MrFast4Ward
02-02-2007, 09:03 AM
Taken from CAR magazine, July 1999 (http://gawlowski.com/matt/cars/car_logos.html)and Dinish Kini. (http://www.dinesh.com/History_of_Logos/Car_Logos_-_Design_and_History/)
I only posted a few, if you click the links you get more logos and more history. If you see one you like on one of those links, post it up!
http://www.dinesh.com/images/stories/logo/audi.jpg
The Audi badge the 'Four Rings' is the emblem of one of the oldest car manufacturers in Germany. It symbolises the 1932 merger of the four independent motor-vehicle manufacturers: Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer. Together with the NSU brand, which joined in 1969, these companies are the roots of the present-day AUDI AG. After the war the Audi name - which is Latin for "Hear!" - disappeared, but was revived in 1965, using the four rings as a logo. Also, the name is sort of a pun on 'hoerch', German for 'hear', name of one of the founders. The company itself is more than a century old.
http://www.dinesh.com/images/stories/logo/bmw-logo.jpg
BMW stands for Bayerische Motoren Werke or Bavarian Motor Company. The company was established in 1913 and based in Munich, Germany. It started out as an aero engine manufacturer, hence the company logo. The logo comprised of four quadrants of alternating white and blue color. It is a stylized representation of an airplane propeller spinning against the clear blue sky. The logo represents a white propeller blade against a blue sky. It reflects the origins of BMW as a maker of military aircraft engines during WWI. Also, white and blue are the traditional colors of Bavaria.
http://www.dinesh.com/images/stories/logo/citreon.pngThe Citroen logo looks like something you might see on an American cartoon soldier - two inverted Vs. Andre Citroen - imagine one of those old black and white photographs with an ancient man in a white beard - started in the motor trade by building gear wheels before branching out into the motorcar, and the twin chevrons << are meant to represent gear teeth in honour of the old engineer's early fettlingsThe company's famous "double chevron" logo derives from André Citroën's early business in gear-cutting the company pioneered mass production of double helically-cut gear teeth, which mesh together in a chevron.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Chevroletlogo.jpghttp://www.erstes-annaberger-autohaus.de/rs13/images/Startseite/v_Chevrolet-Logo-blaueSchriftklein.640x365.jpg
The Chevrolet Bowtie has been one of the World’s most recognized trademarks since 1913, when William C. Durant first introduced the symbol that represents Chevrolet’s
winning success!
We have all heard the legend how Durant copied the bowtie design from the wallpaper in a Paris Hotel. The 50 Year Anniversary issue of The Chevrolet Story, printed in 1961, and reprinted in part in the October 1986 G&D, told the story this way:“This was also the year (1913) that the famous Chevrolet trademark was first used on the cars. The distinctive trademark has appeared billions of times on products, advertisings and sales literature as the mark of dependability, economy and quality in motor transportation. It originated
in Durant’s imagination when, as a world traveler in 1908, he saw the pattern marching off into infinity as a design on wallpaper in a French hotel. He tore off a piece of the wallpaper and kept it to show friends
with the thought that it would make a good nameplate for a car.”http://www.dinesh.com/images/stories/logo/ferrari_logo.png
All racing fans are very familiar with the famous Ferrari "prancing horse" symbol. The famous symbol of Ferrari is a black prancing horse on yellow background, usually with the letters S F for Scuderia Ferrari. The horse was originally the symbol of Count Francesco Baracca, a legendary "asso" (ace) of the Italian air force during World War I, who painted it on the side of his planes. Baracca died very young on June 19, 1918, shot down after 34 victorious duels and many team victories.He soon became a national hero. Baracca had wanted the prancing horse on his planes because his squad, the "Battaglione Aviatori", was enrolled in a Cavalry regiment (air forces were at their first years of life and had no separate administration), and also because he himself was reputed to be the best cavaliere of his team The Scuderia Ferrari logo Coat of Arms of the City of Stuttgart. It has been supposed that the choice of a horse was perhaps partly due to the fact that his noble family was known for having plenty of horses in their estates at Lugo di Romagna. Another theory suggests Baracca copied the rampant horse design from a shot down German pilot having the emblem of the city of Stuttgart on his plane. Interestingly, German sports car manufacturer Porsche, from Stuttgart, borrowed its prancing horse logo from the city's emblem. Furthermore astonishing: Stuttgart is an over the centuries modified version of Stutengarten (an ancient german word for "Gestüt", translated into english as mare garden or stud farm, into italian as "scuderia").On June 17, 1923, Enzo Ferrari won a race at the Savio track in Ravenna, and there he met the Countess Paolina, mother of Baracca. The Countess asked that he use the horse on his cars, suggesting that it would grant him good luck, but it the first race at which Alfa would let him use the horse on Scuderia cars was eleven years later, at SPA 24 Hours in 1932. Ferrari won. Ferrari left the horse black as it had been on Baracca's plane; however, he added a yellow background because it was the symbolic color of his birthplace, Modena. The prancing horse has not always identified the Ferrari brand only: Fabio Taglioni used it on his Ducati motorbikes. Taglioni's father was in fact a companion of Baracca's and fought with him in the 91st Air Squad, but as Ferrari's fame grew, Ducati abandoned the horse; this may have been the result of a private agreement between the two brands. The prancing horse is now a trademark of Ferrari.
