What color were they?

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Model T Ford Forum: Forum 2005: What color were they?
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Eric Hylen on Wednesday, December 19, 2007 - 09:30 pm:

Does anybody know the colors of the original Ford "Winged Pyramid" signs? I'm thinking that a ten footer would look really nice painted on the wall of my new shop.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By John Sizemore on Wednesday, December 19, 2007 - 10:15 pm:


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By David Norton on Wednesday, December 19, 2007 - 10:33 pm:

Steve Jelf makes reproduction vintage signs http://www.mtfca.com/cgi-bin/discus/show.cgi?tpc=29&post=83094#POST83094


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Steve Jelf on Wednesday, December 19, 2007 - 11:05 pm:

Yes, but unfortunately not Ford, due to the cost of licensing.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Harvey Decker on Thursday, December 20, 2007 - 10:17 am:

Steve:
Are you planing on attending the 08 party and selling signs?
Harvey ....


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By R.V. Anderson on Thursday, December 20, 2007 - 11:00 am:

Personal observation of original or seemingly original signs indicates that black & white was used during the brass era, dark navy blue & white until around 1930, and lighter blue & white after that along with some different colors such as dark green during the V-8 era.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By R.V. Anderson on Thursday, December 20, 2007 - 11:39 am:

I should have stated that the above colors were used with all sorts of "Ford" dealer/garage signs, since the pyramid wasn't used after the late teens. Therefore, what I meant was, the WPs were black & white until a short time before their discontinuance after the brass era, then dark navy & white as long as they were still used after that, which was a short time. Again, this is my personal observation and not according to any Ford documentation.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By dbw on Thursday, December 20, 2007 - 02:12 pm:

wasn't the lower line "the universal car" dropped with the t's ??...and i thought ford dropped the wings in favor of the oval in 1928.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Warren Mortensen on Friday, December 21, 2007 - 09:32 am:

Ford dropped the "scarab" logo around 1916 I believe. Supposedly, Henry found out that the scarab beetle was also known as the dung beetle and decided he didn't want that association.

I saw an original sign for sale at Hershey about 16 years ago which was black background with a yellow/orange outline and logo. Was a good sized sign too and they only wanted $150.00 for it. Wish I'd sprung for it.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mark Wetherbee on Friday, December 21, 2007 - 02:56 pm:

Hey John, here is a picture of your sign's Canadian cousin... (only a little rougher)


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Eric Hylen on Saturday, December 22, 2007 - 10:15 am:

As usual, the answers raise more questions too. Has anybody seen any documentation of the advertising showing when this logo was introduced, and shelved, when the "Universal Car" was added or dropped and the like? Warren, what's the "scarab" logo? Is that another name for this one?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Larry Smith on Saturday, December 22, 2007 - 12:15 pm:

From the few I have seen, the Canadian did say sales and service, and the US, universal car, the the blue was much darker than the one pictured, and the Ford script was a lot different, with a higher "F".


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ray Belland on Saturday, December 22, 2007 - 02:53 pm:

Here is a photo of what maybe is a license plate topper.It is from the local original ford dealership from downtown WINDSOR ONTARIO CANADA say's

BORDER CITIES
UNIVERSAL CAR AGENCY LTD.
yellow lettering with a dark green background. RAY


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Warren Mortensen on Saturday, December 22, 2007 - 04:34 pm:

Yes Eric, the logo was referred to as a scarab symbol, Egyptology being all the rage at that time. There were a number of trade logos designed either using the scarab beetle at rest or, as in the case of the Ford logo, in flight. Henry Ford supposedly nixed the trademark when he found out that scarab beetles play in the manure pile.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Eric Hylen on Saturday, December 22, 2007 - 07:03 pm:

Yes Warren, with the recent finding of Tut's tomb, Egyptology was all the rage during the T era. I've heard that theme-parties occasioally featured the unwrapping of a real mummy!

Still no definitive word on the logo colors, but I found more info on the Google:

Me and the Model T, by Bill Sheller
A short while ago, at a monthly meeting, there was
some confusion as to the use of the WINGED
PYRAMID logo by the Ford Motor Company. I
can remember from my youth a tin sign with this
logo on it in my Grandfathers house on his book
shelf right up there with Reasoning Ross.
Reasoning Ross has survived, he is looking over my
shoulder as I write this, however the tin sign is
sadly, long gone. Thrown out with the trash years
and years ago. I can almost hear my father's words
... "get rid of this junk"!
As you very well know, I'm intensely interested in
the history of the Ford Motor Company, so I did a
bit of research on the Winged Pyramid Logo used
by Ford during it's infancy. This logo was the
official trademark of the Ford Motor Company from
1912 until almost 1917. During this period, Ford
Dealers were REQUIRED to have it displayed at
their places of business. It was "requested" to be
painted on the sales room windows and used on the
dealers letter heads. In the early days of Ford,
requested was just another word for DEMANDED!
The designer of the logo was a Chicago advertising
agency owner named Glen Buck. Mr. Buck's
advertising firm was assigned the Ford Ad contract
in 1912, taking over for a dropped New York firm,
the J. Walter Thompson Company. Glen Buck
designed the winged pyramid as a combination of
the two oldest Egyptian symbols. The pyramid, a
symbol of strength and stability and the scarab
wings, a symbol of lightness and grace. The
"wings" would ultimately become responsible for
the logo's demise. A scarab is a beetle, thought to
be sacred by the ancient Egyptians as a symbol of
the soul and found in ceramic and golden forms in
tombs centuries after the fact. More commonly
known in America as a June bug or dung beetle.
Perhaps had Mr. Buck chosen the eagle as the
source of the wings instead of the scarab, the world
would recognize this logo instead of the famous
Blue Oval that is the second most recognized
corporate logo on the planet!
Many Ford dealers of the time the winged pyramid
was in use portrayed the pyramid as a symbol of the
Model T's three point suspension and the wings as a
symbol of the freedom the Model T offered anyone
who purchased one. In 1912 Glen Buck was also
actively involved with the passage of an act of
Congress concerning migratory birds, the Weeks-
McLean Migratory Bird Bill, which was what
caught Henry Ford's attention. Henry was quite a
bird fancier himself. At any rate, because of the
birds not the ad agency, Henry Ford offered Glen
Buck a position at the Ford Motor Company as
advertising manager and editor of the Ford Times.
Glen Buck had an aggressive attitude toward his
new position at the Ford Motor Company, which
placed a "bee under the bonnet" of some of the top
executives. One of the top people he got himself on
the "wrong side" of was Ernest G. Liebold, Henry
Ford's "by the book" secretary. Mr. Liebold insisted
that all advertising proofs be sent through him
before becoming a Ford Motor Company public ad
which Glen Buck took as an invasion of his
authority. The two men had such a strained
relationship that in 1913 Glen Buck resigned from
the company.
The winged pyramid continued in use as a corporate
symbol until late 1916. For some unknown reason
the companies Operating Committee questioned
whether it's use should be continued. It's been
rumored that Mr. Liebold's personal feud with Mr.
Buck was amplified in the presence of Henry Ford
as a method of getting "even" with him. The
bickering about the logo was finally referred to Ford
himself. When Henry was told the scarab wings on
his logo were that of a dung beetle he scrapped it on
the spot! The new Ford Logo then simply became
the famous FORD script. The oval wasn't part of
the logo until much later, but that's a story in itself!
Reprinted from the T Times bulletin of the Three
Rivers Model T Club of Kennewick, Washington


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