Badges? We don't need no stinkin' badges!!!

[ANALOG]

So I've been in search of new FIAT badges for the trunk and hood, and Pininfarina side emblems for my 1980 Spider. I finally bought some online that appeared to be silver, only to be ugly orangy brass. So I tried looking again and I found some really nice FIAT badges on eBay that were silver, 57mm diameter, with glossy enameled logo. They looked stunning in the photos and even better in real life. Initially I wondered how I would get the old ones off and the new ones on, so I thought I'd share the process with those who are thinking of doing the same. What I did was get a plastic shopping bag and slip it under the edge of the badge, working it all the way around until it reached the other side of the bag. Then I grabbed the entire bag close to the badge and pulled up gently, popping the old badge off the hood and trunk. On my car, there was only one plastic grommet per badge holding one pin into the hole. So I got some double-sided all-weather tape, and put it on the back of the new badges before inserting them. They look great!

As for the Pininfarina badges, I bought 2 on eBay from the same vendor, but they are very poorly constructed. Apparently they were made by Franco Ragni http://ragnifranco.studioalchemy.net/prodStemmi.php in Italy which I find hard to believe. They just look horrible: 1) the metal is uneven around the badge, so it doesn't look centered 2) The white line is noticeably thinner on one corner of the badge. 3) the pins are soldered at an angle. They looked good in the photos, but they are horrible looking in real life. Does anyone have a good source for replacement Pininfarina badges? Also, how do you remove the old ones? My Spider is a 1980 model. Were the side badges screwed on, or simply press fit? Any help would be much appreciated!

[mdrburchette]

I bought mine from IAP and they were decent badges. On the early models they were held on with 6mm nuts, but I believe the later models were held in by plastic clips.

[peter]

Try International Auto Parts, I just orderd for my 82 and they look great

Peter

[rlux4]

Peter, thanks a lot for the tip on badge removal. That's getting closer and closer to the top of my list of things to do on mine. Where did you get the good badges? PartsPoint? The ones with the silver wreath are catching my eye. Did you know that Mark (our outstanding moderator, So Cal Mark) sells a very nice Pinninfarina side badge, in several colors. Take a look at his website: http://www.allisonsautomotive.com/
Ron

[ANALOG]

Here's the PartsPoint badge, which I considered buying, but it almost has a basketball texture to it, and the finish looks matte:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Fiat-124 ... enameZWDVW

Here's the one I bought which is much shinier:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/FIAT-X19 ... dZViewItem

It's hard to tell the difference between the two, and they might be the same, but it looks like the second one is much glossier, almost a jewelry quality to it. It looks just as glossy as in the photo. Very high quality.

I'll take a look at the IAP Pininfarina logos and see if they will fit the bill. I considered the ones that Mark is selling, but photos are too blurry and distant to be able to tell if they're the quality I'm looking for. They look nice, but I'm looking for something that has more of a glassy look to it, to match the hood badges.

[rlux4]

They do look very similar, but yours are 57mm and the ones at PartsPoint are 55mm. Damn! That means I have to spend more money. Thanks a lot Analog.
Ron

[So Cal Mark]

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Too blurry and distant? uh, okay. You can spend alot more money on an inferior badge.

[Jazgeek]

I bought mine from fiats part point on Ebay (ebay member partspoint) they are very nice and shiney.

originally I had bought them and then noticed from the picture that they are a bit gold in colour and then of course I read the reast of the fine print.

Apparently prior to 74 the badge was gold around the red portion and then after 74 (around the same time they changed the bumpers) they switched it to silver. I was able to swap the gold for silver via email before they shipped them out.

the little plastic catcher things that go in the holes in the hood can be gotten at just about any GM dealership

here's the gold one
http://cgi.ebay.ca/FIAT-X-1-9-and-850-S ... dZViewItem

here's the silver one
http://cgi.ebay.ca/Fiat-124-Spider-and- ... dZViewItem

[ANALOG]

The gold one listed above is actually a tin badge, as on later model Spiders. The center of the badge has three tabs that hold it in. That's the one I accidently bought thinking it was silver. The seller has now modified their photos to make sure people realize it's gold.

The silver PartsPoint badge above seems to be pretty close to the badge I bought (but quite a bit cheaper). The center enameled section is actually glued in place. It might actually be identical to the one I bought. I haven't measured, but they may be 55mm.

As for Marks badges, what I meant was the photos aren't detailed enough, not large enough to see the details. It's hard to tell from those small photos, but the enamel looks more orange than red. Do you have a larger image of the badges with less reflections?

[Jazgeek]

that's what mine looks like installed

[So Cal Mark]

my badges are so shiny it's really hard to take pics without a reflection. The pics I posted are thumbnails so you can click on them to enlarge. The badge on the right has the corners in orange; it's obviously different than the red on the crown. The badge on the left has red corners and the red crown as well