http://www.dinesh.com/images/stories/logo/fiat_logo_new.jpg
The FIAT name is an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino (Italian Car Factory of Turin), founded by a group of investors--Giovanni Agnelli among them--in 1899. The current Fiat logo has the letters F-I-A-T written with a silver line between each of them. The lines were added by the company’s design chief when one day passing under the factory, he noticed the sky at the backdrop of the huge FIAT letters on the top of the building. The lines added are actually the spaces that he saw in the name over the building and decided to keep it.
FIAT was founded in Turin on July 12, 1899. The first plant, inaugurated in 1900 at Corso Dante, had 235 employees and produced 24 automobiles. The first automobile to bear the Fiat brand name was a model 4 HP.
http://www.dinesh.com/images/stories/logo/carlogos/ford_logo.png
The Ford oval trademark is one of the best-known corporate symbols in the world and has been in regular use for more than 50 years. The script trademark dates back to the very beginning of the company when Henry Ford’s engineering assistant developed a stylised version of the words “Ford Motor Company”.
This last logo is the blue oval that Ford released in 2003 in honor of the 100 years Ford Motor Company had been around. It was named the "Centennial Blue Oval".
http://www.kingsvolvo.co.uk/mitsubishi_logo.jpg
Although Mitsubishi has only been in the UK for 25 years, it built its first car in 1917. The company itself goes back to 1870, when it built its first ships - the three diamonds represent a ship's propellers.
The name means 'three rhombs'; it can also be translated as 'three water chesnuts' or three diamonds'.
A reader recently commented that the logo is formed by the joining of two family emblems and does not actually represent any part of a ship. The shipping connection is a misconception brought about by their early involvement in shipping and shipbuilding.
http://www.whatevermedia.ca/images/clients/subaru/exp_logo.jpg
Subaru was the first Japanese car company to use a name derived from its own language. It refers to a group of six stars - also known by its original Japanese name of mutsuraboshi - in the constellation of Taurus. We'd know them as Pleiades
I only posted a few, if you click the links you get more logos and more history. If you see one you like on one of those links, post it up!
http://www.dinesh.com/images/stories/logo/audi.jpg
The Audi badge the 'Four Rings' is the emblem of one of the oldest car manufacturers in Germany. It symbolises the 1932 merger of the four independent motor-vehicle manufacturers: Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer. Together with the NSU brand, which joined in 1969, these companies are the roots of the present-day AUDI AG. After the war the Audi name - which is Latin for "Hear!" - disappeared, but was revived in 1965, using the four rings as a logo. Also, the name is sort of a pun on 'hoerch', German for 'hear', name of one of the founders. The company itself is more than a century old.
http://www.dinesh.com/images/stories/logo/bmw-logo.jpg
BMW stands for Bayerische Motoren Werke or Bavarian Motor Company. The company was established in 1913 and based in Munich, Germany. It started out as an aero engine manufacturer, hence the company logo. The logo comprised of four quadrants of alternating white and blue color. It is a stylized representation of an airplane propeller spinning against the clear blue sky. The logo represents a white propeller blade against a blue sky. It reflects the origins of BMW as a maker of military aircraft engines during WWI. Also, white and blue are the traditional colors of Bavaria.
http://www.dinesh.com/images/stories/logo/citreon.pngThe Citroen logo looks like something you might see on an American cartoon soldier - two inverted Vs. Andre Citroen - imagine one of those old black and white photographs with an ancient man in a white beard - started in the motor trade by building gear wheels before branching out into the motorcar, and the twin chevrons << are meant to represent gear teeth in honour of the old engineer's early fettlingsThe company's famous "double chevron" logo derives from André Citroën's early business in gear-cutting the company pioneered mass production of double helically-cut gear teeth, which mesh together in a chevron.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Chevroletlogo.jpghttp://www.erstes-annaberger-autohaus.de/rs13/images/Startseite/v_Chevrolet-Logo-blaueSchriftklein.640x365.jpg
The Chevrolet Bowtie has been one of the World’s most recognized trademarks since 1913, when William C. Durant first introduced the symbol that represents Chevrolet’s
winning success!
