My seventh post in my series on automotive badges takes a graphic turn. During the musclecar era, there was a shift from “speaking” of horsepower in chrome to shouting about it in vinyl—lots of it. The shift in material and attitude made for some seriously fun graphics with plenty of swagger and wit. There were even pop culture references, like Plymouth licensing of the Road Runner character from Warner Brothers, and Pontiac borrowing from a character on TV’s “Laugh In” for the special edition of its GTO.
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: 1969 Plymouth Road Runner, 1969 Mercury Cyclone, 1969 Chevrolet Nova. Second row, left to right: 1969 AMC SC/Rambler, 1970 Dodge Super Bee, 1970 Ford Mustang. Third row, left to right: 1970 Pontiac GTO, 1970 Plymouth Road Runner, 1970 Plymouth ’Cuda. Bottom row, left to right: 1971 Plymouth Duster, 1971 Ford Mustang, 1973 Pontiac Trans Am.