How were emblems affixed to the radiator ex works ?

There are five main methods:

1. It was relatively rare for emblems to be screwed or riveted on. The danger of theft had always been high. For example, the French DFP  emblem was rivited:

The LAGONDA emblem

 and the FBW emblem were screwed ex works:

SELVE, PEUGEOT and KRIT worked with false, only intimated screws or rivets. However, the emblems were actually soldered on:

SELVE emblem with false screw

PEUGEOT emblem with false rivets

2. The second most frequently used affixation method was thus soldering. It made theft virtually impossible, unless you were carrying a blowlamp with you. Any dismantling attempt without a blowlamp caused severe damage to the emblem. That´s why so many bent and cracked emblems are to be found.

this emblem has been soldered on to the radiator

emblem dismantled by force

3. The third most frequently used affixation method was clipping. The radiator grille has a round hole where the emblem is affixed and the emblem has a metal plate soldered on the back.

FORD model A radiator emblem with plate

This plate is then inserted through the somewhat larger hole and a U-shaped clip is pushed onto the back of the grille from above.  Result: to dismantle from the front either a blowlamp to unsolder the plate is needed or the grille has to be unscrewed to allow the clip  then be pulled from behind.

4. Many American  and German car companies  cutted the plate in bands and soldered the whole thing to the radiator backside:

5.  A rarely applied method was used by BUGATTI:  Sheet metal frames were soldered onto the radiator, the emblem was then inserted and the sheet metal frame was beaded with a special wood tool.

Typical BUGATTI: Why adopt an easy approach, if there´s a more complicated one as well ?

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

TEMPERINO / ITALY

The three TEMPERINO brothers, Maurizio, Secundo and Jim  had  the great idea of marketing a mass produced cyclecar in Turino / Italy in 1915.  The body was made by FARINA but WW1 stopped the production. After the great war they started again. The TEMPERINO was an attractive little car but only small numbers of cars were built, so you have to look years for an TEMPERINO emblem.

Dimensions	8.3 x 4.0 cm
Year	1923- 1925
Estimate

flat reverse:    no makers mark

emblem with contemporary ad ( 1923 ).

early brass emblem

Dimensions	8.7 cm x  4.2 cm
Year	ca. 1919
Estimate

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

MORRIS LEON BOLLEE / FRANCE

In 1924 Sir William R.  Morris, the famous founder of the British Morris Motors Ltd,  bought the French LEON BOLLEE factory in Le Mans.  He had the idea to breach the French tariff walls from inside.
The first  Morris Leon Bollee had a 4-cylinder engine made by  Hotchkiss. In 1928 a 3-litre straight -8 was offered. The bodies of the Morris Leon Bollee were all made in France and were considerably more attractive than their British counterparts.

flat emblem  mounted on a 1932 radiator shell

Dimensions	5.0 cm
Year	1925- 1932
Estimate

reverse without makers mark

1932 radiator shell still missing the emblem

the first years the emblem was vaulted

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

MIESSE / BELGE

One of my all time emblem favorites:

A large picture for a large emblem

The MIESSE started producing trucks and buses in 1905 in Belgium. Since 1932 vehicles were equipped for years with the British GARDNER diesel engines made under licence.

What do you remember from your bible reading ? Guess what MIESSE is showing.

It is St. Michel killing the Satan. What a strange idea for an autocar emblem.
I don´t know a second official vehicle emblem with a bible theme.
The St. Christopherus is an accessory emblem only.

Dimensions	8.2 cm x 11.7  cm
Year	1950
Estimate

Here comes a much smaller MIESSE emblem. It is from 1933.

MIESSE radiator emblem

Dimensions	4.1 cm x 6.1 cm
Year	1933
Estimate

reverse without maker´s mark

1933 advertisment showing the emblem

There was also a round MIESSE radiator emblem. I guess it was used before 1933. If you know more, please send me an email.

Dimensions	ca  6.0 cm
Year	unknown
Estimate

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

MORETTI / ITALY

The MORETTI MOTOR CAR COMPANY was founded by Giovanni Moretti in Turin / Italy in 1925 offering motorcycles.
In 1928 he presented his first car, a three seater with a two-cylinder engine, but only a prototype was built.

