During a time in my school years, it was quite common to see VWs with the big VW badge missing from the front. It became that much of an epidemic that I remember seeing some with Zip ties anchoring them to the front grill of the car, which I found quite strange, anyone who was eager enough to prize one off wouldn't be hindered at all by the added 5 seconds it would take to snip through a couple of zip ties. Quite unexpectedly the trend progressed to a few Mercedies also which were either taken by dyslexic fans or copycats.
If you don't know what I'm talking about, back in the mid-'80s an American hip-hop band became famous with singles such as 'Fight for your right' and 'no sleep till Brooklyn' (which are the 2 that I can remember).
[source]https://nymag.com/arts/popmusic/features/beastie-boys-2011-5/]
More notably relevant to this post the Beastie Boys as they were known regularly posed with the lead singer laden with gold chains, and specifically a chain supporting the oversized VW badge, presumably to add to the rebellious image they were portraying.
It was during this time that the VW badges began disappearing from the front of these cars. The cars themselves were quite iconic at the time, an example is the VW Golf GIT16 which is a sought-after classic now, stood out like Scarlet Johanson at a glam party with a front tooth missing, .. or maybe Brad Pitt (keeping it equal).
I remember the craze at the time and quite liked the songs, but id never go out with a screwdriver with the intention of acquiring one to Don it on my person the following day, but I saw quite a few young people imitating them with the same 'symbol of rebellion'
The craze kind of disappeared as quickly as the Beastie Boys singles in the charts and VW owners soon began to get a night's sleep having put away their air rifles with night vision scopes.
On my way to the gym a week ago I saw a VW polo with the front badge missing, .. it kind of stopped me to ponder as it was only a week prior id seen another car on the road, also a VW with the front badge missing (didn't manage to snap that one). Was the contagion starting again? ..have the beastie boys come out of hiding. iv not been in touch with the music charts, which I remember fondly as being compiled by 'Gallop' who did a full rundown on Sunday evenings of the top 40 singles.
So maybe they have and would wreak havoc on a new generation of youngsters eager to express their teen rebel inner self?
It occurred to me then that they are probably now in their 50s and have abandoned their juvenile ways, so it is probably not them.
As I walked away I wondered if alternatively in their senior years, they may now have progressed to BMW or Mercedes ...... OMG... maybe Tesla's !!!
I continued on to the gym and jumped onto a treadmill deliberately overlooking the car park.... you can never be too careful.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
on a non-comical note coming back home I decided to do some research and found the founder passed back in 2012 from the dreaded big C, ... RIP Adam Yauch 🙏.
