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Roger

Roger

Luke Skywalker
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Maybe things are different over here, so please be kind if you reply, but there's something that always niggles me when I see cars, or photos of cars, with badges to which I'm pretty sure they're not entitled.
I very much doubt if as much as 1% of the RAC, AA, BARC, BRDC badges I've seen in the USA belong to people who are members of these august and celebrated bodies.
To me, it's a bit like lying about your Alma Mater, and certainly pretentious.
Or don't Americans see it that way, and is that something else for me to learn?
 
Your point's well taken, Roger. Probably one of those "It never occurred to me" things.

Mickey
 
I've got "badges" I wear.....and I dare anybody to try to take them off me.

You never know who actually earned them....or if the car did with a previous owner.....

ss-5.gif
 
Roger, I put it down to the search for "authenticity". These badges lend respectability to LBCs, (ESPECIALLY the BRDC and BARC badges), and let's face it, most people over here don't have a clue what the latter two represent.

I look at it from the point of view that if someone wanted to sell these badges, and another bought them, all well and good.

Steve
Another Ancient Briton (or getting there)
 
I have the most prestigious badge I know of. BCF!

Sorry Basil, I couldn't find the photo with the tattoos.
 

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Someone has to say it.......
"Badges - we don't need no stink'n badges".
Over here, (in the USA)we don't have the same
reverence for these,it just adds to the vehicle.
I understand what you're saying - I feel the same
way about people wearing fire department t-shirts,who
were never involved in firefighting.

- Doug
 
Heck with the badges...gotta get me one of them hats!
 
Do you feel the same way about someone wearing a jersey of their favorite team? There are more reasons to display historical badges other than vanity. My '67 BGT has an MG Car Club badge and an AA badge. I belong to neither. A previous owner did however and placed the badges where they are. It's a matter of preserving the history of the car. I'm not really a badge guy myself, but I appreciate the history when I see period badges on a classic car.

I might understand more if we were talking about badges on a modern car, but badges on classics are more to celebrate the period from which the car came - to present the car as a small slice of the period from which it came. I seriously doubt anyone would care about pretending to belong to some car club 3,000 miles away. Most badges I see are for clubs the person belongs to, or for cars he/she owns anyway.
 
Tribe mentality! :jester:

Only badge I have EVER had on any of my cars is the same one Greg's sportin' as bling.

...ooops... fergot th' Benz. There's a "Florida Terrorist Hunting License" and an NRA sticker inna left rear door glass. :smirk:
 
Steve_S said:
Do you feel the same way about someone wearing a jersey of their favorite team? There are more reasons to display historical badges other than vanity. ...
Click to expand...

I'm with Steve S 100% on this one. I've never been a great fan of badge bars but I don't think they're any different from most other period accessories. There's certainly a place for them and I don't see membership as a prereq for displaying them on certain cars. A BRDC badge would look silly on a new Mini but would fit perfectly on on a vintage Bentley.
 
I've always believed membership was a prereq. Guess I'll have to think about that.
 
Should people wear Union Jack t-shirts or hats if they're not from the UK?
 
Roger said:
I've always believed membership was a prereq. Guess I'll have to think about that.
Click to expand...

Roger, I don't think that many people on this side of the pond understand that some of those badges, the authentic ones, are actually club property and should be returned to the club by non-club members. Over here, with all the repro's available, all bets are off though.
 
Roger-

Actually the two on my car right now are clubs that I am a member in (Houston Triumph Club & UK TR Register) so there is a little of the club membership thought going on. It may be a familiarity thing - I don't feel very comfortable having a Marine Corps badge on the used truck I bought, because I knew people would think I was an ex-Marine but I wasn't. But an old UK badge in the US? Not sure if anyone would look at it as more than just an accessory.

Randy
 
A Marine Corps Badge on my car?

Hey, the only GOOD Marine is a SUBmarine......

That's what we usually tell the grunts at the VFW just before the fistfights start.......
 
TRDejaVu said:
Should people wear Union Jack t-shirts or hats if they're not from the UK?
Click to expand...

I've always thought that wearing a shirt - like a Sports team shirt if you will - shows support. Wearing a full dress uniform is deception or something.

Club badges are membership badges, not pretty-pretties!
 
Roger said:
TRDejaVu said:
Should people wear Union Jack t-shirts or hats if they're not from the UK?
Click to expand...

I've always thought that wearing a shirt - like a Sports team shirt if you will - shows support. Wearing a full dress uniform is deception or something.

Club badges are membership badges, not pretty-pretties!
Click to expand...

I can kinda sorta see your point, but honestly based on the number of them I've seen, especially on period cars, I'd say a large number of folks just view them as period accessories. Whether that's good or bad, I think its just a fact of life. Personally, I would not mind of someone put a badge for the BCF on their car if they were not a member (we have sold them in the past). What better way to advertise for a club?
 
TOC said:
A Marine Corps Badge on my car?

Hey, the only GOOD Marine is a SUBmarine......

That's what we usually tell the grunts at the VFW just before the fistfights start.......
Click to expand...


noice....

I just recently began wearin' my aircrew wings under th' flag on my lapel. I ~earned~ th' things.

There's nothin' I'd sport wot don't have "ambiance". Even a t-shirt.

No REMF here. If it's on me, it means somethin'.

I'd not attach any badge without "provenance" to my life.

... but I'm not in any "majority" of note.
 
The badge bar from my dad's car is one of my most treasured things. It has the following badges on it:

A.C.C - Automobile Club du Cameroun.
Automobile Club de la Province d'Alger
CCCA - Classic Car Club of America
A.C.O - Automobile Club De L'Oranie
The Veteran Car Club of Great Britain
ANWB - Koninkluke Nederlandsche Toeristenbond
BARC
AA
Rolls Royce Owners Club
RAC
The Vintage Sports-Car Club

I know for certain he was a member of at least 4 of those and knowing my dad very well may have belonged to the rest. In time it will find a home on my car.
 
DrEntropy said:
TOC said:
A Marine Corps Badge on my car?

Hey, the only GOOD Marine is a SUBmarine......

That's what we usually tell the grunts at the VFW just before the fistfights start.......
Click to expand...


noice....

I just recently began wearin' my aircrew wings under th' flag on my lapel. I ~earned~ th' things.

There's nothin' I'd sport wot don't have "ambiance". Even a t-shirt.

No REMF here. If it's on me, it means somethin'.

I'd not attach any badge without "provenance" to my life.

... but I'm not in any "majority" of note.
Click to expand...

That's why I showed the fishes.
Earned them, just like everyone Qualified Submarines.
Qualified Submarines.
Qualified 637 Class.
Qualified SeaHorse, SSN 669.
 
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