There were thirteen American car brands sold by the Big Three when NewMexiKen was a kid. GM had Cadillac, Buick, Oldsmobile, Pontiac and Chevrolet. Ford had Lincoln, Mercury and Ford. Chrysler had Chrysler, Imperial, DeSoto, Dodge and Plymouth. (When I was very little other manufacturers sold Kaiser and Studebaker and Nash and Willys and Packard, and I suppose some others I’ve forgotten.)
So, other than the obvious Ford, how did the brands get their names?
Cadillac (1902) — Named for Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac, the founder of Detroit in 1701. GM acquired Cadillac in 1904.
Buick (1903) — Named for David Dunbar Buick, who founded the Buick Motor Company. Buick was the original GM car.
Oldsmobile (1897) — Named for Ransom Eli Olds. Sold to GM in 1908. The last Oldsmobile was built in 2004.
Pontiac (1926) — Named for the 18th century Ottawa Indian leader Pontiac. Pontiac Spring & Wagon Works merged with the Oakland Motor Company in 1908. GM acquired Oakland in 1909 and sold the cars as Oakland until it introduced the Pontiac in 1926. Pontiacs sold better than Oaklands, so the latter marque was phased out in 1932. An Indian in headdress was the Pontiac logo until 1956. Since it has been a stylistic arrow. (NewMexiKen’s dad had a 1955 Pontiac where the face of the Indian in the hood ornament lit up when the headlights were on.)
Chevrolet (1911) — Named for Louis Chevrolet. Became part of GM in 1917.
Lincoln (1917) — Named for Abraham Lincoln and founded by Henry Leland, one of the founders of Cadillac. Bought by Ford in 1922.
Mercury (1939) — Named for the Roman mythological figure. The car was developed by Ford to broaden the company’s product line to compete with GM.
Ford (1903) — Named for Henry Ford.
Chrysler (1925) — Named for founder Walter P. Chrysler who organized the company from the Maxwell Motor Company.
Imperial (1926) — Designed to compete with Cadillac, the name was chosen for its symbolism. The last Imperial was built in 1955, though the name stayed as a model of Chrysler.
DeSoto (1929) — Named for the explorer Hernando de Soto. The brand was last produced in 1960.
Dodge (1914) — Named for brothers John Francis Dodge and Horace Elgin Dodge, who had been building parts for Henry Ford since 1902. Dodge became part of Chrysler in 1928.
Plymouth (1928) — Named for the Pilgrims’ settlement. A reworking of the Maxwell by Chrysler to compete with Ford and Chevrolet. The last Plymouth was built in 2001.
Nash, Studebaker, Kaiser, Hudson, Willys and even Honda and Toyota were all named after individuals instrumental in the development of the car or the company. (Toyota is a variation of the name Toyoda.)
Wow… what a cool hood ornament!
you forgot the Edsel.
Named, of course, for Edsel Ford (1893-1943), the only child of Henry and Clara Ford. Edsel and Eleanor Clay Ford, in turn, had four children: Henry Ford II, Benson, Josephine, and William Clay.
Edsel the car was built from 1957-1959 (1958-1960 model years). It was supposed to fill a perceived niche between Mercury and Lincoln.
Here’s a photo of a Pontiac Hood Ornament similar to the one I described. This appears to be about a 1950-1951 car.
I’ll say it again… Man, that’s cool!
🙂
when i was a lad in alabama, jim’s grandmother had a blue pontiac with that orange and chrome ornament on the hood– a piece of strangely streamlined deco chic for a chunky smallish car which by design seemed hunkered down into itself like a toaster.
she also had a beloved parakeet who would sit on her shoulder and she would intone “peeeeeeeetie peeeeeeetie peeeeetie”. but that’s another story.