The Cadillac Shield & Wearth - Meaning?

[Gearheaad43]

What is the meaning of the symbols on the Cadillac Shield and Wreath?

I see like 6 ducks on a yellow background?


Squares of Red, White & Blue?

Never gonna figure it out

[creeker]

I googled "meaning of cadillac emblem" lots of info came up.scroll down till you get to cadillac.

[Murphyg]

In 1998, when Cadillac began creating a new design language for its models called "art and science," graphic designer Anne-Marie LaVerge-Webb of GM's corporate and brand identity group was called on to rethink the Cadillac emblem. The new design theme aimed to combine suggestions of high technology and elegance through faceted shapes—inspired by the stealth fighter and by gemstones. LaVerge-Webb, a graduate of CCS in Detroit had come from an ad agency. She reviewed the history of the Cadillac emblem, which had appeared in many variatons over the years.

The designers, she said, reviewed dozens of emblems from grilles and trunks throughout Cadillac history, including rare items in a special collection kept in a drawer in the design studio in Warren. "The big question was whether the change would be evolutionary or revolutionary," she said. She describes the choice as evolutionary, but it seems more dramatic than that.

The original Cadillac logo is based on the family crest of the man for whom the company was named, the Gascon officer and minor aristocrat who founded Detroit in 1701 -- Antoine de La Mothe, Sieur de Cadillac. His coat of arms, like many family coats of arms, appears to have been concocted and borrowed from a more noble neighbor. This may be appropriate for a car that has often appealed to the self-made man -- if the not the nouveau riche hustler.

For the new logo, however, there was a need to match a new body theme. Cadillac's top designers and Wayne Cherry, head of all GM design, were involved. "Wayne wanted to be sure the logo looked like an essential part of the grille, not something tacked on," LaVerge-Webb said. The new look of the cars was to be high tech, a "milled from solid metal" look. The group decided on a major changes to the traditional crest and wreath emblem. The new "Wreath & Crest" logo was unveiled at the 1999 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, where collectors and designers assemble to appreciate collector cars. The shield wore the colors from Cadillac tradition: red, silver and blue, black and gold on a platinum background, aimed to suggest high technology. But the pearl-topped crown was gone as were the merlettes or ducks from the coat of arms of the original nobleman. The wreath was to be faceted, too, its leaves reinterpreted in a mechanical form.

The result suggested a Mondrian.

The "merlettes" or ducks had been used in an infamous ad campaign for the small Cadillac Catera, billed as "the Cadillac that zigs instead of zags." One duck was seen swimming in the direction opposite the others. But on the new logo the merlettes were gone; many saw the ducks as collateral casualties of the failure of the Catera.

"We wanted to make it less fussy, more technical. The look we were aiming for was the milled out of a single billet of aluminum. The ducks felt fussy," she said. Furthering the high tech theme, the typeface for model designations is a handdrawn and modified version of Serpentine.

Removing the crown was also read by some as a quiet abandonment of Cadillac's long time proud motto, "The standard of the world," a claim no longer supported by sales, quality or customer satisfaction ratings. Beyond the hundreds of drawings for the new logo, considerations of materials and manufacturing took over. Even a few pennies of cost figure in acceptance of logo designs as in all parts of the auto industry, where costs are multiplied over millions of cars. The physical logos and other graphics are tested extensively over two years for endurance to heat, cold, and salt damage.

Stereolithography is used to produce models for visual testing for size: proportion of the logo to body shape and position is critical. Logo sizes and shapes vary according the vehicle of course: the current Escalade SUV and truck wears the largest Cadillac logo ever. It is known internally as "the frisbee." Cadillac recently introduced the high performance CTS-V model, with a Corvette engine. It is the first of a new "V" line whose logo squeezes and angles the colors of the basic crest so they suggest a racing flag and attaches them to a V evoking V shaped engines. The V is tilted as if with speed. The logo for V-Series models employs the same basic elements. But according to Kip Wasenko, design director, GM Performance Division, who oversaw the design of the V-Series logo."While its colors are meant to depict the 'luxury' side of Cadillac, its vertical orientation and its forward-leaning angle to the right are both meant to depict motion and performance."

[gdwriter]

The Cadillac Web site did have an explanation of the meaning of the wreath and crest, but it looks like it's gone now. There is a rather long-winded Web page with a history of the family coat of arms for Antoine De Lamothe-Cadillac here.

Drawing from memory, I believe the laurel wreath is supposed to symbolize victory; the black and gold quadrants, wisdom; the red, boldness; and the silver and blue, purity charity and virtue. The crown on the pre-2002 emblem symbolized royalty, I believe.

[Gearheaad43]

Interesting INDEED.... I too Googled the Cadillac Coat of Arms. Interesting History there.....

[Gearheaad43]

ntoine de la Mothe Cadillac, founder of Detroit, and the descendants of the Earl of Toulouse are not only immortalized by their names, but also by their coat of arms that can be found in the Cadillac blazon [shield]. The blazon has been updated about thirty times. The first logo, registered on August, 18th [actually August 7] 1906, consisted of a decorated crown symbolizing the French Royalty topped [encircled?] by a bouquet of tulipped leaves. The coat of arms were [were?] completed with a picture of a female blackbird [no doubt the author is referring to the six "merlettes" belonging to the martin family!!!] which is often found on the blazon, and taken from the coat of arms of la Mothe Cadillac.

