Corvette

For over many years, the Corvette has gone through many design alterations and that some are subtle, some are not so subtle. The symbolic crossed flags emblem of Corvette has also seen a fair number of alterations. If you have taken a close look at it, there are over the five generations of Corvette, you will, then notice that even though the design has altered dramatically from time being, a few cues of design similarity remain such as some form of a checkered flag and bow-tie emblem. A strange, maple leaf type of insignia, called a “fleur-de-lis” also shows up after sometime.

The original Corvette logo was discovered by Robert Bartholomew in 1953. It was destined to be presented on the 1953 Corvette’s prototype which was introduced to be public for the first time. The car logo had been crossing staffs with a checkered flag on the right portion and an American flag on the left. However, four days before the Corvette display show, the Chevrolet management had decided to redesign it for the reasons that it included the American flag which was illegal commerical product utilization. Before the show, the emblem was redesigned with a checkered flag on the right portion plus a white racing flag, a red Chevrolet bow tie symbol and a fleur-de-lis.

When Chevrolet conducted a research on different car logos on 1953 and 1954 passenger cars, they looked at the Louis Chevrolet family crest, but unfortunately, they came up empty. They realized that Chevrolet is a French word and that fleur-de-lis is a French symbol means purity and peace. So, they decided to use the fleur-de-lis and the famous Chevrolet’s blue bow tie to replace the Amrican flag.

In 2004, the Corvette had a brighter and darker shade of red.

As of today, Robert Bartholemew’s 1953 original Corvette car logo is on display at the National Corvette Museum.

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