Misbadged - Help me Out

[RedVenom48]

I think my heap is(was?) pretty close. I opted for a spoiler delete and I'm running a different ECU strategy but it had everything else short of the VIN tag. Not so much now with the engine rebuild, TT/SC rebuild, intercooler upgrades, and fuel system upgrades. Now it's much more to your latter point...




Oh there's plenty of old timers that get their jorts in a knot for even less egregious things on old cars. They'll complain if your vintage car doesn't have a perfect factory paint match, you don't have the factory original bolts, you don't have an exact OEM emissions decal on the hood, you've got non OEM wiper blades... All kinds of nit picky stuff.



Personally I love the butthurt my car causes.

I guess the question I have for the fake badged cars with a ton of power is... why fake badge it at all?

For example If it's a 1000 HP Coyote, wouldn't there be more satisfaction as an owner when you rape lower powered GT500s or stock Hellcats marked as a "lower model"?

I guess my idea of what I'd take satisfaction in building a car like that is different.

 

[Bullitt1448]

If I copied a bullitt even down to its VIN would it be fair to say that is a fraudulent endeavor?

Copying ANY vin is fraudulent and illegal, Could land you in jail or fined. No one has ever been arrested or charged with changing badges on a car, changing VIN’s is different story.

 

[Makobra]

Copying ANY vin is fraudulent and illegal, Could land you in jail or fined. No one has ever been arrested or charged with changing badges on a car, changing VIN’s is different story.

An astute observation, to be sure, so is penalty of law the only difference between the two things?

 

[Bullitt1448]

An astute observation, to be sure, so is penalty of law the only difference between the two things?

Nope

 

[Makobra]

Nope

what do you think is different?

 

[Bullitt1448]

what do you think is different?

Altering a VIN is generally to profit on a sale or register a vehicle that has been stolen. Adding badges does not.

If you transferred every single nut and bolt from a Cobra to another Mustang it would still not be a Cobra. The way it is born makes it a Cobra not the sum of it’s parts.

 

[Makobra]

Altering a VIN is generally to profit on a sale or register a vehicle that has been stolen. Adding badges does not.

If you transferred every single nut and bolt from a Cobra to another Mustang it would still not be a Cobra. The way it is born makes it a Cobra not the sum of it’s parts.

so is it unacceptable because maybe swapping the vin gets the owner something they didn't pay for?

 

[Bullitt1448]

Swapping a VIN makes it an entirely different car, swapping badges does not

 

[Makobra]

in what sense does swapping a vin badge make the car an entirely different car?

 

[Bullitt1448]

in what sense does swapping a vin badge make the car an entirely different car?

Each VIN is unique to single vehicle and when decoded tells you where, when and how the vehicle was built. Badges are the same on many vehicles

 

[SecondhandSnake]

I guess the question I have for the fake badged cars with a ton of power is... why fake badge it at all?

For example If it's a 1000 HP Coyote, wouldn't there be more satisfaction as an owner when you rape lower powered GT500s or stock Hellcats marked as a "lower model"?

I guess my idea of what I'd take satisfaction in building a car like that is different.

When I bought it, it was a total poser (and ricer). It already had the bumpers and IRS (and R wing, underglow, HID headlights at one point or another) but the GT engine. The rest fell into place piece by piece. It needed sideskirts and GT ones look like trash with Cobra bumpers, so I got the Cobra ones. I wanted a PD blower so I got an Eaton. It was cheaper/easier to run a 4V with one than to stay 2V so I got an 03 engine. GT hood wouldn't clear a blower so I found an 03. Old wheels were trash and I found a deal on a set of staggered 03s. Needed the fuel tank to support it so I bought an 03 one. Friend was selling his 03 interior so I bought it. It all worked out nicely.

...then I found that engine was no good and a lot of it has been discarded in favor of bigger and better. Better built Teksid. Better FF header twins. Better sumped tank. Better cooling system. Better trunk mount intercooler and pump. Even a better, more cooling system friendly flow-ny emblem.

It's come a long way from a ricer to a Cobra-resembling shit heap. And if that rustles some jimmies idgaf.

