Lil4X

Somebody's been doing their homework. Or not, depending on how they got involved in this little bit of trivia. Ever wonder what the significance was of the various manufacturer's logos and badges might be? Frankly it hadn't crossed my mind, but this list should prove interesting . . .

http://gawlowski.com/matt/cars/car_logos.html

LexFather

Being a history buff, thanks!!

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

From the Toyota entry...

"...Also, in Japanese 'Toyo' means an abundance of, and 'ta' is rice"

rofl

MR_F1

the company's founder is Toyoda. I highly doubt that was what they were getting at. But how Ironic... rofl

mmarshall

An excellent post, Lil, but the Mitsubishi explanation is incorrect. The Mitsubishi "Diamond Star" with the three red diamonds comes from the Japanese symbol meaning perfection and the ultimate in service.

The name of the former Mitsubishi sedan flagship, the Diamante, is derived directly from the "Diamond" tradition.

This one is simple. "Scion" means "youth". The division was specifically created to try and expand Toyota-designed products to a younger audience....and partially succeded. The xA and xB models are bought not only by youths, but a number of much older persons as well. tC? Yes, that is pretty much a young person's car.

Specifically, the wings of a sea gull.

Not surprisingly, Pontiac was the name of an Indian tribe. The Indian face and arrowhead symbols did not just appear for nothing.

If you look closely, you will notice, inside the circle, a "V" on top and a "W" on the bottom. The term "People's Car" was coined by Adolf Hitler in the 1930's after he was so impressed with Henry Ford's Model T and Model A, and the mass-production methods that gave these cars to the American people, that he wanted a similiar cheap, easy-to-service car for the German masses, and picked Dr. Ferdinand Porsche for the project.

True to some extent, but the main reason that the flags were chosen (especially the checkered flag) was to accentuate the car's sportiness and racing heritage. The Corvette was perhaps the first purely American vehicle designed specifically to be a no-compromise sports car....though it took Chevy a couple of years to get the drivetrain right. The first two model years....1953 and 1954......featured the Stovebolt 6 and a TWO speed automatic transmission. Proper V8's, 3 and 4-speed manuals, and more efficient automatics did not come until Chevy introduced a modern V8 in 1955 and 3-speed automatics in the late 1950's...and the awful two-speed automatics carried on in other GM products until the late 1960's.

The V8's used in Corvettes today, BTW, trace their direct lineage, in one form or another, to those first introduced in 1955...the Chevy short-stroke V8, in small-block and large-block forms, were legendary for their staying power.

MadMax96

Regarding the Corvette emblem -

I'm surprised there wasn't mention of how it was originally supposed to be a checkered flag and an American flag. When I visited the Corvette Museum in Kentucky they had it there on display.



Taken from this website the explanation is as follows:

Nextourer

I thought Mitsubishi means "three diamonds" in Japanese? (mitsu is 3 no?)

greyBLITZ

iTrader: (2)

LOL! Absolutely hilarious! I cannot believe that.

Overall a sweet find! Pretty interesting, disappointed that they didn't have Lex though.

encore888

One thing is that Mr. Toyoda's company was switched from Toyoda to Toyota because the character involves 8 strokes, and 8 is a lucky number in many Asian countries.

Furthermore, if the translation does become "an abundance of rice," as the site says in a number of Asian cultures (Chinese) that is a very lucky thing, having a bounty of rice is considered a harbinger of wealth and fortune.

greyBLITZ

iTrader: (2)

You are quite correct, the number 8 sounds similar to "rich" when pronounced in Chinese may be similar to Japanese pronunciation. Also the abundance of rice certainly means wealth as enigma888 mentioned, since being able to have enough rice to eat was one of the most important things back then.

In fact, I really like the story behind the Toyota logo though, being an amalgamation of 3 virtues; sounds like it has a pretty deep meaning. But does anyone think that someone actually developed it upon that basis?

Lil4X

I suspect that most of these badges/corporate logos were first developed in a design studio and THEN the PR department had to wring some kind of cosmic message out of the committee's final selection. Just the way corporations work . . .

RX_330

San is three, iirc.

mmarshall

It does, as I stated in my original response, but the three diamonds themselves, in Japanese, roughly mean "perfection".

Nextourer

ohhh I see.

RX_330, hmm.. san.. yeah that does ring a bell... but mmarshall does say it means 3 diamonds.. so.. there's more than one way of saying 3?

Koma

iTrader: (3)

Well tons of languages have different ways of saying the same thing.