What Happened To Creativity When It Comes To Car Badges?

The car or automotive badge is the distinctive insignia worn by cars new and old. Originally fashioned of metal, often with colored enamelwork and highly stylized lettering, the car badge was a badge of honor. Before the days of multi media advertising and modern logo overload, the automobile badge kinda had to do it all. Badges were used to signify an automotive brand or make and represent inherent characteristics of a brand through typeface, symbolism and detailed craftsmanship. Today’s badge, while tasked with the same responsibilities, is a far simpler piece commonly fashioned from some sort of plastic. Money and simple math is the answer to what happened to creativity when it comes to car badges. Intricate details, complex artistry and craftsmanship are obvious casualties of mass production. (So much for the simpler times argument.) This is why we are so taken with car badges on vintage cars, many are a stand alone piece of exquisite artwork.

Here are some favorites we found during this year’s Monterey Car Week.
On this beautiful 1912 Peugoet PB1 Bebe Columbia Lampworks Roadster is a very rare example of a carved or cut automobile badge and where delicate script rules.

Ever heard of Moon Motor Car Company? It was one of many car manufacturers in St Louis at the turn of the century. Back then Moon cars were known to be “made but not built.”  Unfortunately the waining crescent was a predictor of things to come, Moon shut the doors in 1930.

Compare the detail of this well known BMW logo on a 1930 BMW 3/15 DA2 Cabriolet to the modern version which has a different, thinner font. Where did those three feathers go?

One of three existing examples of the Horch 853 this 1938 car carries both the Horch and Auto Union badges. The golden hue of the Horch badge signifies this as a luxury car when compared to the other Auto Union marques or the race cars.

If you look closely you’ll see, a Fine car emblazoned on as part of the 1948 Crosley car badge, an arrow suggesting it’ll get you where you are going, and the light which may indicate safety or intelligent design. They packed a lot in an automobile badge.

The 2016 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance Best Of Show Winning 1936 Lancia Astura Pinin Farina Cabriolet certainly pierced the competition this year as the blue lance suggests.

Even on a 1931 race car, the sturdy and dependable Studebaker emblem rings loud and clear.

In 1935 Ford’s signature car badge rests proudly on this Miller race car but so does the new V8 emblem.

Here we have the beefy 1936 Cadillac 90 Fleetwood, unlike on the Ford above, the V16 is much larger and more prominent than the Cadillac badge.

In 1962 legendary Frank Kurtis built this Kurtis Aquila, one of his last race cars. This logo is a reminder of the early Peugeot one we saw earlier though much less stylized. Does the 500 stand for the early successes of the Kurtis Indy 500 race cars?

Finally as we look around to cars today and notice the less embellished fonts, simplistic stylings and mass production aspects of the automotive badge, I invite you to take a good look at Bugatti. From 1931 to 2017, the Bugatti car badge is virtually unchanged. Creativity never left the shop at Bugatti.