Published: July 28, 2020, 8:15 AM
Updated: October 11, 2021, 8:58 AM
Artistic nameplates enhance appeal
Much has been written about car names but finding the right font for their nameplates is also an important detail that can enhance their appearance and appeal. Here are 17 examples of automobile nameplates that are artistic and distinctive in their own right.
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Dodge/Plymouth Neon
When Chrysler introduced the Neon concept to auto show audiences in 1991, it was like nothing on the market at the time. It was cool and funky, with a nameplate script that perfectly depicted the Neon light-tubes from which it derived its name.
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Honda Insight
When it was introduced in 2000, you could tell right away there was something different about the electric-assisted Insight, and even the badge (located on the rear window, rather than on the bodywork) was quirkily modern, with the wedge tittle on the first I indicating it probably didn’t fit many moulds.
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Hyundai Veloster
The name Veloster tries to convey images of speed, as in velocity and/or speedster, although honestly the compact Hyundai coupe is neither. The nameplate, likewise, tries to convey the image of speed, and does a decent job of it in a font that harkens to golden-age car nameplate scripts.
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Corvette StingRay
The original Stingray script was in keeping with the Chevrolet nameplate font of the time — flowing and flowery — and probably didn’t do the performance car justice. When Chevrolet brought back the name for the C7 Corvette, it chose a script that effectively conveyed the lethal barbed stinger of the graceful steely marine animal.
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Ford Raptor
Similarly, when you name a truck after a prehistoric predator, a normal chrome nameplate just won’t cut it, but how do you best convey gnashing teeth and razor-sharp claws? Ford’s Raptor script paints that picture fairly well.
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Porsche
Porsche made its name on minimalist high-performance and, likewise, its nameplate has always been the model of simplicity. It started off in elegant serif type, as evidenced to this day on the crest, but since the 1960s has been presented in plain block sans serif letters that are elegant and instantly recognizable, no matter what words they’re spelling out. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons/JotaCartas)
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Ford
The Ford script has become one of the most instantly recognizable fonts in history, and it should come as no surprise that it has evolved from Henry Ford’s signature.
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Buick
Contemporaries of Ford, such as Buick, similarly attempted to duplicate their founders’ “signature” for their badges but many didn’t have the flowing, easily-read look of Ford’s signature and ended up going with something a little more legible. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Alf van Beem)
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Ford F-150
Outside of its slightly modified signature script, Ford has always done a good job of keeping its nameplates modern and though the F-150 has adapted its nameplate script over the years to keep in tune with its buyer demographics, the latest iteration may just have the right combination of modernity and ruggedness.
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Toyota FJ Cruiser
Now, you could probably make the case (quite effectively, perhaps) that the F in the F-150 was lifted directly from Toyota’s FJ Cruiser nameplate, but the intent is the same — rugged, solid and modern — although the Toyota model was maybe a bit too radical.
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Karmann Ghia
When you have two renowned partners collaborating, your badge of honour has to reflect the strengths of each, so it’s understandable to have the solidity of the Karmann builder matched up with the flowing creativity of the Ghia designer.
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Studebaker Avanti
Avanti means ahead or forward, in Italian, making it an appropriate moniker for the car that was supposed to drive Studebaker success. The Avanti was ahead of anything else on the market at the time — a 4-seat high-performance coupe — and it broke several speed records, so that arrow that bisects the name, and yet fits so nicely into it, holds a lot of meaning.
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Imperial
As you might expect from a model that had been around for some seven decades, the Imperial emblem had gone through several iterations. By the time Chrysler made it its own marque, Imperial landed on a script that was regal in itself but added a crown to make sure the “royal” imagery wasn’t lost. The crown moved around the logo, but was probably most effective as the tittle on the I. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Dave_7)
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Polestar
We don’t know if there’s a way to properly depict a celestial object in type without making it look cheesy, but Polestar did it quite effectively with almost-out-of-this-world simplicity. It helps that the curve of the R fits nicely into the space between star flashes.
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Dodge Dart Swinger
In order to appeal to a younger generation of drivers for the 1970s, Dodge added the Swinger name to its 2-door Dart “compact,” keeping the traditional serif font for dad’s family sedan and adding the curvaceous script and alignment for the younger generation, with the asterisk tittle matching each model’s exterior paint.
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Subaru Baja
Carefree was also the message behind the surfer/Tiki script for the Subaru Baja, a pickup version of the Outback, which itself had a unique script nameplate as Subaru worked to create identities for its products to convey to consumers how there was a unique vehicle to fit their needs.
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NSU Prinz
German post-war carmaker NSU is best known as one of the Auto Union rings that became the Audi brand, and also for making the first Wankel rotary production car, but it’s best known for the long-lived Prinz (1957-1973, which was replaced by the Audi 50 that became the VW Polo), with its elegant, regal-looking nameplate. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Stahlkocker)
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Artistic nameplates enhance appeal
Next time you notice the nameplate on a car or truck,give a thought to the design effort that went into creating it and the message it was intended to convey.
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