Oct 13, 2024

VUCLAN / UK

 

VULCAN / LANCASHIRE / GB  ( 1902 - 1928 )

 

VULCAN radiator emblem

 

VULCAN (1902 - 1928 in Southport / Lancashire England) had a good reputation for solid, well-made cars with four and six cylinders.
In 1923 there was a connection with LEA FRANCIS, which made both marques remarkably similar [Dalton Watson]

Size
 3.8 cm x 7.2 cm
Yearc. 1928
Estimate
 



                                         backside of an original VULCAN radiator emblem without makers mark

 

VULCAN was one of the first car makers offering a factory masot. Before there were only accessory mascots.


" Ask the man who owns one "   : not only PACKARD used this slogan


1912 advertisment showing the factory mascot


VUCLAN truck with factory mascot


 Not only trucks but also passenger vehicles received the mascot:

sales brochure showing the radiator with the above shown oval emblem and the factory mascot

 


For more emblems see top right of this page ( list of car makers ).

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Oct 10, 2024

FLINT / USA

 FLINT Motor Company / Flint / Michigan  USA   ( 1923 - 1927 )

The FLINT Motor Company was a spin-off of the DURANT Group, which William Durant had founded in 1921. From 1923, he offered FLINT vehicles, all of which had a 6-cylinder engine from the engine manufacturer Continental. The bodywork came from Budd. The FLINT car was therefore an assembled car. 

 Their best year was 1924 when they sold 14,788 vehicles.

Around 37,000 vehicles were built in 5 years, which was too few to survive on the American market.

FLINT made reference to the flint stone in its emblem and depicted it on the left and right of the emblem. I think that it was a rather curious idea to refer to a Stone Age technique.

FLINT emblem with flintstones

Size
7.7 cm x 4.5 cm
Year1923 - 1924
Estimate


backside with makers mark from Gustave Fox Company


FLINT modernized its emblem in 1926. The flint stones became pointed triangles without evoking associations with flint stones:

triangles instead of flintstones


A smaller FLINT model, the FLINT Junior was introduced in 1926, which received the regular emblem but with the addition "Junior":

1926 - 1927 only


FLINT also exported to Germany, as can be seen in the following sales brochure:


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

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Oct 8, 2024

LAMMAS GRAHAM / UK

 LAMMAS Ltd  GRAHAM /  Sunbury-on-Thames     (1936 -1938) / UK

What a nice idea:

Take a chassis with the latest engine technology from the USA, bring it to Great Britain, put an extraordinary body on it and offer a product with a unique selling point. This idea was implemented by LAMMAS Ltd, which agreed a cooperation with GRAHAM PAIGE in the USA. GRAHAM - PAIGE had been offering an 8-cylinder engine with compressor since 1936. From 1936, 6-cylinder engines with superchargers were offered, resulting in an impressive output of 128 bhp. The 6-cylinder engines were used by LAMMAS.

Nevertheless, only around 30 buyers were found in just under 3 years, as the price was too high for greater sales success.


Size
 18.7 cm x   5.8 cm ( with base ) 7.0 cm x 5.6 ( emblem only)
Year1936 -1938
Estimate




backside without makers mark


Although only 30 LAMMAS GRAHAM vehicles were sold, I have seen emblems with three different colors. In red, blue and shiny gold enamel. I suspect that the color of the enamel should match the color of the paint. However, I have not yet found any evidence of this, especially because there were no color photos at the time.




There were not only different colors, but also different emblems on which either LAMMAS GRAHAM or just LAMMAS was written. I don't know when which emblem was used. But in a first advertisement from 1936 you can see an emblem with the two names LAMMAS and GRAHAM:


Incidentally, the supercharged 1936 GRAHAM - PAIGE  had a mascot with a round red emblem on each side.   So there are no similarities, probably to accentuate the independence of the two vehicles.


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

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Oct 1, 2024

BUGATTI / FRANCE

 BUGATTI / MOLSHEIM / FRANCE  ( 1909 - 1956 )

Actually, ( almost ) everything has already been written about BUGATTI and also a lot about the emblems that have been used for decades.  Most authors are content to say that it was virtually never changed, but this is wrong, as you will see. You can also read that BUGATTI emblems are always showing 60 red dots around the badge. That is also wrong. However this is only true for the most  emblems. 

The historic Bugatti emblem usually had 80 dots. However, I can show below that the first original and perfectly preserved BUGATTI emblem  even  had  120 dots. There are also white lines in the emblem that no other BUGATTI emblem shows!


just start to count the dots...


Size
 9.2 cm x   4.6 cm
Year1909 -1910
Estimate

 


 

 The “normal” BUGATTI emblem, with 60 dots and no white lines, appeared as early as 1910:


 

 

 

1914 German advertisment when the town of Molsheim still belonged to Germany showing an emblem with 60 (!) dots


 On BUGATTI emblems the red, white and black colours are not separated by metal bars. Instead the enamel powder was applied using the serigraphy technique and then fired. This is much more complicated and more demanding than the emblems where the clours are separated by metal bars.

The backside of the BUGATTI sheet metal emblem was also enamelled.

