The Evolution of Car Logos

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Henry Ford may best be known for his creation of Ford Motor Company.

But, later in his life he created another company called Henry Ford Company. However, he was not able to produce cars at the same rate, so he was forced to resign. For several months after he left the company, it looked like it would go bankrupt, but Henry Leland, a plant engineer, persuaded the company to keep producing cars. And so, Cadillac was born.

In 1701, Antoine de La Mothe (Sir of Cadillac) founded Fort Pontchartrain which was later renamed Detroit. However, de La Mothe was never noble. He was forced to leave his home in France after committing a crime. He came to America, and, to impress the civilians, he declared that he was of noble blood and had a crest made. Until 1998, the Cadillac logo resembled his original crest, but Cadillac decided to recreate the logo. The black birds and the golden crown from the original crest were removed and the design was simplified.

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www.cadillac.com

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There are two different myths about how the design of the Chevrolet logo came to be.

William Durant, the designer, first came up with the idea when he was visiting a hotel in Virginia. The pattern on the wallpaper inspired the design of the logo. The other popular myth states that Durant came up with the idea while at the dinner table. His daughter said in her book, My Father, that he would always draw on his napkin at the table. One night he drew an abstract bow tie. That was the birth of the logo. During a short period of the company’s history, they

created logos based on the car they were producing. For example, in some models of the Camero there were new logos created for the specific car. This carried on for a short period before the company went back to the golden cross-bars. GM bought out the company and considered redesigning the look, but after realizing that it was an icon, they kept it the same.

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www.chevrolet.com

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In 1901, John Dodge and Horace Dodge moved their bicycle company from Detroit to Ontario,

Canada. They began producing automobile parts for Henry Ford’s new car company. By 1913, almost every Ford car was built by all Dodge parts. The Dodge Brothers Motor Vehicle Company was created in 1914 and quickly became big time competition for all other car companies. The first car Dodge made was “Old Betsy” which was created to be long lasting. Dodge began building truck engines to be used in the war. In the 1930s, they placed

a hood ornament on the hood of a truck that looked like a ram. The ram represented “sure-footedness” and being in control. The hood ornament eventually became the logo for the car company. The company switched back and forth between the ram logo and Dodge script depending on the type of car. A sleek car would have the script and a big, clunky car would have the ram. After the war, the company was purchased by Dillion, Read and Company. Dillion, Read and Company turned around and sold the company to Chrysler.

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www.dodge.com

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Henry Ford worked for Thomas Edison in his early years. Ford aspired to create

cars, but his first two car companies failed due to lack of money. However, he resigned working with Edison and created his third motor company. He enlisted the help of John and Horace Dodge to supply parts for his cars. He was still unable to pay for his business, though. Ford brought a group of investors in to see the cars he was creating. Not only did the investors buy a share in the company, but John and Horace Dodge also bought a share of the company. With

this jump start, Ford was able to keep creating cars. Henry Ford could not afford to pay for a new script to make a logo, so he used the script from his chief designer’s business card. After World War I, great Britain offered the Ford Motor Company the design rights for the VW Beetle since it had been confiscated from Adolf Hitler. Ford, however, turned down the rights. Several years later, Ford added a blue oval around the white text. It remained unchanged until recently when the company added a chrome outline around the oval.

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www.ford.com

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Jaguar began in 1945 by making sidecars for the Army. There is no certain reason that the Jaguar

was chosen, but it is thought to be because Jaguars represent quickness, power, and speed. The Jaguar Car Company is a division of an Indian Car Company. Before being named Jaguar, the company was called Swallow Sidecars, or S.S. in reference to the German Army. There are two main logos for the Jaguar. The first logo is seen to the left. It is the face of a Jaguar with its mouth open. This can be seen on most of the newer models of cars. The other logo can be

seen above. This has been a popular hood ornament, but recently the company has started to make the leaping Jaguar the actual logo. Jaguar also uses several different types script. The company has not changed the logo since the company was created.

