, with say genuine Ford RS 2000 cars, that struggle to keep their vehicles genuinely badged with original badges.

All I'm/we are asking/suggesting is a little respect on both sides of the fence. If we love our Fiats that much then surely in 20+, 30+ years time we will appreciate and say to our kids "your dad/mum/etc" owned/drove/I had one of these cars. What a shame it would be if genuine badges were missing.

Anybody who wants to see a near mint and non restored Strada Abarth and experience a fast drive is more than welcome, especially if you bring your pride an joy along to share. (doesn't have to be a Fiat by the way )

Nick

scout said:

Problem is, some of the numptys that put the badges on believe it does and improve the handling, so go into a corner too fast and end up righting off another set of badges. (Of course this may have happened anyway without the help of the badges )

Click to expand...

I feel that this is probably a fair use of rare badges. Anything to aid natural selection is to be applauded.....

And in case anyone gets offended at that, I think I will ask homeward if the plural of twix is not in fact twixs (maybe not twix's or twixi) and if elephants get a jumbo sized version? With aplologies to anyone who doesn't understand the Classic Panda section mentality - with emphasis on "mental" we know.

Palio said:

I feel that this is probably a fair use of rare badges. Anything to aid natural selection is to be applauded.....

And in case anyone gets offended at that, I think I will ask homeward if the plural of twix is not in fact twixs (maybe not twix's or twixi) and if elephant's get a jumbo sized version? With aplologies to anyone who doesn't understand the Classic Panda section mentality - with emphasis on "mental" we know.

Click to expand...

:Offtopic:

Supposedly, like sheep, the plural is the same as the singular. I therefore stand corrected; and now have an urge to eat several Twix all at once.... :nutter:

Love the elephant joke...! :devil:

See, I knew this would happen. Not only off-topic, but on-twix.... (Both Mars products, as well.)

homeward said:

:Offtopic:

Supposedly, like sheep, the plural is the same as the singular. I therefore stand corrected; and now have an urge to eat several Twix all at once.... :nutter:

Love the elephant joke...! :devil:

See, I knew this would happen. Not only off-topic, but on-twix.... (Both Mars products, as well.)

Click to expand...

Oh dear this could turn into a bit of a Marathon. Which of course elephants like for the peanut content.

Badges the subject wasn't it? :slayer:

Palio said:

Oh dear this could turn into a bit of a Marathon. Which of course elephants like for the peanut content.

Badges the subject wasn't it? :slayer:

Click to expand...

Snickers...! :nerner:

Anybody would think this was in the Classic Panda section, although as were talking about rebranding I suppose were staying on TOPIC. Especially with the Marathon being rebranded as Snickers and Opal Fruits as Starburst

I've missed most of this thread, however I can still come stomping in with my size 11s

Many moons ago I owned on of the first Mondeos on the road registered the 14th of March 1993 (which was the launch date for the Mondeo) this particular model was just a standard LX nothing fancy but came from the ford dealer with RS badged wheels? RS branded oem body kit, spoiler wheel arch extensions etc and sported little silver RS badges on the front wings all factory original stuff

A friend of mine with a 93 escort RS decided my car was a fake wannabe because it 'wasn't a true RS because there was no such thing as a Mondeo RS, he was right in some respects but the badges and body kit were all genuine RS made for the Mondeo so I left as is and was happy with it.

I've seen lots of Puntos (mk2) on eBay sold as Abarth some because they have a set if wheels or a bumper kit, some just because of a sticker stuck on, and I have to say that in my opinion it lessens the value of the brand fiat made the punto HGT abarth in 2000 but this didn't continue on to the mk2b so it does make my blood boil to see every active sport advertised as Abarth on eBay and gumtree, that said that's misrepresenting the car in an advert, you could if you like cover your car head to toe in abarth badges and I wouldn't care a jot as long as you realise you're not driving an Abarth it's just a car with badges.

Going back to the Mondeo though it really annoyed my RS escort owning friend that my Mondeo had essentially the same engine same power and was just as fast, the only real difference is he was paying 3 times more insurance than I was

Which proves that cars with fancy badges don't mean anything, I know fault recently mini built a rolls Royce edition at a cost of £41k each but it was still a mini not a rolls

I think the current 500 Abarth is in the spirit of the original Abarth cars, the engine is squeezed literally into the tiny engine bay and as many horses as possible have been eeked out of it as is practical

Of so it's not hammered together with nails in the back of a shed like abarths of old but fiat have moved on and so have Abarth

I guess what in trying to say is stick what badge you like on your car, you're not fooling anyone and you're only kidding you're self, in terms of 'fiat badges' I prefer the originals meant for the car

My brother had a Citrine Yellow Mondeo 4x4 with a full RS bodykit, wheels and factory -30mm lowered suspension. It was...

Ford
Mondeo RS 4x4

...on the log book.

