decals advertising the great features of a particular model, and how they have gotten more cryptic over the years. OHC, OHV, V8, V6, Deisel, Twin Carburettor, 12 valve, 16 valve, turbo, twin turbo, 4WD, ABS,EFI, tuned suspension, tiptronic, vetec etc etc I never see any decals saying,naturally aspirated, or twin naturally aspirated, 8 valve, single carburettor, 2WD, bench seats or manual steering! Do the car makers think we are all racing drivers! Or do we really need these things! Are modern drivers so bad that without electronic traction control, heated rear view mirrors , power steering and ABS braking, would they crash! Crashes still happen. does this mean these fancy things dont work! If airbags are so great, why the need for seatbelts!Just wondering is all.
75ta,
Dec 10, 5:01am
I think the word convertible down the side of a car is a waste of time. If you can't see its a convertible then you probably will not notice the decal on the side.
fungles,
Dec 10, 5:06am
Do we really need to know how many valves its got! Like, do I care! So, its a V8 or a V6. does that actually matter!
mugenb20b,
Dec 10, 5:11am
You clearly lack the knowledge of how these items work.
fungles,
Dec 10, 5:15am
Correct, never had any experience with one. educate me.
franc123,
Dec 10, 5:18am
You are forgetting that people buy cars for reasons other than basic transportation, the decals trumpeting the latest technology or implying that a model is superior are both advertising for the manufacturer AND an ego booster for the driver.If you find that fascinating some of the messages written on factory spare wheel covers, or even the body sides or back windows of imported Terranos, Bighorns and other SUV style vehicles in what appears to be translated Japanese are even more hilarious, trumpeting crap about "discovering the inner self by taking a grip of steering" or similar.
franc123,
Dec 10, 5:21am
Oh and seatbelts are very necessary whether you have airbags or not, an airbag is very little use if you are already on top of it by the time it deploys, or whether the cars SRS controller decides that a particular impact does not need a deployment of an airbag.As well as the fact that one of the worst things that can happen in a crash is to be thrown out of the vehicle, hence the need for you to be restrained in a seat.
fungles,
Dec 10, 5:26am
Thank you. didnt know anything about airbags.
thejazzpianoma,
Dec 10, 5:30am
While I detest over blown gimmicky decals I do like discreet badging as it makes life really easy when identifying a model for purposes of buying it, sourcing parts etc.
gunhand,
Dec 10, 5:36am
I thought sourcing parts was done by the model numbers etc under bonnet and numbers on the lights! Used to have people quote the badges on there cars to get parts and they mean squat apart from engine size maybe.
franc123,
Dec 10, 6:26am
External model identifiers can be useful sometimes, but its the VIN and chassis numbers that matter the most, but even these can be of limited usefulness to anyone other than the manufacturer, who knows when production/spec changes occured or revised parts were fitted etc.But generally no they aren't, its no use saying you have a 2002 XR6 Falcon that you need brake pads for when you don't know if its an AU3 or a BA for example.
gs1220,
Dec 10, 6:35am
I think its interesting that Japanese cars have "European" letters, numbers and words on the boot. Do Chinese cars, for their domestic market, have Chinese symbols! By paying extra you can get your new BMW without the give-away model designation. For modest drivers perhaps.
franc123,
Dec 10, 6:40am
No the other way around,the badgets were mainly left off the likes of S Class Benzes to hide the fact that they were lowly S280 models instead of S500 or 600's!Typically ex Asia models.
thejazzpianoma,
Dec 10, 6:45am
I agree in terms of finalizing things, especially if you are not an expert on that particular make/model.
Think about how we operate on here though, I regularly look at a pic of an auction and say to someone "oh thats got a such and such engine" "that will cost you about X for a cambelt".
I couldn't do that without the little 1.8 or whatever on the bootlid.
foxdonut,
Dec 10, 9:27am
I think you're living in the 90's.
curlcrown,
Dec 11, 1:26am
With regard to airnags, do you know what SRS stands for. The clue is in the first "s"
rob_man,
Dec 11, 1:34am
Secondary restraint system I believe and the decals for that are there for a reason.
ralphdog1,
Dec 11, 1:55am
Supplemental restraint system is another version
male_timaru,
Dec 11, 1:09pm
i'd love to see decals of
"UAH" Ugly As Hell "SAH" Slow As Hell
on the back lids of some cars too
sifty,
Dec 11, 7:23pm
"GAH" too
elect70,
Dec 12, 1:34am
^^ POStoo
rob_man,
Dec 12, 3:14am
Now I'll be keeping an eye out for a Ford 10 with badging that says "Flathead" and LCE for " Low Compression Engine"
sifty,
Dec 12, 6:52pm
I used to call my old 6 cycl 'coon a SUGC for single underground cam
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