What's with the fake, stick-on 'fender vents' people are putting on their cars?

Question

Or 'Portholes' as Buick calls them....

...way back in the 1950's, one of Buick's trademark styling elements were the round 'port holes' on the upper fender, which even back then really did not serve any other function but looked a little like the real ones on European sports-racing cars of the day.

Recently, Buick re-introduced them on the Lucerne and LeSabre, which as GM sedans go are actually pretty nice cars (by the way, the country that buys the most Buicks is.....China!!). In the context of a Buick, it's a tie back to their heritage. The six-cylinder cars get three vents per side, and the eight-cylinder cars, which by the way are powered by the fantastic Northstar V8, get four vents per side.

Since then, it everyone out there has been buying really cheap-looking stick-on fake ones, in different shapes and sizes, and sticking them on pretty much ANY car. I've seen them on everything from beaters and econoboxes to...yes....a brand-new C6 CORVETTE....

...what gives? What on Earth is the appeal of tacking a fake version of a fake styling element to a car that obviously doesn't belong with them? Most of these things are AWFUL, with little fake s***w heads and fakey mesh, etc.

So I ask you, the Yahoo! Nation, what's the appeal of these things? Is it a status symbol some how? Is it really that Buicks are cool now?

Do you have them? If so, why? If not, what's the oddest car you've seen them on?

Answer 1

Well now what group of people like Buick's. They are stupid just like the big tall rims. Exhaust that sounds like wet farts. and real dark windows all of  that c**p taken right off of tv.  Around here they even put them on old ford pick ups.

Answer 2

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Good God, did you have to make a question about fake fender vents so long and boring!!!?!?

Look...I think they look stupid, but it's their car. If they're doing it to personalize it, let them do whatever the h**l they want. They just want their car to look different.