For my third post in my series featuring automotive badges and lettering, I’m highlighting my favorite period—the post-war “Jet Age” from the late ’40s to the early ’60s. I’ve included a few examples of hood ornaments that aren’t type related, but they have such a jet-age influence that I just had to include them. One of the other great things about this era are the names that the Detroit marketing teams came up with, like Futuramic, Airflyte, Fireflite, and my favorite, Merc-O-Matic. The bonus being the orbit-shaped “O”.
If you’re interested in digging deeper into badge type design, check out writer and type expert Steven Coles’ excellent Tumblr page, Chromeography.
Interested in a print of one of my badge photos? Visit my store and place an order.
Top row, left to right: 1949 Oldsmobile, 1950 Mercury, 1951 Nash. Second row, left to right: 1950 Oldsmobile, 1951 Hudson, 1953 Cadillac. Third row, left to right: 1955 Chevrolet Nomad, 1955 Pontiac, 1954 Mercury. Bottom row, left to right: 1956 Plymouth Fury, 1959 DeSoto, 1961 Oldsmobile.