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The story behind a few automotive logos.

2K views 18 replies 10 participants last post by  orconn 
#1 ·
#2 ·
That is pretty cool. One not mentioned, but sorta disturbing, and also so because I actually like the cars and look forward to them being sold here, is Alfa Romeo...

http://www.alfabb.com/bb/forums/alfa-romeo-history/4437-meaning-ar-badge.html

the badge is really the coat of arms of the city of Milano, where the company was founded and where its headquarters still are.

The emblem is split vertically into two halves: the cross on the left and the snake on the right. These were the symbols of the two ruling families of Medieval Milan which were adopted in the eleventh century. At that time, both families financed armies in the First Crusade. The local archbishop gave one of the armies a banner of a large serpent, said to be of Biblical origins, to carry into battle as a symbol of Divine protection. The other army, not to be outdone, adopted the crusader's red cross on a white field. The First Crusade was relatively successful and upon returning, a defeated Saracen was placed in the serpent's mouth as a symbol of victory.

In the fifteenth century, or thereabouts, the two families joined forces (and flags) to form the powerful Visconti Dukes. To signify royal consent of this merger, the Dukes of Austria (who were ruling Italy at the time) approved the placement of a crown on the serpent's head. Even after the power of the Visconti faded, the crowned snake and cross remained as the symbol of the city.


Basically, it is filled with government corruption.

I think the BMW logo is really cool as they used to make aircraft engines.

 
#3 ·
I think the BMW logo is really cool as they used to make aircraft engines.

In the case of BMW, myth (and savvy marketing) has fooled generations into linking the company’s logo with an aviation theme. “A German advertising agency in the 1920s produced an ad that showed the [BMW] roundel against the spinning propeller of an airplane to reflect the company’s origins as an aircraft engine manufacturer,” says Dave Buchko, company spokesman for BMW North America. “That, it seems now, turns out to be urban myth.” While it’s true that BMW manufactured airplane engines, the blue and white logo represented the colors of the Bavarian flag, not a stylized propeller and sky.
i think the audi story and volvo name is cool
 
#4 ·
Interesting read. The Buick tri-shield is actually a refinement of the family crest of David Dunbar Buick:



In 1960, the Buick family crest was stylized into the now-familiar tri-shield to symbolize what were then three Buick models: LeSabre, Invicta and Electra.
 
#5 ·
Boy, some advertising wonder must have been smoking something to have come up with that film clip!! Actually the way Alfa Romeo got its' name is much more interesting .... and, ofcourse, the company's racing history and production of exceptional road cars makes a good story too!

I, too, am eagerly awaiting the return of Alfa to the U.S. market.
 
#10 ·
I actually have a solid crystal Pentastar from an 81-83 Imperial in my Astro right now. One of the techs at Viking Buick/GMC found a whole bunch of old hood ornaments in his dad's garage, so he bagged them up and gave them to me. I'll have to take pics of some of the best ones I've got. I know I've got the see-through Cadillac crest from a 1977-79 deVille D'Elegance in there too....
 
#12 ·
Having known Ferruccio Lamborghini personally and the company Automobili Lamborghini Spa back in its' infancy in the mid to late 60's, I seriously doubt the Road &Track speculation on the reasons behind the Lamborghini logo. In 1968 I visited the factory at S'Agata Bolognese and met Commendatore Lamborghini and members of both the company's marketing staff and engineering staff while buying and making arrangements to ship my Lamborghini 350GT to Los Angeles.

Unlike the persona of Enzo Ferrari, who was well known to be a egomaniacal ******* to his employees and customers alike, I found Ferruccio Lamborghini, who was a self-educated mechanical engineer and the founder of a very successful agricultural tractor company, to be a friendly and personable guy whose genuine fascination with things mechanical and enjoyment of people was very apparent upon meeting him. The theme for assigning model names for Lamborghini cars was the world of bull fighting (supposedly Lamborghini was an Aries) thus the Lamborghini logo bore a Golden (not yellow as it would have been if the R&T story had been true) charging bull on a black field with Lamborghini in gold letters across the top of framing shield background.

