Originally Posted by simajanpa
I'm sorry for this rant/question, but it has puzzled me since I joined this group a while back.
Why is it that lots of people want to hide the heritage of this wonderful car? We all knowingly bought a Chrysler product, and if your so ashamed to
own it, I'm not sure why you would buy it in the first place.
I am an older car buff who came from the 60s and 70s muscle car era.
I don't remember trying to fool people into thinking I was driving a different car than the original nameplate stated from the factory.
It's nice to personalize your car in some way to make it your own, but loosing the Chyrsler badge, I just don't get it.
Now changing the grill, that's another story...or the exhaust, the seats, the lights, the color, the radio, the wheels&tires, the shocks, the brakes, or the springs, but Debadging and/or Rebadging won't change it's true heritage. The addition of a Karmann badge or a "Powered by Mercedes Benz" badge is the only thing that makes sense to this old timer. If Karmann sends me badges I'll will add them to this great little car.
Already painted the calipers Red, put in K&Ns, bought new floor mats, shift **** and chrome grill and I've only had the car about two months. But I will never try to gloss over where it came from in the first place.
I just know I'm going to get smoked for this!
Happy Holidays
Paul
Paul, I understand what you're saying. But I think most forum members who have purchased Andrews emblems did so because they liked the way they looked, rather than to hide the fact they were driving a Chrysler. After all, any real car enthusiast knows it's a Chrysler as soon as they see the "Mini Van" grill.
You and I are the same age, and we were fortunate enough to get our drivers license right in the middle of the Muscle Car era. And even though I agree with you, I don't remember anybody ever trying to hide the brand name of their car either, I did see debadging, and rebadging all the time. Even more so in later years during the great "Clone Wars" where a LeMans morphed into a GTO, or a 70 Mustang "Sports roof"' mysteriously became a Boss 302. etc.
Now I know that's not exactly the same thing you're talking about, but still it's an example of owners "changing" their cars identities. So it's really nothing new.
Hopefully it's just a way someone chooses to personalize their car, and not a way to try to deceive somebody for personal gain, but it happens.
In the not too distant future, I wouldn't be too surprised to see a few more SRT-6's cruising the highways, even though they will only look like SRT's on the outside, they will still be a Limited on the inside.
I'm probably the biggest offender of all when it comes to trying to change the identity of my car, (since I've rebadged it as an AMX) but I didn't do it to hide the fact it's a Chrysler, I did it to convey what I really think the Crossfire is all about. Reasons better explained in this thread:
https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...ead.php?t=9100page10
So you see we've all got our issues.