P.S. Not far away from our first home, there was a scrap-yard (only metal, nor car-wrecking). During the nights or at weekends, sometimes people have placed wrecks in front of its door (perhaps they thought, that they had to pay for).

Surely, we kids have liked it very much to play in them, try to mount off parts - and finally destroy them more, crushing windows and lamps, jumping on them an so on.

I remember an early Audi 60, A Peugeot 404, a Renault 16, a Opel Kadett B Caravan (Buick Opel in the USA) and an early Renault 4, we had damaged.

It's over 30 years ago, but from that Renault 4, I still have a tool left, an 8" "Inbus"-bit.


Even nowadays, when I'm travelling around with my VW K 70, I have a tool-bag with me, where all tools are included, you need for that car. Sure, if they will be some repairs at my car, or the car of a friend, but the main reason for this toll-collection is, that I will have the chance to wreck a K 70 (which I'm always hoping to find) You never know, what will happen! You will never know, what you wil find on a junkyard- when you will ask there- just for joke- if they have stuff for my car.


Once, in February 1994, I had a big success. I've been with a K 70-friend in the garage of annnother K 70- and NSU-freak close to Hamburg. We've worked at our cars, when suddenly a neighbour came in: "Hey guy, there is an abandoned K 70, down there on the next parking of the Autobahn, it's half-destroyed. We have loughed and have said "Come on, you've confused it with something else, perhaps a Lada or so" (it was the A 24 to the East and in 1994 still a lot of Eastern cars were running in Eastern Germany.

The was getting angry and has shouted "I'm not kidding, go and look yourselves!"

So we did - and there was a K 70-wreck indeed! I think, it was coming from Denmark, due a broken sticker on the crushed windscreen. No license-plates, the FIN-number was destroyed, so surely abandoned.

Some parts weren't bad, we've mounted off perfect bumpers, good doors, some technical stuff and more parts. One back door of it is still standing in my garage.

We had fun to see the people, who have seen us, when they wanted to stop there for the toilet. A lot of them have lookd to us with big eyes - and were immediately leaving that parking. I don't know, why, was it too suspicious, too see two crazy freaks, wrecking an abandoned car?


Ah, before I forget: if you are taking parts from an abandoned car, it's not really illegal by the German law. If the police would come to us, I would have told it to them. I'm not sure, if the guy would have known that small juristic detail.

This person decided to paint the name of the car on the trunk to replace the badge .

Ahh... somehow I knew it was "o-ry-on" in Britain and "o-ree-on" elsewhere.
See? I'm not the ignorant American I come across to be

Speaking of pronuciation, I've always found it funny how the british say "al-u-min-ium". Here we say "al-loo-min-um"

@CCF- As for the badges and hood ornaments, I'll get you some Cadillac ones, if it'll really make you THAT happy

Also, cars do rust a lot around the badges. My generation of Accords is paticularly know for that
There is a small metal panel on the right side of the rear, above the bumper and below the trunk lid. (Oh boy, I've been watching too much Top Gear, I almost wrote "boot" lid for a second there ) Anyway, this metal panel is where the trim level badge is placed. Either "DX", "LX", or (as on my car) "LX-i". I have not seen a single Accord of this generation (including mine) that does not have a GIANT rust hole right on that panel. The solution my father and I came up with was to bolt a small aluminum (that's "al-loo-min-um" ) plate over it and paste a bumper sticker on top. Not the finest of solutions but it works

How creative, I like it

I made the experience, that it depends on the brand, how easy a badge is to remount. O.k., I'm talking only about the old style metal-badged, fixed with metal-pins in the body, not about plastic stuff, ounted with glue.

VW and Audi was easy to get -except the "5 E" or "5 T"-badges of the Audi Typ 43 (100 and 200 in Europe, 5000 in the USA).
Mercedes Benz was o.k., but you have to know, that the star on the trunk-hood is fixed with a screw in the middle, so only to remount from the inside.
Opel and Ford were as easy as VW, Fiat and especially Renault was worse. Some metal Renault-badges were fixed with glue, too, so you have to be wrking a bit trickier with your screwdriver.

At Japanese cars these glue-fixed plastic badges were common at first - mostly ugly to handle with them.

@taxiguy: if you have the chance to visit an old junkyard (resp. a yard with old cars) in our area, you should try to find these old metal-badges, which dealers have mounted on the cars they've sold. Sure, it was common in the 50ies and 60ies, but sometimes you can find them.
You can make real money with them! The freaks are very crazy for them.

These chromated or aluminium-dealer-badges were popular in America, less in Europe. Over here some dealers in the 60ies and 70ies had thin aluminium-plates, which were used like bumper-stickers. It's nearly impossible to remount them, very ugly, if you want to save them.

Around 20 years ago, a guy of my former neighbourhood was going fast with his VW Polo G 40 on the Autobahn, suddenly he got a shock, when he saw in the back mirror a VW T1-split-screen-Bus from the early 60ies are coming very fast very close, and then he was using its flash-lights to make the lane free for him.
Totally surprised he let overtake the old VW Bus. It passed him with around 200 km/h (ca.120 mph). On the back it had a kind of "badge": it was written with a brush " Porsche engine! "

It would make me THAT happy indeed ive always wanted to have an old Caddy hood ornament and badges from the models but anyway, is it too expensive to send these stuff via mail? note that they may weigh a few so this may increase the costs, no?

I've heard (perhaps just a rumour), that for "Alpina"-tuned BMW's there was a kind of blind or curtain for the back window available. If annother car was too close in the back, you could lift up this blind, on which was written: "The new Alpina B6 with xxxx ccm and xxx hp wishes a pleasent day and says 'Bye Bye' " - and then you make a kick-down.

@CCF: usually you can send badges in a regular, thicker letter. it's not neccessary to make a packet.

Oh, don't worry about that. It is not too much as long as I do not get five pounds of emblems and such The badges are mostly pastic so they weigh almost nothing, and the ornaments are metal but they are not too heavy either. I could at least get you someting, even if it is just a piece of plastic that says "Deville" in cursive writing.

And if it does turn out to be too much, at least I can get you a picture

;)!

!!

Also a note to any American/Canadian members I can surely get badges to you, as it would cost near nothing to send

Ah-ha! Good news!

It looks like I can send a 1/2 pound large envelope for only $6.80! I can surely fit some car badges in there.
A hood ornament, maybe not
I don't exactly know how much they weigh off-hand.

EDIT: looks like austrlia is the same price marioman! I can send you a mustang badge as soon as I get it, and maybe some lincoln ones too

Thanks taxiguy, I'll see what I can get for you.

taxiguy, if you email me your adress, I can send the badges soon. It will be after this Thrusday, as I am on holiday from Sunday till then. But I will get you some taxi pohotos at the airport.

Ok, I will
And yes, taxi photos would be quite nice indeed

This link we've also in the database, but here it's not wrong either:
http://www.audiclub.co.il/uploads/helgi/9689kiss44.jpg

The car can have a license-plate from Estonia, by the font and the combination.

I found this on the side of the street, apparently there had been an accident. I picked it up thinking it was maybe from a Crown Vic, but now I am leaning towards thinking it was from an Escape. Any other possibilities of what it could be?

Escape and Crown Victoria is possible.