 

[Makobra]

Each VIN is unique to single vehicle and when decoded tells you where, when and how the vehicle was built. Badges are the same on many vehicles

if it is wrong to put a badge that runs contrary to what a thing is (like putting a different vin badge on it) why are people not applying that same logic to all other badges?

 

[Bullitt1448]

Sure, at the end of the day it’s still a Mustang, as long as you’re not trying to sell it to someone as the real deal, it’s not an issue with me. I saw one guy that had Bullitt lettering on his car. It was a red ragtop with an Auto trans, I thought it was silly but didn’t think he was seriously trying to pass it off as something it wasn’t. 2001 Bullitts would not be hard to clone if you wanted too, there is nothing in the VIN that identifies them as Bullitts. Cobras are different, the VIN clearly identifies them as born as a Cobra, no amount of parts transferance can change that. In order to be fooled by someone adding badges to a car you would have to be pretty gullible or not bother to check When purchasing. To get irrated at a car you see on the street that you have no intention of buying I think is irrational because it is completely irrelevant whether someone dresses their car in a certain way. Would adding Lamborghini style doors make a mustang a lamborghini? Not a chance? Would adding cobra badges to my Bullitt make it a Cobra? Not a chance, the fact that my Bullitt has the engine and transmission from an 03 Cobra doesn’t make it a Cobra, why would a couple of plastic badges if I chose to put them on?

 

[Makobra]

isn't that the opposite of applying the vin badge logic to all other badges?

what is the sole purpose of a badge? it is to identify something as something in particular.

what reason could a person have to put a badge of a car or create an entire clone except to pass that vehicle off as the thing it has been rebadged as?

how is this any different than a civilian wearing a military uniform because he likes the way it looks in public?

 

[Bullitt1448]

Look at it this way, your wife is a Brunette, she dyes her hair blonde, does that change her DNA? She is still the same person with a slightly different look. Same as a badge on a car, Same car, slighty different look, personally I hate the GT badges on the 99-04 cars, much prefer the look of a Cobra over those. I had the opportunity to remove the badges completely and went in that direction.

 

[Makobra]

Look at it this way, your wife is a Brunette, she dyes her hair blonde, does that change her DNA? She is still the same person with a slightly different look. Same as a badge on a car, Same car, slighty different look, personally I hate the GT badges on the 99-04 cars, much prefer the look of a Cobra over those. I had the opportunity to remove the badges completely and went in that direction.

except that changing a badge doesn't change the car's model and feature set just like changing the vin badge doesn't change any of that.it only changes what you SAY your car's model or feature set is.

and what do we call it when people say things that aren't true?

changing hair color would be more like changing paint color.

 

[Black Gold 380R]

isn't that the opposite of applying the vin badge logic to all other badges?

what is the sole purpose of a badge? it is to identify something as something in particular.

what reason could a person have to put a badge of a car or create an entire clone except to pass that vehicle off as the thing it has been rebadged as?

how is this any different than a civilian wearing a military uniform because he likes the way it looks in public?

I think you're looking at 2 different perspectives and thinking of them as 1. A VIN and a badge are 2 separate items. One cannot be altered or applied to another car and must be divulged to the state when a sale is made. A badge is just a simple emblem that can be changed, added, or deleted at the owners discretion.

As stated before, putting a badge on a car does not make the car a specific make or edition. People normally do not change badges or emblems for performance, it is done more for aesthetics. I don't have a problem with people doing that. However, if you put Cobra or Shelby badges or emblems on your car and then try to tell people it's a Cobra or Shelby or sell it as a Cobra or Shelby that is where the line is crossed in my book, not trying to replicate it because you like the way it looks.

As far as your uniform comment, if people want to wear "items" from a military uniform such as the beret, boots or jacket as an "accessory" to their jeans or style, I don't see anything wrong with that. But if you want to wear those things and tell people you're a soldier then that's where the line is crossed in my book.

 

[Bullitt1448]

There is a reason why, well several reasons actually, that you can’t change the Vin on a car. A different VIN makes it a different car. Changing badges only changes the outward appearance it does not change the DNA of the car

 

[Sinister04L]

This thread went full Joe Biden.

 

[Bullitt1448]

This thread went full Joe Biden.

Huh? That I don’t understand