The New Millennium crest was first used on the 100th Anniversary models in 2002; gone are the merlettes of France's reigning Lamothe family

[Gearheaad43]

Oh here is infor on the Birds/ducks AKA Merlette:

Of the merlette, Guillaume, an ancient historian, says: "This bird is given for a difference, to younger brothers to put them in mind that in order to raise themselves they are to look to the wings of virtue and merit, and not to the legs, having but little land to set their feet on" [the Laumet family, it is known, were not landed gentry]10. Of the "fess", he says: "This is a military girdle of honor," and signifies that the bearer "must always be in readiness to undergo the business of the public weal" [i.e to work for the general wellbeing of the people - Laumet appears to have been working mainly for his own wellbeing].

7a Merlette, Petit oiseau stylisé, posé de profil, sans bec ni griffe [i.e. small, stylized bird, viewed in profile, with neither beak
nor claws]. Also, martlet, merlion. In heraldry, a representation of a bird without feet.
7b Martlet [Cf. F. merlette] (Her.) A bird without beak or feet; generally assumed to represent a martin. As a mark of
cadency it denotes the fourth son.
7c Martlet The word martlet is used in English translation of similar birds (footless) that appear in French, Dutch and
German arms, and the equivalents in those languages are frequently used for the English bird. The French term merlette
actually indicates a footless duckling, not a martin or swallow, as in the case of the English bird. Merlettes (in the duckling
form) appear frequently in Dutch heraldry.

The Couronne or Coronet [above the crest] is that borne by the six ancient counts of France and is emblematic of descent from the old counts of Toulouse, who were affiliated with the royal French stock. The seven pearls in the couronne indicate the nobleman's descent from these royal counts.

The Shield: is significant of the heroic origin of the Cadillac arms. This is the form in which the coat of arms of the Cadillac family was first displayed by some ancient Holy Crusader [in-depth research in France, by Jean Boutonnet and Jean Cadilhac has uncovered no noble de Lamothe-Cadillac family in that country, nor any such coat of arms].

The First and Fourth Quarterings [the only authentic part of the de Lamothe-Cadillac coat of arms]. These quarterings are strictly the arms of the Mothe family [in fact de Lamothe, not la Mothe and - yes - these arms belong strictly to the de Lamothe estate at Bardigues, France]: Gold 9, a fess [bar], sable [black] between three merlettes of the same [i.e martlets or martins (birds) of the same color] posed two in chief [i.e. two of them placed above the black bar] and one in base [i.e. below the bar]. The birds or "merlettes", legless and without beaks, are a heraldic adaptation of the martin. Appearing in threes they have a holy significance, being considered sacred to the Trinity. They were granted to Knights by the ancient School of Heralds, together with the "fess" for valiant conduct in the Crusades. The birds shown in black against a gold background in this section [or "quartering"] of the Cadillac coat of arms denote wisdom [yes, there is no doubting that Laumet-Cadillac was one smart guy], riches [Cadillac did get rich, trading with the Indians around what became Detroit], and cleverness of mind [yes, indeed!], ideal qualities for the adventurous and zealous Christian Knight [and for an equally zealous and adventurous, Antoine Laumet!]

The Second and Third Quarterings [sometimes described as the "flags"] were probably adopted [the writer is admitting he doesn't really know, for sure] by some fortunate intermarriage in time long ago, another "Seigneurie" [a domain or large tract of land] was added to their possessions. In these quarters the colors used denote that the marriage added to the fame of the family de la Mothe [de Lamothe], something besides broad acres - "marked prowess and boldness in action" for the red; "purity, charity, virtue and plenty" for the silver. The repetition of the cross bar or "fess" [the blue band on the silver base] indicates more knightly prowess in the far fields of the Crusades [in Laumet-Cadillac's case it probably indicated more "nightly prowess" in the bed of Guyon's 17-year-old niece... Nevertheless, according to the Report on Canadian Archives, Ottawa, 1911, these arms could be those of either Virès, in France's Languedoc region, or Albret in Gascony]

[codewize]

They are not ducks

[Gearheaad43]

Originally Posted by codewize

They are not ducks

But rather:
7a Merlette, Petit oiseau stylisé, posé de profil, sans bec ni griffe [i.e. small, stylized bird, viewed in profile, with neither beak
nor claws]. Also, martlet, merlion. In heraldry, a representation of a bird without feet.
7b Martlet [Cf. F. merlette] (Her.) A bird without beak or feet; generally assumed to represent a martin. As a mark of
cadency it denotes the fourth son.
7c Martlet The word martlet is used in English translation of similar birds (footless) that appear in French, Dutch and
German arms, and the equivalents in those languages are frequently used for the English bird. The French term merlette
actually indicates a footless duckling, not a martin or swallow, as in the case of the English bird. Merlettes (in the duckling
form) appear frequently in Dutch heraldry.

[Boombotz]

We used to have a link on the forum that explained the whole history of the Crest and emblem. I can't find it now. I'll keep looking. Very interesting story.

[Boombotz]

Here is a interesting link. http://www.cadillacforums.com/cadillac-history.html
It also has some cool images of the emblem changes through the years.

[EcSTSatic]

This guy has an interesting side to the story about the Cadillac Coat of Arms
I haven't had time to take it all in.

[TomDeville]

I love this sheeiiit.

[dp102288]

Very good thread and info! I love it!