Dodge built parts for Ford before it built cars of its own. Since the first Dodge left the plant on 14 November 1914, its badges have included a star, a ram and a three-pointed Fratzog that Stellantis says meant nothing until 2021.
- Country
-
United States - Active
- Since 1914
- Founded by
- John Francis Dodge and Horace Elgin Dodge
- Website
- Official website ↗
Two brothers, one machine shop
Before there was a Dodge car, there was a Dodge inside almost every early Ford. John and Horace Dodge, born in Niles, Michigan, in 1864 and 1868, built bicycles first, then opened a machine shop in Detroit in 1901. Their first automotive customer was Ransom E. Olds. By 1913, according to Stellantis, the brothers supplied Ford with most of the components that went into its cars.
In 1914 they gave up the Ford business and founded the Dodge Brothers Motor Car Company. The first car, nicknamed Old Betsy, rolled out of the plant on 14 November 1914. It was the first car with an all-steel body, and 249 of them were built before the year was out. A year later the word “dependability” appeared in Dodge advertising for the first time. It stuck.
The brothers never saw where it led. Both died of influenza in 1920, John in January and Horace in December. The company passed to their widows, then to a group of New York bankers, and on 30 July 1928 the Chrysler Corporation bought Dodge Brothers for 170 million dollars.
The star with DB in the middle
The original Dodge Brothers badge was a six-pointed star made of two interlocking triangles, with the letters D and B at its centre. The usual explanation, repeated in enthusiast sources, is that the triangles are Greek deltas, a symbol of engineering, one for each brother. Because the shape looks like a Star of David, a popular theory holds that it had a religious or political meaning. The brothers were not Jewish, and no official explanation supports the theory.
Stellantis’ own chronology records that 1938 was the last year the Dodge Brothers logo appeared on Dodge vehicles. By then another symbol had already arrived.
How a ram climbed onto the radiator
The ram was sculpted by Avard T. Fairbanks, who headed the sculpture department at the University of Michigan. According to Old Cars Weekly, citing Plymouth historian Jim Benjaminson, Walter P. Chrysler commissioned him to create a brand image for the new Dodge, and he was paid the full retail price of a Dodge Eight, 1,400 dollars. The story told by Fairbanks’ family is that he sold the animal to Chrysler as “the King of the Trail”, an animal that “won’t be challenged by anything”, to which Chrysler replied: “That’s it! The ram goes on the Dodge!”
The leaping ram first appeared on Dodge radiator caps in the early 1930s. Most accounts say the 1932 models. In 1935, once the radiator disappeared behind a grille, it became a hood ornament. The 1955 Forward Look cars were the first Dodges since 1932 without it, but the name kept coming back: the Red Ram HEMI of 1952, Dodge’s first V8, and the Ramcharger of 1974.
Fratzog: the badge that meant nothing, then everything
From 1962 through 1976 Dodge muscle cars wore a three-pointed emblem, three arrowhead shapes meeting in the middle like a tri-pointed star. It is called the Fratzog, a word that, as the story goes, one of the designers invented on the spot when told the emblem needed a name. Stellantis itself says the badge “was previously used without any meaning or context”. That changed in 2021.
At the Stellantis EV Day on 8 July 2021, Dodge teased a glowing triangular badge while announcing a battery-electric muscle car. On 17 August 2022 the Charger Daytona SRT Concept made it official: a white illuminated Fratzog in the centre of the grille, a 3D illuminated Fratzog at the rear, red Fratzogs on the wheel centre locks and a perforated Fratzog pattern in the seats. Even the sound system was named after it, the Fratzonic Chambered Exhaust.
Dodge’s words on what it stands for: the return of the Fratzog “represents the electrified future of Dodge and signifies the brand’s unwavering commitment to its performance heritage, but with new technology capable of pushing limits well beyond the cars of today”.
The ram leaves, the stripes arrive
According to GoAuto, a new ram’s head logo appeared in 1993 and from 1996 it was applied to every Dodge except the Viper. Then Chrysler split its trucks into a separate Ram brand. In May 2010 Dodge revealed a new logo for cars: the word DODGE with a pair of red racing stripes borrowed from the SRT8 performance models, which Chrysler said suggest “speed and agility”. Dodge brand CEO Ralph Gilles told Automotive News it would debut on the 2011 Charger. That double-slash wordmark remains the brand’s logo, with the Fratzog returning alongside it.
The cars that carried the badges
Dependability sold the first Dodges. Horsepower sold most of the rest. All of the following comes from Stellantis’ official Dodge chronology.
Landmark Dodges, decade by decade
- 1914: The first Dodge. Left the plant on 14 November 1914, the first car with an all-steel body.
- 1952: Red Ram HEMI. The first V8 in a Dodge, introduced late in the year.
- 1966: Charger. The nameplate was introduced with a fastback body used only in 1966 and 1967.
- 1969: Charger Daytona. Nose cone, huge rear spoiler and only 500 built for NASCAR. In 1970 Buddy Baker drove one to 200.447 mph, the first car to break 200 mph on a closed course.
- 1970: Challenger. Its T/A version was built to take on the Mustang and Camaro in Trans Am racing.
- 1984: Caravan. The “Magic Wagon” minivan.
- 1992: Viper. On sale to the public with an 8.0-litre V10 and 400 horsepower, almost identical to the 1989 concept.
Dodge has been part of Chrysler since 1928 and today sits inside Stellantis, next to Jeep, Fiat and Alfa Romeo. The ties go back further than the merger: the 2013 Dart was the first car built on Fiat’s compact architecture, and in 1972 Dodge dealers began selling the Mitsubishi-built Colt. For more on how badges like the Fratzog are put together, see how car logos are designed.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Dodge Fratzog?
A three-pointed emblem used on Dodge muscle cars from 1962 through 1976. Stellantis says it originally had no meaning or context. It returned in 2022 on the Charger Daytona SRT Concept, where Dodge says it represents the brand’s electrified future and its commitment to performance heritage.
Why did Dodge have a ram’s head logo?
Sculptor Avard T. Fairbanks created the ram for Walter P. Chrysler in the early 1930s, pitching it as the sure-footed king of the trail. A ram’s head logo returned in 1993, and when Ram became a separate truck brand, Dodge adopted its wordmark with two red stripes in 2010.
Was the old Dodge Brothers logo a Star of David?
It looked like one: two interlocking triangles with the letters DB in the middle, used until 1938. The common explanation is two Greek deltas, one for each brother, as a symbol of engineering. No official source supports a religious meaning.
When was Dodge founded?
John and Horace Dodge founded the Dodge Brothers Motor Car Company in 1914, and their first car left the plant on 14 November that year. Chrysler bought the company in 1928.
Old Betsy to the Fratzog: the Dodge dossier
- Founded
- 1914
- Founder
- John Francis Dodge and Horace Elgin Dodge
- Country
- United States
- Headquarters
- Auburn Hills, Michigan, USA
- Parent company
- Stellantis
- Current emblem
- The DODGE wordmark with two red racing stripes, introduced in 2010, joined since 2022 by the three-pointed Fratzog on electrified models
- Known for
- American muscle cars such as the Charger and Challenger
- Website
- Official website ↗