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www.jaguarusa.com

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The Lotus Car company is a British company that is located at the site of a World War

II airfield. The yellow in the logo represents the rising sun in Britain. The dark green background color symbolizes the dark green color used in British racing. The hood emblems were originally hand painted with no stencil. The C, T, B, A, C located above the word “Lotus” are the initials of the two founders of the company. Lotus has only changed its logo once in its fifty year history. The logo, at the date of invention, had a solid black background. There was no green, but

instead the letters were silver to create a contrast between the background and the letters. The logo changed to the multi color logo after Lotus started creating street cars. The black logo would be placed on any Lotus racing car and the green and yellow logo would be put on any Lotus street car. The name Lotus was chosen after the founder of the company visited Japan and saw the Lotus leaves.

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www.lotuscars.com

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Daimler-Motored-Gesellschaft and Benz-and-Cie were two automobile companies that

created combustible engines. Their factories were just sixty miles apart, but they had never heard of each other. After World War I, the two companies were struggling to survive, so they merged to create Daimler-Benz Motor Company. Racing enthusiast, Emil Jellinek, wanted a fast car with a better engine. He paid Maybach to build an engine for Daimler-Benz. He named the engine after his daughter, Mercedes. Shortly after, the company took on the name

Mercedes-Benz. The logo, shown to the left, was created from a postcard that Emil Jellinek kept in his office. He drew a star above a picture of his house to represent the prosperity that would one day fall on him and his company. The three points on the star symbolized the three types of vehicles Jellinek aspired to make: vehicles for land, water, and air. The logo was later altered to include the star from Mercedes and the wreath from Benz.

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www.mbusa.com

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Rolls-Royce was founded in 1904 by Charles Rolls and Fredrick Royce. Its main

factory is located in England across from the historic Goodwin Circuit race track. The logo has not changed since the creation of the company, but the hood ornament does hold a powerful history. The hood ornament is named the “Spirit of Ecstasy” after an affair in the early years of the company. When the Rolls Royce Phantom was being designed and build, the editor of Car Magazine commissioned Rolls Royce to build a custom car for

him. On the hood he would have an ornament sculpted after his mistress and secretary. The original design had the woman in loose, flowing clothing. She held a hand up to her lips as to tell everyone to be quite. This was symbolic of the secret love that the editor and his secretary had. Since then, the hood ornament has been revised so that the spirit has wings. The Rolls Royce hood ornament is perhaps one of the most famous ornaments to this day.

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www.rolls-roycemotorcars.com

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Villian of World War II, Adolf Hitler, was the creator of the VW beetle. The Porsche car

company created a car with a bug shaped body. Hilter liked the designed and asked Porsche to create a smaller, more affordable car that could hold two adults and three children. Later, Hilter revised his plans for the VW Beetle to hold three men and a machine gun. The Logo originally had a red fox on a shield, but it was later changed to a VW surrounded by tire treads. Shortly after the war ended, the logo was changed to the VW with a circle. After the death of

Hitler, Britain claimed the designs for the car. Britain offered Ford, Cadillac, and several other companies the plans for the VW Beetle, but all of the companies turned down the offer. Britain gave the designs back to Germany and they changed the name from the VW Beetle to the VW Bug to avoid negative connotations. Years later, the VW Bug became the most sold car at 21,000,000 cars sold. The logo has remained unchanged since the end of the war.

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www.vw.com

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Willys Overland Motors was created in the early 1900s. They were

known mostly for their production of military vehicles. From 1912 to 1918, Willys was the second largest producer of vehicles behind Ford Motor Company. Some people may recognize the Willys for its popular model, the Jeepster. The Willys Jeepster later dropped the first name and rebranded the company as Jeep. Jeep has gone through several logo changes in the past few decades. It began as the word “Jeep” written across the front of the vehicle. It later

changed to show “Jeep” written over the grille of a car. Jeep was recently bought out by Chrysler and it has inspired the designs for other brands of cars such as the Land Roverand Hummer.

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www.willysonline.com