WHAT’S IN AN EMBLEM
The Art and the Automobile exhibit reveals the history behind the legends
Learn the story behind your car’s logo and what it means,
Have you ever given any thought to the logo or emblem that symbolizes your favourite car? Perhaps wondered what it means or where it came from?
In the case of some modern brands, it may be nothing more than an industrial-design representation of the make’s initial, or something equally insipid.
But going back in history, the stories behind some automotive emblems, famous or otherwise, is as interesting as the vehicles they represent.
Those stories are a point of focus in the Art and the Automobile exhibit, along with a parallel look at some famous automotive mascots, such as the Rolls-Royce Spirit of Ecstasy and the Pierce-Arrow Archer.
Many of the stories are well known. For example, the Chevrolet bow tie was supposedly inspired by the wallpaper pattern in a Paris hotel room visited by company founder William “Billy” Durant.
Others, not so much. It’s not widely known, for instance, that former race car driver and Cobra founder Carroll Shelby claimed the name for that menacing marque came to him in a dream.
“One night I had a dream in which I saw the name ‘Cobra’ on the front of the new car,” he says. “I woke up and jotted the name down on a pad which I kept by my bedside . . . next morning, when I looked at the name ‘Cobra,’ I knew it was right.”
Some dismiss that tale as Shelby’s typical snake-oil salesmanship while others treat it as gospel. Whatever the facts, it’s a good story. And it doesn’t end there.
The Cobra name had already been used by the diminutive automaker Crosley for its innovative Copper Brazed engines. Between Shelby and Ford, that problem was overcome, and the name became Shelby’s — or Ford’s. It took a later lawsuit between the two to resolve the matter.
There’s some irony in the story as well in that Pete Brock, who designed the emblem of a Cobra poised ready to strike and the later Cobra Daytona Coupe, was a former General Motors designer responsible for the origins of the Corvette Sting Ray.
Much earlier in history, the Alfa Romeo emblem was created in1910, when Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili (ALFA) was founded. It contains a red cross, the symbol of the brand’s original hometown, Milan, and a snake from the coat of arms of the Visconti family that once ruled that city in pre-Renaissance days. A close look at the snake in that emblem reveals what appears to be a man in the snake’s mouth. And it is — symbolic of the clan’s ancestral victory over its foes during the Crusades. The name Romeo was added in1914 when the engineer, Nicola Romeo, took over the company, and a golden laurel crown was added in 1925, symbolizing the brand winning the very first racing World Championship. While it has undergone several minor updates, the essence of that original badge remains intact to this day.
Familial crests are common origins for many automobile emblems. Cadillac’s Wreath and Crest emblem was based on the familial coat of arms of French adventurer Antoine de la Mothe, sieur de Cadillac, who founded the city of Detroit in 1701 and is said to have been an ancestor of Cadillac’s founder, Henry Leland.
The symbol of excellence, as it is known, has been redesigned more than 30 times since the brand’s inception, but still maintains the core elements of the original coat of arms.
Ferrari’s prancing horse (cavallino rampante) emblem, one of the most famous and recognizable of any brand, pre-dates the brand itself.
A famous World War I Italian flying ace, Francesco Baracca, had famously adorned his plane with a prancing horse image. The pilot’s mother suggested to Enzo Ferrari that he put her son’s emblem on his race cars for luck (apparently ignoring the fact the son had died in action!).
He did so on his team Scuderia Ferrari Alfa Romeos for the first time at the Total 24 Hours of Spa in 1932. His cars finished first and second, and both his race cars and his production cars, which began in 1947, have worn the nowfamous emblem ever since.
These are just a few of the stories of automotive emblems dramatically highlighted in the 2018 CIAS’s Art and the Automobile feature exhibit, presented by the Cobble Beach Concours d’Elegance.
The display, which is featured on the 700 level of the South MTCC, features 17 spectacular historic vehicles ranging from a 1907 Thomas Flyer to a 1971 Ferrari Daytona Coupe.