Saturday, March 15, 2014

A fratzog. First I've heard of it




Star: The original Dodge was a circle, with two interlocking triangles forming a six-pointed star in the middle; an interlocked "DB" was at the center of the star, and the words "Dodge Brothers Motor Vehicles" encircled the outside edge. Although similar to the Star of David, the Dodge brothers were not Jewish. Although the "Brothers" was dropped from the name for trucks in 1929 and cars in 1930, the DB star remained in the cars until the 1939 models were introduced.

Ram: For 1932 Dodge cars adopted a leaping ram as the car's hood ornament. Starting with the 1940 models the leaping ram became more streamlined and by 1951 only the head, complete with curving horns, remained. The 1954 model cars were the last to use the ram's head before the rebirth in the 1980s. Dodge trucks adopted the ram as the hood ornament for the 1940 model year with the 1950 models as the last.

Crest: For 1941 Dodge introduced a crest, supposedly the Dodge family crest. The design had four horizontal bars broken in the middle by one vertical bar with an "O" in the center. A knight's head appeared at the top of the emblem. Although the head would be dropped for 1955, the emblem would survive through 1957 and reappear on the 1976 Aspen. The crest would be used through to 1981 on its second time around, being replaced by the Pentastar for 1982. The knight's head without the crest would be used for 1959.

 Forward Look: Virgil Exner's radical "Forward Look" redesign of Chrysler Corporation's vehicles for the 1955 model year was emphasized by the adoption of a logo by the same name, applied to all Chrysler Corporation vehicles. The Forward Look logo consisted of two overlapped boomerang shapes, suggesting space age rocket-propelled motion. This logo was incorporated into Dodge advertising, decorative trim, ignition and door key heads, and accessories through September 1962. See also: Forward Look

 Fratzog: Dodge's logo from September 1962 through 1981 was a fractured deltoid composed of three arrowhead shapes forming a three-pointed star. The logo first appeared on the 1962 Polara 500 and the mid-year 1962 Custom 880. One of its designers came up with the meaningless name Fratzog for the logo, which ultimately stuck.[15][16] As the Dodge Division's logo, Fratzog was incorporated in various badges and emblems on Dodge vehicles. It was also integrated into the design of such parts as steering wheel center hubs and road wheel covers.

Pentastar: From 1982 to 1995, Dodge used Chrysler's Pentastar logo on its cars and trucks to replace the Dodge crest, although it had been used for corporate recognition since late 1962. In advertisements and on dealer signage, Dodge's Pentastar was red, while Chrysler-Plymouth's was blue.

Ram's head: Dodge reintroduced the ram's head hood ornament on the new 1973 Dodge Bighorn heavy duty tractor units. Gradually the ram's head began appearing on the pickup trucks as Dodge began to refer to their trucks as Ram. The present iteration of the Ram's-head logo appeared in 1993, standardizing on that logo in 1996 for all vehicles except the Viper. which is using the Viper's Head

New logo: In 2010, with the separation of the Ram brand, two new Dodge logos were unveiled. The first logo features the word "DODGE" with two inclined stripes. It was originally used strictly for marketing purposes, however Dodge introduced the logo onto the grilles of the 2012 lineup.