The citrine mondeos where all done as a special ltd edition with one being sent to each dealership, they had a special (horrific patterned blue and yellow) sports interior which meant they were all 2.0l Si spec

They only did the Si and Ghia (x) as a 4x4 but never did a citrine 4x4 so I would imagine the paperwork would have said Si not RS and if it was a yellow 4x4 then someone painted it

I had a couple of modeos including a 4x4 Ghia x saloon was very active on the modeo forums at the time, everyone I knew who had a citrine just had 'yellow' on their log book

For my track car I'm building, Fiat 850 coupe, I have a vinyl sticker that says " Built with Genuine ebay Parts". I bought the sticker off eBay.

I'm looking for a sticker that says "No Abarth Bits have gone into this car" Would appreciate any links if they are available off the shelf.

Not long after I purchased my ABARTH I ran into an old school FIAT tech with a 500 Pop. He had ABARTH badges & stickers all over the place. The only thing I found offensive about it is the lazy application of them… not only looked factory applied. But he was obviously an enthusiast. 'No harm in it really.

Best reason for fitting Abarth badges would be to stop your mates taking the **** when they see that you have bought a Fiat..
Cheers Ian

Imagine how much they'll take the **** when they realise what you've done...

The issue here is that up-badging is never going to be cool, whatever the badges are.

It's like putting an M badge on a 316i. 99% of people wouldn't notice the M badge, but the 1% that do also instantly notice it's not an M3.

I guess you could dress it up to look like an M3, but then you're only fooling yourself.

We've got an interesting beast in the work car park - a boggo A4 TDi with an S4 badge on the back.

That said, if it makes you happy, then sod it. It's your car.

I'm probably comitting some kind of heinous style/badge crime on my Giugiaro-styled Panda by putting X1/9 wheels on it with Bertone centre caps. Never mind

I don't have any great issues with it,
as others have said - it's so widespread throughout the engine propelled world.

TBH half the time I probably don't know / CARE if it's a "proper" Abarth ,

saw a VERY nice red GP with Abarth badges as I was crossing a road the other day,
Central Oxford,
to me the giveaway was it was an OLD GP @ 2006, and had a 20 year old driving it,

but it looked "right" being RED the same as the Badges..,

Charlie

thooms said:

Imagine how much they'll take the **** when they realise what you've done...

The issue here is that up-badging is never going to be cool, whatever the badges are.

It's like putting an M badge on a 316i. 99% of people wouldn't notice the M badge, but the 1% that do also instantly notice it's not an M3.

I guess you could dress it up to look like an M3, but then you're only fooling yourself.

We've got an interesting beast in the work car park - a boggo A4 TDi with an S4 badge on the back.

That said, if it makes you happy, then sod it. It's your car.

I'm probably comitting some kind of heinous style/badge crime on my Giugiaro-styled Panda by putting X1/9 wheels on it with Bertone centre caps. Never mind

Click to expand...

On an episode of "the Garage", someone brought in their pride and joy to be fixed & the mechanics spotted the fact that someone had stuck the M3 (?) badges on a bog standard - but the bloke had paid way over the odds for the car because he believed he was paying for something 'better'.
And, of course, the subject of insurance has been mentioned.
If the only way to tell what you've really got is by looking under the bonnet then 'up-badging' your car would make it far more desirable to the scumbags - and if your car is nicked & later totalled, your insurance might not be so keen to pay out when they spot the 'up-badging'.

Yeah I watched about ten minutes of 'the garage'.... got sick of the shouting and pathetic arguments.
My 100hp has Abarth badges on it...it absolutely deserves to have them....i'm not trying to fool anyone because no one knows what a 100hp is anyway... they look great and they'll be staying on.

Up badging, down badging, equalising badging, ....etc

If you have followed my posts I don't have any real issues (with ONE IMPORTANT caveat) about badging. If you want to pimp your ride, or your caravan with an Abarth badge (I did mine when it was towed by my Stilo Abarth) then that is OK by me and many others. We know what you are/or not in reality. BUT PLEASE PLEASE do not use Fiat/Abarth genuine badges (not that you will be able to get them any more) belonging to genuine Abarth vehicles. (will add Cosworth, and all the other prestigious and rare genuine brand badges).

There are millions of after market "cult" brand/mark badges out there to use without resorting to using genuine limited/rare badges.

I've seen so many "pride today" vehicles pimped with rare badges (the owners in most cases don't know how rare/valued these badges are) being dumped, neglected, moved on etc. when the next "must have car toy" gets their fancy.

They only wanted the badges due to the respected performance/historic heritage but fail to realise/understand that in doing so they are destroying what they love, especially when there are plenty of quality replica badges available to do what they want to achieve without damaging a historic legacy and parts availability.

As someone else said a while ago it is "market forces" and let be what is. But a once £5 badge for a genuine vehicle owner could now possibly cost them £500+ just to keep their pride and joy completely original. I can tell you this really hurts when you know that so many of these £5 badges got scrapped on cars that never bore these badges and were just a "pimping" phase in a transient car owner's "passage" to real manhood!

Just off to find my "flame proof" suit.