MERCEDES DAIMLER NUTZWAGEN / GERMANY

DAIMLER MERCEDES / GERMANY

This emblem is really difficult to date. However, it must have been used before 1926, i.e. before BENZ & Cie. and Daimler merged to form Mercedes-Benz.

The emblem also reads “NUTZWAGEN” (utility vehicle), whereas the usual term for trucks is “NUTZFAHRZEUG” (commercial vehicle). 

 

The manufacturing technique is also noteworthy. As  Bugatti, the enamel colors were not separated by metal bars. Instead, a type of screen printing technique was used.

 

Size	c. 10 cm
Year	c. 1920
Estimate

None of the advertisements I am aware of use the term “NUTZWAGEN” (utility vehicle). In 1921, for example, the name “LASTKRAFTWAGEN” (truck) was used by DAIMLER in the following advertisement:

 

 

I was even able to spot the emblem in question twice. Here it is still on the original brass radiator.

Based on the design of the radiator, I would date it to the early 1920s. Who knows more ?

For more emblems see older posts or top right ( list of car makers ).

When using a smartphone please use the button webview. 

REX SIMPLEX / GER

REX SIMPLEX / RONNEBURG / GERMANY  ( 1901 - 1922 )

The REX SIMPLEX of Ronneburg / Germany started car production under the name of REX in 1901.
Before they offered various components for car construction.
When using engines of their own design the name changed to REX SIMPLEX.

By the way, REX SIMPLEX that means:  KING of SIMPLICITY  !

They never sold much cars so you have to look years for a radiator emblem.
It is much easier to find a broche (as it was a public relation present ).

I´m starting with the last emblem of the REX SIMPLEX history when the fashion for building v-shaped radiators was at its height in Germany:

                     older than 100 years but in a perfect shape  ( thank you Viklit for the photo )

Size	c. 8.0 cm x 5.0 cm each
Year	1921 - 1922
Estimate

REX SIMPLEX emblem  with large crest (as found in the ground)

Size	10.0 cm x 6.5 cm
Year	1918 - 1920
Estimate

flat reverse without makers mark

contemporary ad 

restored emblem with small crest

 Meanwhile I was able to find an unrestored original:

the colors are different: red / black instead of green / white in the squares

 

In 1921 the factory was bought by ELITE (another small German car maker ) and the type 13/40 was offered for one year as  Elite Wagen.

Here you see the ultra rare radiator emblem still showing the REX SIMPLEX crest.

restored ELITE ( REX) emblem  (A.-G. = Aktiengesellschaft)

Size	10.0 cm x 6.5 cm
Year	1922
Estimate

1918 REX SIMPLEX showing the emblem on the radiator

Very few REX SIMPLEX vehicles have survived. But there was a drawing of a REX SIMPLEX emblem, which was made by the swedish boy Gustaf Moeller back in the 1920s. Gustaf lived near the ferry port in Helsingborg / Sweden and drew the emblems of the waiting cars there. What a great hobby that still helps and delights us a hundred years later:

According to Gustaf Moeller there was another oval radiator like this

1921 picture showing a v-shaped radiator with ( two ) emblems in droplet shape

1921 REX SIMPLEX advertisement

For more emblems see older posts or top right ( list of car makers ).

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FULMINA / GERMANY

 

FULMINA / MANNHEIM / GERMANY  ( 1911 - 1926 )

Have you ever heard of the vehicle manufacturer FULMINA from Mannheim, Germany? 
The company only existed for a short time, from 1912 to 1922, and produced and sold very few vehicles during that period.  The word FULMINA comes from Latin and means: lightning. A good name for a manufacturer that has made a name (and sales) for itself with the production of oil-fired heating systems.

Finally I´m able to  present an original radiator emblem, never seen before.

About 400 vehicles were built in total, and none have survived, making the emblem correspondingly rare: 

 

      I guess this emblem was used on V - shaped radiators after World War I.

