Brings back memories. . .
Frankly, I wouldn't put a badge bar on a rubber bumper B, it really
would not look right.
Badge bars were a popular accessory in the US in the days when chrome on
cars ruled, days long gone, regrettably. Nothing made a car look more
European (i.e., exotic) in the sixties than a badge bar with those
colorful badges from RAC, MG Car Club, or the Scottish lion and
beautiful red MG logo I have on my grille today. The beauty of a chrome
grill and bumper set off by colorful European badges just cannot be
equaled with today's sanitized, look alike, plastic cars.
This is a European tradition, and anyone who could justify the cost to
produce a quality chrome and enameled badge did so, so there must have
been thousands made. If Antiques Roadshow ever goes to England I'm sure
they will find someone who has a collection of them. I never did put a
badge bar on, badges were very expensive relatively speaking in the
sixties and seventies, they were definitely a luxury item and a mark of
class and wealth in Europe. Your question has rekindled that idea for
me however.
Convert your US government spec rubber bumper car to chrome bumpers and
then go for the badges!
Tab Julius wrote:
>
> I've been debating putting on a badge bar. I like the look of them on
> other cars, yet still would feel a mite pretentious putting one on my own
> (probably because one wasn't there when I got the vehicle). It's also a
> rubber-bumber B, so it doesn't seem quite as natural as a chrome would with
> a badge bar, but I could probably manage that. Also I would only put on
> generic stuff - it seems a little presumptious to put on, say, an RAC badge
> without actually being a member of the RAC.
>
> That said, I'm wondering about the history of the badge bar, and badges
> themselves. I've seen them on Mercedes, so did this originate in Europe
> and, if so, does anyone know with what car or what event? Are there
> certain traditions associated with them? They're obviously for cars the
> owner is proud of, for whatever reason (cost or quality). Were badges
> specific to car clubs, or did certain events also beget badges?
>
> Any trivia, lore, history, etc., appreciated...
>
> Thanks
>
> - Tab
--
Stuart MacMillan
Seattle
'84 Vanagon Westfalia
'65 MGB (Driven since 1969)
'74 MGB GT (Restoring)
Assisting on Restoration:
'72 MGB GT (Daughter's)
'64 MGB (Son's)
Parts cars:
'68 & '73 MGB, '67 MGB GT
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