Author: Mark Elliott

In this post, we showcase the results of our Austin Healey Badge Restoration. Rather than replace the original badges the car came with, this Austin Healey owner wanted to restore them. They came to us in a sorry state. The chrome was pitted and the enamel was fading badly or missing completely.

Considering the age and wear, this Austin Healey badge restoration needed to be carried out in a sympathetic manner. The metal areas were polished to remove defects and chrome plated to restore the shine. A custom mix of enamel was used to match the ‘Rustoleom Regal Red’ used on the original badges.

The Austin Healey script badge was a slight concern, as the pitting marks were particularly deep. If we polished down to completely remove these, we were afraid of polishing too deep and losing the depth/detailing of the badge. After careful consideration, we felt it was too risky to try and remove them completely on an original badge, so some pitting marks do remain. Nonetheless, they are much smaller and it is a notable improvement compared to before.

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Porsche have created limited edition badges at various times throughout their history to commemorate events or cars. Notable Porsche grill badges include the 1950’s 100,000km badge, 2018 70 years badge and most recently a heritage edition badge for the 992 Targa 4S.

This badge idea appealed to Porsche Club GB member Mark (911Time), who embarked on his own project to design and commission a Porsche grill badge unique to his car. 

Having drafted his initial thoughts on to paper, Mark incorporated unique elements of his own car into the badge (such as the Pepita pattern), creating a bespoke badge for a bespoke car. Brass metal was specified with the final size being 80mm diameter, with a thickness of 4mm. The metal was plated in chrome with the remaining recessed areas filled with red and black enamel.

A custom mounting bracket was made in 6082 aluminium by SICD Engineering, to mount on to the grill slats with 3M tape. This was powder coated matte black by Diamond Metal Finishing to match the appearance of the painted areas on the 50th anniversary wheels.

More information and details of Mark’s unique 911 and his unique Porsche grill badge can be found on the Porsche Club GB forum under the username ‘911Time’.

Urban Automotive use the finest Italian Nappa leather in their bespoke vehicle interiors and required custom seat badges to reflect this high quality fit and finish.

The Urban Automotive seat badges push through the leather seat fronts and are secured in place with a backing plate hidden inside the seat, ensuring an optimal fit.

The embossed lettering on the badge is recessed below the metal surface and coloured with Pantone specific enamel to match the stitching and leather piping.

Aluminium vehicle badges – Using the same techniques as Land Rover once did, we have been producing exterior vehicle badges from cast aluminium. We can manufacture these to any design (within reason) and replicate the same style and finish of the traditional badges, giving a period correct look.

We receive the initial casts in a rough state from our local foundry located just a couple of miles from our workshop, however it doesn’t take much work to transform them into a work of art.

The first step is to remove all the rough edges and blemishes (which naturally occur when casting) by hand. Once this has been complete, we flood the recessed areas of the design with enamel paint and leave the badges to cure and dry overnight. Once dry, we buff the remaining raised metal areas by slowly increasing the abrasion grade. This leaves us with a smooth finish to the surface, a beautiful contrast against the black enamel background.

The examples pictured are aluminium vehicle badges we have manufactured for Cool & Vintage. Based in Lisbon, Portugal, they painstakingly restore vintage Land Rovers with an obsession for detail and a commitment to the essentials. Each build is completely disassembled down to its chassis with 1000 hours of dedicated craftsmanship invested. Nothing is left untouched. The chassis is rebuilt to factory spec and coated. All parts are repaired to factory new condition. The engine, gearbox and all mechanical parts are also fully disassembled, overhauled and rebuilt.