In the sports car magazines , it used to be called , "badge-engineering" .
An Austin Healy Sprite could easily be bought from your nearest MG dealership . It would have the names MG , and Midget , written all over it .
Today , these automobiles , the Sprite and the Midget , together , are known as "Spridgets" .
Ford sold Falcons . The badge-engineered version was the Mercury Meteor .
General Motors sold Chevrolet Novas , and one of the badge-engineered versions was the Pontiac Ventura .
Ford took their Falcon ( a good economy car ) and re-engineered it to accept a genuine V-8 engine . The V-8 version was very different from the earlier version . Then , shortly after , they took the Falcon and slightly re-engineered it into the Mustang . The differences ( at first in 1964 1/2 ) between the Falcon and the Mustang were fairly minor .
General Motors went one step further . They took the Chevrolet Nova , re-engineered it into the Chevrolet Camaro , and then "badge-engineered" it into the Pontiac Firebird ( however , yes , most Firebirds did use Pontiac engines ) .
The biggest bicycle company in Nottingham England , Raleigh , was much like General Motors in the way they absorbed other brand names .
Raleigh might have been nicer about it than G.M. , then again maybe not .
My favorite examples are the 3-speed "Sports"-type bicycles from Raleigh , Rudge , and Humber . Each had unique features . Yet , they were all obviously sharing a great deal . And , as time went on , they became more difficult to distinguish .
Is a Raleigh-Rudge a "real" Rudge ?
And when did a Carlton cease to be a Carlton ?
And what of BSA bicycles ?
And what of BSA motorbikes , merged and blended with Triumph motorbikes ?
And what of Triumph bicycles ?
Back to automobiles , when G.M. bought Oldsmobile , and the sole rights to the Oldsmobile name , at the end of 1908 , some folks were not happy . Was any Oldsmobile built after 1908 a "real" Oldsmobile ?
And what of the talented Mr. Ransom Eli Olds ? He was forbidden to build and sell an Oldsmobile ! So , he started the R.E.O. automobile company ( and yes , one model for urban delivery was called the R.E.O. Speedwagon ) .
There are now laws to limit this sort of thing in the wine industry . But buying "names" or "labels" and swapping them around , has gone on for centuries ! The wine industry still does it , but is now very careful to be very honest about WHERE the vineyards are located . But even so , with the cheap French "table" wine , there is commonly talk in the wine trades about ships full of "bulk wine" coming North from Algeria .
Gee Whiz Folks !!!! How many entrepreneurs , right here in the U.S.A. , as recently as the 1980's and the 1990's , began by making small batches of some really nice bicycle parts , and then sold the business to some huge company who had ( maybe still has ! ) similar looking parts made in Asia ????
This tale is as old as marketing !
Did the Romans have any protection for brand names , or for family names used in business ?
They did it with musical instruments ( not just flutes , think guitars , think violins ) .
They do it in every area of manufacturing and marketing .
Are Rolex watches still assembled by hand , at home , by piece workers ? It used to be that when you bought a Rolex , it had been inspected and tested by Rolex , and was assembled from parts which had been warehoused by Rolex , but was it made by Rolex ?
And today , if you buy a brand new Merlin titanium bicycle , and your best friend buys a brand new bicycle from Seven Cycles , which one is the "real" Merlin ??
And what if I went out and bought a titanium bicycle from Mr. Mike Augspurger , at One-Off Titanium , would I actually have the "real" Merlin ??
It is pointless to worry too much about what is "real" .
But , it can be very , very , much on the point to worry about which one is better !
Raoul Delmare
Marysville Kansas