The Sun is Setting

A Road & Track article was recently released saying that Ford has filed for the name “Skyline” to their trademark list. While Ford did have trim levels with the name Skyline in the past, and there was a concept with the name Skyliner in it, Ford is not the manufacturer most notable for the name.

In the automotive enthusiast world, Nissan is the manufacturer that comes to mind when the name Skyline is said. While the newest Nissan flagship sports car is called the GT-R, it used to carry the name Skyline, but never has in the United States officially. That is because up until the R35, the car was never officially sold here in the States. However, if it had, up until the R35, the cars had the name of Nissan Skyline GT-R. The R35 that was sold in the America did not have the Skyline name, and I’m not really sure if it did anywhere else except Japan, if it even did there either.

While you might be thinking to yourself, gosh, why is Ford encroaching on Nissan territory and how much more could Ford ruin good names? I am going to approach this from a different angle. My beef is with Nissan. Why doesn’t Nissan care enough to keep that name? Nissan has an upcoming new Z car that will launch soon, but goodness gracious, they have a lineup that is long in the tooth and they have for a number of years now, been staying in business by fleet sales. Nissan tends to be the punch line of many jokes. They are not helping themselves by neglecting to keep the Skyline name in their library just in case. It is sad to say, but the sun is setting on the Skyline name and possibly even Nissan itself.

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Bad Taste in Badges

While out and about over the weekend, my wife and I saw a Toyota Solara that had a TRD badge in the front grill. What is so special about that you might ask? Well, that is exactly the point my wife and I discussed for a few minutes.

As a keen automotive enthusiast, I knew something didn’t look right about the Solara. After doing some quick research, and finding a flaw with the car and that badge. I described the situation to my lovely wife. She then dropped the bomb on all badge discussions. “That’s stupid. Why put a badge on a car when most people don’t know enough to care, and those that care, know it’s fake?” She is the best and I couldn’t agree more.

The Toyota Camry Solara was built from 1998 to 2008. There were two generations, the first from 98 to 03, the second from 03 to 08. Only the first generation had a TRD package available as a dealer upgrade on the 99 and 00 model years. While the parts are available for any Solara, the picture of the car above is a second generation car. That right there is already flaw one. I texted a picture to my brother in law and he noticed the badge is crooked. Flaw two. After that, I figured out what I would be blogging about.

The point my wife made was absolutely brilliant. Why bother badging a car for those that don’t care? You might get away with it for a little while, and it might impress some people who will act like they care. It might inflate your own ego. But, to those of us that know, you are really just making a fool of yourself. Bad taste in badges is a bad idea, but if you insist, it makes great content to put on the internet!