We have all heard the legend how Durant copied the bowtie design from the wallpaper in a Paris Hotel. The 50 Year Anniversary issue of The Chevrolet Story, printed in 1961, and reprinted in part in the October 1986 G&D, told the story this way:“This was also the year (1913) that the famous Chevrolet trademark was first used on the cars. The distinctive trademark has appeared billions of times on products, advertisings and sales literature as the mark of dependability, economy and quality in motor transportation. It originated
in Durant’s imagination when, as a world traveler in 1908, he saw the pattern marching off into infinity as a design on wallpaper in a French hotel. He tore off a piece of the wallpaper and kept it to show friends
with the thought that it would make a good nameplate for a car.”http://www.dinesh.com/images/stories/logo/ferrari_logo.png
All racing fans are very familiar with the famous Ferrari "prancing horse" symbol. The famous symbol of Ferrari is a black prancing horse on yellow background, usually with the letters S F for Scuderia Ferrari. The horse was originally the symbol of Count Francesco Baracca, a legendary "asso" (ace) of the Italian air force during World War I, who painted it on the side of his planes. Baracca died very young on June 19, 1918, shot down after 34 victorious duels and many team victories.He soon became a national hero. Baracca had wanted the prancing horse on his planes because his squad, the "Battaglione Aviatori", was enrolled in a Cavalry regiment (air forces were at their first years of life and had no separate administration), and also because he himself was reputed to be the best cavaliere of his team The Scuderia Ferrari logo Coat of Arms of the City of Stuttgart. It has been supposed that the choice of a horse was perhaps partly due to the fact that his noble family was known for having plenty of horses in their estates at Lugo di Romagna. Another theory suggests Baracca copied the rampant horse design from a shot down German pilot having the emblem of the city of Stuttgart on his plane. Interestingly, German sports car manufacturer Porsche, from Stuttgart, borrowed its prancing horse logo from the city's emblem. Furthermore astonishing: Stuttgart is an over the centuries modified version of Stutengarten (an ancient german word for "Gestüt", translated into english as mare garden or stud farm, into italian as "scuderia").On June 17, 1923, Enzo Ferrari won a race at the Savio track in Ravenna, and there he met the Countess Paolina, mother of Baracca. The Countess asked that he use the horse on his cars, suggesting that it would grant him good luck, but it the first race at which Alfa would let him use the horse on Scuderia cars was eleven years later, at SPA 24 Hours in 1932. Ferrari won. Ferrari left the horse black as it had been on Baracca's plane; however, he added a yellow background because it was the symbolic color of his birthplace, Modena. The prancing horse has not always identified the Ferrari brand only: Fabio Taglioni used it on his Ducati motorbikes. Taglioni's father was in fact a companion of Baracca's and fought with him in the 91st Air Squad, but as Ferrari's fame grew, Ducati abandoned the horse; this may have been the result of a private agreement between the two brands. The prancing horse is now a trademark of Ferrari.
http://www.dinesh.com/images/stories/logo/fiat_logo_new.jpg
The FIAT name is an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino (Italian Car Factory of Turin), founded by a group of investors--Giovanni Agnelli among them--in 1899. The current Fiat logo has the letters F-I-A-T written with a silver line between each of them. The lines were added by the company’s design chief when one day passing under the factory, he noticed the sky at the backdrop of the huge FIAT letters on the top of the building. The lines added are actually the spaces that he saw in the name over the building and decided to keep it.
FIAT was founded in Turin on July 12, 1899. The first plant, inaugurated in 1900 at Corso Dante, had 235 employees and produced 24 automobiles. The first automobile to bear the Fiat brand name was a model 4 HP.
http://www.dinesh.com/images/stories/logo/carlogos/ford_logo.png
The Ford oval trademark is one of the best-known corporate symbols in the world and has been in regular use for more than 50 years. The script trademark dates back to the very beginning of the company when Henry Ford’s engineering assistant developed a stylised version of the words “Ford Motor Company”.
This last logo is the blue oval that Ford released in 2003 in honor of the 100 years Ford Motor Company had been around. It was named the "Centennial Blue Oval".
http://www.kingsvolvo.co.uk/mitsubishi_logo.jpg
Although Mitsubishi has only been in the UK for 25 years, it built its first car in 1917. The company itself goes back to 1870, when it built its first ships - the three diamonds represent a ship's propellers.
The name means 'three rhombs'; it can also be translated as 'three water chesnuts' or three diamonds'.
A reader recently commented that the logo is formed by the joining of two family emblems and does not actually represent any part of a ship. The shipping connection is a misconception brought about by their early involvement in shipping and shipbuilding.
http://www.whatevermedia.ca/images/clients/subaru/exp_logo.jpg
Subaru was the first Japanese car company to use a name derived from its own language. It refers to a group of six stars - also known by its original Japanese name of mutsuraboshi - in the constellation of Taurus. We'd know them as Pleiades