Ford and Volvo logos - what happened ?

[Mandrake]

Ok here's a real brain teaser for you all, I'm genuinely interested to see what other people's recollections are.

Although I have never owned a Ford or Volvo, I was pretty certain I knew what their logos looked like. Growing up in NZ Fords were extremely common - I'd say even more common than the UK because as well as the ubiquitous Escort, Cortina, Sierra etc, there were the V6/V8 Falcon's which were very popular but never released outside the NZ/AUS markets. So they were everywhere.

My recollection of the logo is pretty much identical to this image, with an almost straight bar through the F:



I'm absolutely certain of it. Well apparently I'm wrong! The Ford logo is like this with a curl at the end of the through bar that looks like the letter E:



Not only that, but apparently it has always been this way, the version with the straight cross bar never existed, and can't be found anywhere in pictures or online, with the above straight bar version actually being a photoshop that someone did to show how they (also) remembered it being. Say whaaaaat ?

Next up is the Volvo logo. Now I may be mistaken on this because Volvo's were a somewhat rarer sight than Fords growing up in NZ but I'm pretty sure that most Volvo's either had the letters Volvo spelled out as individual pieces (typically on the rear) or had the word Volvo inside a circle with a horizontal bar through the middle, somewhat similar to this:



Well apparently I'm wrong again, because this has seemingly never been the case, the circular version has always had an arrow in the top right corner like the male gender symbol:





Huh ? It seems like an odd symbol to use for a car logo, I'm sure I would have noticed this before. I could swear that it was a circle with a bar but without an arrow, although I'm not as confident in my memory as I am with the Ford logo.

Naturally when I go back and look at pictures of old cars or official information for the marquees I can only find the "new" versions of these logos as if the "original" versions never existed.

Does anyone else remember the same old logos as me from their youth ?

I have more to say on the topic but I'm curious to get some feedback from others before I say anything that might be considered a leading question.

[CitroJim]

Simon, interesting...

Different markets maybe. As far as I can remember, in the UK the Ford logo has always had the little 'e' tail on the bar of the F and the Volvo logo has always been the one that resembles the male symbol (with the arrow)...

[myglaren]

IIRC the Volvo logo was chosen as it is the symbol for iron.
And "Volvo" means "I Roll" in Latin

Driven loads and owned one but never took any notice of the logo - usually I identify them by the oblique parallel lines on the grill.

Only had one Ford - an early Fiesta. My daughter has a later one, again never took much notice of the logo - as long as it worked that was quite sufficient.

[NewcastleFalcon]

Plenty of discussion here about such a phenomenon.....like many people recalling the actual "Looney Tunes!" as "Looney Toons!"

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread1134126/pg1


Regards Neil

[CitroJim]

And "Volvo" means "I Roll" in Latin

So a Volvo Activa would have ben a contradiction in terms then

Or an oxymoron...

[van ordinaire]

Funny I don't recall he Ford logo having that squiggle on the X-bar of the "F" - but then my Fords pre-dated the blue oval!

As for Volvo, asked to identify their logo, I'd have plumped for the '59 version - that's how I remember it.

[Homer]

Can't say I ever paid that much attention to the Ford badge but I certainly remember the arrow on the Volvo badge on my dad's 144.

[CitroJim]

Can't say I ever paid that much attention to the Ford badge but I certainly remember the arrow on the Volvo badge on my dad's 144.

Same with the 1967 144 I had in Cyprus back in the early 80s and my 340...

[Mandrake]

Plenty of discussion here about such a phenomenon.....like many people recalling the actual "Looney Tunes!" as "Looney Toons!"

Well spotted Neil. That is indeed what I was alluding to...

I don't know whether to be amused, bemused, or disturbed, but my own memory actually agrees with a large percentage of the purported "alternate" versions of things that this "effect" describes... right down to learning to spell the word definitely as definately at school! Even today my muscle memory when I touch type firmly keeps typing definately instead of definitely, only to have the spell check moan at me yet again. I just can't shake old spelling habits.

Here's another one for you all. Anyone remember the VW logo (including the current silver on blue one) without a dividing line between the V and the W ? I always thought they were joined in the middle as one solid piece, but nope, apparently not!



This is closer to what I remember: (probably a photoshop though)



Enjoy

[myglaren]

I always thought that the V extended slightly into the W

[Deanxm]

Not sure about the Ovlov logo but here is a photo of the original badge from my 1931 Ford.

photo(31) by Deanxm, on Flickr

D

[NewcastleFalcon]

If you click on Gibbo's link to old pictures of Birmingham he posted up on "Picture(s) of the day" the first one up is an old Ford Garage with the logo. From a distance it looks like evidence of the straight F but zoom in and its a curly pigs tail F .

Maybe a bit unrelated but we do have the ability to readily translate key parts of words as a whole like "Ford" without the necessity to recognise the detail of the font, or even the correct letters eg

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Regards Neil

[daviemck2006]

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Regards Neil

And why do we learn to spell at school? And have spell checkers on smartphones and the like? [emoji12] [emoji13] [emoji23]


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