Replacing a Jaguar Badge

I'd be lying if I said that I don't get a thrill when someone sees my car for the first time.  I feel like their reaction is also a compliment to all of the time and money I've put into it.  So, you could understand why one  of the first things I improved on the car was something that everyone always glanced at - the rear badge.

When I bought my '99 XJ8 both of the rear badges, the left reading 'Jaguar' and the right reading 'XJ8', both looked fine from a distance.  However, on closer inspection it became clear that both badges were starting to bubble.  The Jaguar badge was the worst with the bubbling distorting the J and making it look like someone had put out their cigarette on the back of my car.  The problem only got worse by the end of the summer and by the fall I was hunting out a badge online.  

What was great about this fix was that it was such an easy and surprisingly inexpensive job to do. I got lucky and found a replacement badge on eBay for only $10 and was able to change it out in a matter of minutes.  The XJ8 badge proved to be a challenge though.  I'd either come across ones that were surrounded by black plastic (instead of chrome) or ones that cost upwards of $100.  For most of 2011 I kept an eye out but couldn't find a reasonably priced badge that made replacement worth while.  

That was until last month anyway.  I finally found the perfect XJ8 badge replacement on eBay and sent the link off to my parents as 'the perfect gift idea'.  Something tells me that both me and my car will be very happy come Christmas morning.  

Pin It