During WWII  he built a commercial car electric powered called: ELETTROCARRI.
Sadly no Elettrocarri has survived, but I found this wonderful front emblem:

Giovanni Moretti was using a bull as symbol for strengh

Dimensions	10.00  cm
Year	1940 - 1944
Estimate

I only found this ( bad ) picture showing the MORETTI ELETTROCARRI

In 1945 MORETTI presented the type CITA, a small car with 350ccm engine.

During the nineteenfifties the MORETTI cars still had an emblem showing the bull

Dimensions	4.2 cm x 5.1 cm
Year	1945 - 1959
Estimate

MORETTI front badge of the sixties and seventies

Dimensions	3.5cm x 4.2 cm
Year	1960 - 1970
Estimate

For more beautiful car and truck emblems see older posts or top right (

VIBERTI / ITALY

The OFFICINE VIBERTI of Turin / Italy were primarily  commercial vehicle coachbilders.

Their MONOTRAL  ( a double-decker bus ) unitary construction buses qualified the Viberti as a make in its own right.

Most VIBERTISs used FIAT Diesel mecanical elements, though they were also made with LANCIA and OM engines and gearboxes.

rare VIBERTI bus front badge showing traces after decades of  use

Dimensions	7.5 cm x 12.0  cm
Year	1952 - 1961
Estimate

bus front badge of the famous MONOTRAL (also a double decker bus )  I have a spare to swap / sell

Dimensions	7.5 cm x 12.0  cm
Year	1952 - 1961
Estimate

by far the rarest VIBERTI  bus badge:  OM VIBERTI

Dimensions	7.5 cm x 12.0  cm
Year	1952 - 1961
Estimate

For more beautiful bus, truck and car emblems see older posts or top right ( list of car makers ).

SIZAIRE NAUDIN / FRANCE

The brothers Maurice and Georges Sizaire and their partner Louis Naudin founded the  SA des Automobiles Sizaires et Naudin in Paris / France   in 1903.
In 1905 they offered a light car using a De Dion Bouton engine.
In 1912 the Sizaire brothers left the company and after the dead of Louis Naudin the company was renamed in Societé des Etablissements Sizaire et Naudin.
The Sizaire brothers together with Fredrick William Berwick started a new car production in London named Sizaire Berwick and in France named SIZAIRE FRERES.

original SIZAIRE NAUDIN radiator emblem showing the wear of more than 100 years

The blue and red flag was the crest of the duke d`Uzes who was the financier of this company, this emblem was used from 1906 on.

Dimensions	12 cm
Year	1909 - 1912
Estimate

I had to buy the whole radiator to get this wonderful emblem

A lot of SIZAIRE et NAUDIN cars were imported  to the UK by Charles Jarrott and Letts,  so the emblem is showing the initials C.J.L.

nice repro,  but be aware that the  red and blue colors  are not transparent so it is easy to identify a repro

For more beautiful car and truck emblems see older posts or top right ( list of car makers ):

CERTUS / GERMANY

Here is another quite unknown German car maker: CERTUS AUTOMOBIL WERK.
In 1927 the driving instructor Franz Wroblewski and his friend Wilhelm Dierks founded the CERTUS
Automobil - Werke ( the latin word certus means:  to be sure ) in Offenburg ( Black Forest ).
Their slogan was: Der preiswerteste 8- Zylinder auf dem Weltmarkt ( the cheapest 8-cylinder on the world market).
Nevertheless they sold less than 50 cars in two years. Not a single car has survived.
To my knowledge this is  the only radiator emblem in existence.

emblem showing the coat of arms of the city of Offenburg /  Germany

Dimensions	10.0 cm x 6.5 cm
Year	1927 - 1929
Estimate

reverse of a NOS emblem

picture of a CERTUS touring car  in a sales brochure

front page of the 1927 sales brochure

contemporary ad with the slogan:  the cheapest 8-cylinder of the world market 

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