So the BUGATTI emblem could not then be soldered to the radiator as soldering tin does not adhere to enamel. That´s why all BUGATTI emblems are inserted in a metal frame:


emblem fixed in a metal frame and radiator with the typical BUGATTI  radiator cap


This emblem has been unprofessionally attached with screws, which have also severely damaged the enamel:

How many dots do you count? Also 76 ?


 

1924 advertisment showing the 60 dots  emblem and " 1 HP "


Ettore Bugatti produced radiator emblems with either round or square dots at their elliptical periphery. It is not entirely clear when Bugatti used each type. Research carried out by  Bugatti experts concluded that the early cars used emblems with round dots.  Post war cars after 1918 sometimes used emblems with square dots up to about 1928 at which time Ettore Bugatti returned to emblems with round dots.

In any case, original emblems with rectangular dots are extremely rare.  Here I can present an original example. The originality can be recognized by the fact that the backside is enameled and that the colors have run slightly over the edge of the back.

My emblem also has a small imperfection. A square dot is missing at the top right. As the reproduced emblems are machine-made, whereas Bugatti had his emblems made by hand,  using a serigraphy technique it is clear that this is an old original, which was never mounted on a vehicle because of the small imperfection.

 

rare emblem with square 77 ( ? ) dots.  How many do you count ?

 

Size
 9.1 cm x 4.5 cm
Year1919 - 1928
Estimate

 

 

1928 advertisment for MERKA spark plugs used by BUGATTI


 

At the beginning of the 1920s, the v-shaped radiator was all the fashion. BUGATTI also briefly joined this trend. For example, the Type 57 S / SC  had a V-shaped radiator with a V-shaped emblem in 1936 / 1937:

 


 
Size
 18.0 cm x 6.9 cm
Year1936  - 1937
Estimate

 

 

backside of an original v-shaped BUGATTI emblem


 

1938  BUGATTI 57 S ATLANTIC sales brochure


 And here comes an original (!) BUGATTI emblem with 80 dots.

Why it is an original emblem ?

 First:  the round dots are a little bit out of order because it was hand - made. 

Second:  please look at the distance between the letters "A" and "T" in the word BUGATTI. The right leg of the letter "A" is under the crossbar of the letter "T". Reproductions show a regular spacing here. No letter “overlaps” with another.

Third: all backsides of BUGATTI Emblems are enameled, even the repros. But original BUGATTI  emblems are not perfect in any sense.  That also applies to the back.

 


 
Size
9.0 cm x  4.6 cm

Year
 1910  - 1939

Estimate


 

on top: original        down: repro

 

 There was also an original emblem where you can read on the backside: Importé d´Allemagne

I have no idea when and why it was used.

emblem collection M. Dressler

 

 And here comes a very, very rare prewar BUGATTI bumper emblem:

 


 

 Some car manufacturers were authorized to build BUGATTI vehicles under license, or to use BUGATTI designs, such as DIATTO in Italy, Crossley in England and RABAG in Germany:

 


 

If you want to learn more about DIATTO emblems please click here !

 

very rare CROSSLEY BUGATTI emblem

 Repro BUGATTI RABAG emblem:

 

look at the distance between the letters "A" and "T" !

 

1923 RABAG BUGATTI ad showing a drawn emblem without dots . Artistic freedom or real ?

 

POST WAR EMBLEMS:

 WWII was not the end of BUGATTI. In 1951 a new BUGATTI was presented, the type 101.  However, this car was unable to maintain its pre-war successes and production ceased after 5 years only.

Post war emblem made by BUGATTI with 60 dots

 

Post war emblem with spare parts number, made of 935 silver !

 

In 2016 a new badge was developed for the Bugatti Chiron. It was larger than before with a new and previously unknown visual depth. The solid badge is made of 150 grams of 970 sterling silver, dots and background made from enamel. Most badges are delivered in red. Only very few vehicles, such as the Chiron Noire or Super Sport 300+ receive an emblem in black.The badges for the Chiron increased in width by 14 millimetres and in height by 8 millimetres compared with the Veyron.

 

 

 

 

 

After WWII the American EXCALIBUR also used the design of the BUGATTI emblem. The vehicle also had the typical BUGATTI radiator in horseshoe shape. The EXCALIBUR  35 X, built in Italy,  was a replica of a Bugatti Type 35 built between 1924 and 1930. Only 27 cars were made in two years ( 1969 / 1970 ).

 


 


 In the 1980s, a replica of the BUGATTI 55 with the following emblem was built in France:


Size
11.5 cm x 5.3 cm
Yearc. 1980
Estimate




The BUGATTI  EB 110 was the first vehicle of the newly founded company Bugatti Automobili SpA in 1989, after its founder,  R. Artioli, had acquired the rights of the name “BUGATTI” in 1987. In 1997, Jochen Dauer, owner of Dauer-Racing, bought up the company's assets and continued to build the EB 110, now called DAUER EB 110 as the rights to the BUGATTI name had gone to the Volkswagen Group.

Here I can present you the DAUER EB 110 emblem:

 36 stars instead of 80 dots

Size
8.3 cm x 4.3 cm
Year 1997
Estimate

 

A (bad) repro was made by Goede in Germany with 60 red dots in a chromed frame:

kind of  "free - style " repro


backside with makers mark from GOEDE



impressive BUGATTI emblem collection


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

When using a smartphone please use the button webview.