Lamborghini as a man was not in competition with Ferrari to build the best racing cars. But rather, after a disappointing experience with several Ferrari road cars (he was by no means alone in that experience) he decided he could and would build a superior "Gran Turismo" automobile that corrected or improved upon the road cars being produced by Ferrari at the time. By hiring the top engine and chassis designers in the world at the time and using the finest materials and components available at the time (Lamborghini cars used parts from many non Italian suppliers including ZF transmissions, the finest a the the time, power window lifts from Cadillac, etc.) to build not only best performing, but also the most reliable GT automobile of its time. It was never Lamborghini's ambition to compete with Ferrari on the track, but rather to supply the very highest grade GT car to the the wealthy of the world. In this Lamborghini succeeded brilliantly. Till the time he finally left the company, Lamborghini never allowed company supported racing efforts. The introduction of the Miura mid-engined GT car which inadvertantly started the exotic supercar movement in the car world, over shadowed Lamborghini's production of the 350 GT, 400 GT, Espada (four passenger), and the Islero all of which fellowed Lamborghini's original precepts.

Having known this man and his company I would find it very dfifficult to give any credence to the idea that the Lamborghini logo was the result of a petty atttempt to irritate Enzo Ferrari by reversing the colors of Ferrari's logo and substituting a bull for the prancing horse! I think this is just the product of some hack journalist with to much time on his hands and no real knowledge of the man and his company!
 
#15 ·
Cool story Orconn!

Yeah, you're right, when I think about it, I can't remember the last time I saw a Lamborghini race car. So they weren't going after Enzo on the track, but rather to beat him at his own game on the streets and in the showrooms.
 
#16 ·
Until Enzo passed away and Ferrari became a Fiat subsidiary streetcars were never more than a source of operating money for Ferrari, the company was first and foremost a racing car constructor and team owner. Ferrari GTs were really, as I've said elsewhere, pretty crude pieces of automotive equipment. The engines were what Ferrari cared about and the rest of the car .... oh, well! After Lamborghini launched with the 350 GT in 1964 it was a new ballgame in the Gran Turismo game. Maserati got on board and started producing some pretty decent road cars. I wasn't until 1967 that Ferrari really had anything to compare with the Lamborghini 4 OHC cam V-12 with six dual ckoke webbers and a superior ZF, all synchro including reverse, 5 speed box. Till Ferrari brought out the 330 GTC in 1967 their engines were 2 OHC V-12s mostly under 2.5 liters. Lamborghini's chassis was also designed by Bizzarini who had worked for Ferrari until he was so pissed by the way he was treated he left to work on Lamborghini's projects. In case you do not know Bizzarini was considered the foremost chassis designer for race and GT cars at that time.

When you look at a Pebble Beach prepared Ferrari from the early to mid sixties you are not seeing what the cars looked like when they new from the factory, but rather over restored examples of what some owner could afford to have brought from reality to fantasy land. The early Lambos were closer to this standard including excellent finishing on the body, doors that shut with finger pressure and a click, hand engine turning of dash panenels and firewall panels, quilted pads on the underside of the hood and sides of the engine compartment ..... Ferrari never had any of these things until they were forced by competition from Lamborghini.

Ferrari wasn't just forced to compete with Lamborghini, Maserati an Aston Martin. The sixties was the :Golden Age" of the Grand Turismo automobile (a very high performance coupe luxuriously fitted out and capable of carrying two people quicky around Europe on super highways without speed limits (both Italy and fFrance had such soads in those days). Others competing in this marketplace were Iso Rivolta, Iso Grifo, Bizzarini, ATS, De Tomaso, Facel Vega and eventually Citroen and Monteverde. All great cars looking for a home in a multi-millionaire's garage.
 
#19 ·
Don't believe it, just a different place a different time. Truth be told I know very little about the non luxury (personal luxury cars) American cars of the sixties and seventies. I was overseas so much during that time and when I was in the States my time was spent with European cars with a few exceptions.

Speaking of cars how is that special car you brought back from California coming along?
 
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