Size	c. 6.0 cm x 6.5 cm
Year	1918- 1926
Estimate

 

One of the first advertisements I was able to find appeared in 1914 in Motor magazine, published by Braunbeck:

 

 I found further evidence in the 1914 yearbook of the  German Royal Automobile club ( KAC):

 

 

The automobile manufacturing company obviously started with a lot of enthusiasm, because I was able to find a third advertisement from 1914:

 

The vehicles are offered as luxury vehicles, at a time when every vehicle was a luxury. 

FULMINA vehicles were also sold in Scandinavia.:

 

FULMINA seen in Denmark in 1921

In 1921, Karrosserie Werke G. Drauz in Heilbronn advertised that they manufactured bodies for FULMINA:

 

If want to learn more about FULMINA and other car manufacturer made in Mannheim / Germany just buy the book MANNOPOLIS (ISBN 978-3-86476-167-6 ) or click here.   I really recommend it!

 

For more emblems see older posts or top right ( list of car makers).

When using a smartphone please use the button webview. 

 

WITTEKIND / BERLIN / GERMANY

WITTEKIND / BERLIN / GERMANY  ( 1923 - 1926 )

Do you know the story of Wittekind, also known as Widukind ?

Wittekind was a pagan Saxon duke in the 8th century who waged war against Charlemagne before being baptized in 785 and converting to Christianity.

The vehicle, which was built in Berlin, therefore has no geographical connection to Wittekind. However, the name Wittekind stood for courage and daring, which is probably why it was chosen as  brand name.

Less than 400 vehicles were built. As far as I know, no vehicle survived. This emblem is the only thing left of Wittekind.

 

 

Size	c. 6.0 cm x 4.5 cm
Year	1923 - 1924
Estimate

There is another interesting fun - fact. If you look closely at the symbols in the emblem, you will see that they are the same symbols used in the  Japanse computer game Pac-Man, but more than 55 years before this game was released!

Pac-Man  or not not, that´s the question

 

 

with a little imagination you can recognize the emblem

 

 

 

1923 advertisement in the German Motor magazine

The last advertisement I was able to find appeared in June 1924:

1924 advertisement in German Motor magazine

 For more emblems see older posts or top right ( list of car makers ).

When using a smartphone please use the button webview. 

HACKETT / USA

 

HACKETT Motor Car Co. / Jackson (Michigan) and Grand Rapids (Michigan)  / USA  (1916 - 1919)

It's that time again, and I can show you a super rare emblem, of which, to my knowledge, there has never been an emblem or a photo showing an original emblem!  It belongs to the short-lived automobile company HACKETT Motor Car Co., founded by Mansell Hackett, which manufactured vehicles in Jackson, Michigan, USA, from 1916 to 1919 in the former ARGO Motor Co. factory. 

The company later moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan. According to Wikipedia, only 118 vehicles were built in total, which is what makes the emblem so rare.

 

 

 

 

Size	c. 5.0 cm x 6.0 cm
Year	1916 - 1919
Estimate

 

 

1917 advertisement  showing the emblem  (collection Kurt Hohl)

1917 advertisement ( source de.Wkipedia.org )

 

HACKETT radiator emblem as found

 

To my knowledge not a single Hackett vehicle has survived. But there was a drawing of a HACKETT emblem, which was made by the Swedish boy Gustaf Moeller back in the 1920s. Gustaf lived near the ferry port in Helsingborg / Sweden and drew the emblems of the waiting cars there. What a great hobby that still helps and delights us a hundred years later. Here, it helped to reconstruct the original colors.

 

 

 

 Pay attention. There is a (bad) repro ( made by H. Pulfer ) missing the depth and details:

 

 

 For more emblems see older posts or top right ( list of car makers ).

When using a smartphone please use the button webview. 

DODGE BROTHERS / USA

DODGE BROTHERS / DETROIT / USA  (1914 - present )

The DODGE BROTHERS automobile factory was founded by Horace Elgin Dodge and John Francis Dodge in 1914. Even after the death of the two brothers in 1920, the company continued to operate successfully until today. I

It is a great pleasure to collect DODGE emblems, because there is always the chance of finding new, unknown emblems, meaning that no collection will  be ever complete. In addition there are numerous hood ornaments that DODGE used.

It is virtually impossible to show and discuss all the Dodge emblems that have been created in the more than 110-year history of this remarkable company. Therefore, I will limit myself here to a selection of noteworthy emblems.

