Car makers must adapt cars sold worldwide to meet the specific requirements of different markets. One way that Eurozone and North American regulations differ is the ECE requirement for “side repeaters,” which are turn signal lamps mounted on the front fender behind the front axle. North American cars have no such requirement. Sometimes, manufacturers install the repeater lamp, which is allowable as a non-required option. In other cases, they stamp different fenders with and without the repeater hole (mostly true of domestic American cars). But it’s often cheapest and most efficient to simply replace the lamp with a dummy plug that snaps into the existing hole — a “Euro-wart.” These can masquerade as an intentionally designed emblem quite convincingly (I’m thinking of one captive import in particular), other times they look like, well, an obvious plastic filler plug. So, prepare to take up your position as a braincell in the commentariat hivemind. Today’s Encyclopedia Hoonatica task is to come up with all the North American cars that have worn these useless fillers badges of overseas exploits. (For those of you residing beyond our continental shores, feel free to point out examples where far-far-away-spec hardware was kludgily deleted for your home market — or anywhere else for that matter.) Remember, the list is first-come-first-served; read through the existing comments before posting and refrain from making duplicate entries. DIFFICULTY: I fear you are underestimating the sneakiness, Sir.
By Peter Tanshanomi
Tanshanomi is Japanese [単車のみ] for "motorcycle(s) only." Though primarily tasked with creating two-wheel oriented content for Hooniverse, Pete is a lover of all sorts of motorized vehicles.
Jeff Glucker