Let´s start with the most famous emblem of the nineteen-twenties.This logo used between 1914 and around 1925 does not, as one might assume at first glance, depict a Star of David, but rather two intertwined Greek letters delta. This is intended to symbolize the deep bond that the two brothers maintained throughout their lives:

You see two intertwined Greek letters Delta, not the Star of David !

Size	5.8 cm
Year	1917 - 1925
Estimate

 

 

 

What a beautifully colored advertisement from 1924, seen in a Swedish magazine.

This emblem comes from the collection of Lee Roy Hartung, which was auctioned in Chicago in 2011, where I was able to purchase it. It is larger than the usual round DODGE emblems.

Size	6.5  cm
Year	c. 1924
Estimate

backside of the emblem with Lee Roy Hartung´s signature

For more emblems from the Lee Roy Hartung auction please click here.

The next variation where the emblem was made with blue enamel only:

Size	5.8 cm
Year	c. 1925
Estimate

Here is an interesting advertisement from 1926 that appeared in the Belgian/French magazine “ENGLEBERT”:

Close up of the emblem from the advertisement: the word “AUTOMOBILES” appears on the emblem instead of DETROIT USA or CANADA. This is an advertising idea. Such an emblem never appeared on the vehicles.

DODGE assembled in Canada

Size	5.8 cm
Year	1917 - 1925
Estimate

down right: 1927 - 1928 radiator emblem

Size	4.8 cm  x 4.8 cm
Year	1927 - 1928
Estimate

1927 - 1928 brochure showing the new emblem

Another rarity. I guess it is a prototype since it has only appeared on the market once so far:

Size	5.0 cm  x 5.3 cm
Year	unknown
Estimate

Backside of the prototype emblem, which indicates that it was attached to the radiator with a metal crown, like a standard emblem 

In 1931, a new emblem appeared, this time with wings. There are also numerous variations of this emblem with different enamel colors, primarily blue and orange.

Size	14.5 cm x 4.6 cm
Year	1931 - 1932
Estimate

Another interesting emblem. The SURREY DODGE was a British DODGE truck brand with a large content of British components. Thank you Gerd for this information.

Size	14.5 cm  x 4.6 cm
Year	1933
Estimate

And here comes the next country-specific DODGE emblem, this time from Sweden:

 

Size	5.0  cm  x 11.1 cm
Year	c. 1940
Estimate

 

Size	5.0  cm  x 11.1 cm
Year	c. 1940
Estimate

Dodge emblem made in Stockholm / Sweden by Sporrong & CO

Here you can see a sales brochure for the French market, which features an emblem with wings:

Size	8.9 cm x 3.6  cm
Year	1931
Estimate

In 1941, a coat of arms appeared on the DODGE emblem for the first time. I was told that it was the Dodge family coat of arms. May be it is just a fantasy emblem, but in any case it turned out beautiful. There are also numerous variations of the emblems featuring this motif.

1946 - 1948 trunk emblem

Size	5.3 cm x 6.7 cm
Year	1946- 1948
Estimate

1946 - 1948 hood emblem

Size	4.2 cm x 9.1 cm
Year	1946- 1948
Estimate

1949 - 1950 front emblem

Size	8.1 cm x 10.4 cm
Year	1949- 1950
Estimate

Would you like to become an employee at DODGE? Here is your employee badge.

And here comes another rarity. This emblem was only produced in enamel for a very short time after WWII; I am only aware of plastic emblems with this design.

Size	4.8 cm x 6.0 cm
Year	c. 1950
Estimate

Here is the next unusual post-war DODGE emblem. It shows a bee in racing outfit and was mounted on vehicles from 1969 to 1971:

Size	9.6 cm  x 4.8 cm
Year	1969- 1971
Estimate

For more funny automobile emblems please click here!

 

I will end my DODGE emblem gallery—for now—with this modern emblem of a DODGE VIPER. Why? Because, unlike almost all emblems used at that time, it was not made of plastic, but using traditional techniques from metal with (transparent) enamel:

For more emblems see older posts or top right ( list of car makers ).

When using a smartphone please use the button webview.