PGR 3 Car Manufacturers—What's In a Name: Part One
Part One of a four-part series, PGR 3 features a diverse list of car manufacturers and some of them are better known than others. All of them do share one thing in common, however—rich, racing-filled, and sometimes quirky stories behind their company names and logos.
Ferrari
Ferrari's renowned prancing horse emblem is based on the squadron badge of Italy's ace of aces, Francesco Baracca, the heroic Italian pilot shot down during World War I. Baracca's parents entrusted the emblem to Enzo Ferrari, who used it as a form of tribute to their son. Ferrari's only change was to add the canary yellow background "because it is the color of Modena," the hometown of both Enzo Ferrari and the car company he created.
Ariel
Originally founded in 1898, Ariel produced bicycles and motorized tricycles before focusing on building small, inexpensive cars through the 1920s. In the 1970s, Ariel introduced a three-wheeled tilting moped, which was not very successful. Over 25 years later, Simon Saunders, a former Porsche and Aston Martin designer, revived the company name and started producing the Atom.
Bentley
Bentley Motors Limited was founded in 1913 by W.O. Bentley, who was previously known for developing the rotary aero-engine used in Sopwith Camels during World War I.
Cadillac
The company, founded by Henry Leland, is named for Le Sieur Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, the French explorer who discovered Detroit in the early eighteenth century.
Callaway
In 1973, when young American driver Reeves Callaway (son of Callaway Golf founder Eli Reeves Callaway) was forced to abandon his promising race career due to lack of money, he became a driving instructor at the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving. He took one of the stock BMW 320i school cars and tuned it for more power, creating his first prototype turbocharger system.
Today, Callaway Cars specializes in building heavily modified turbocharged Corvettes and Camaros.
Chevrolet
The company got its start (and its name) in 1909 when William Durant, a buggy manufacturer, asked Louis Chevrolet, a well-known race car driver, to help him design a car that would compete against the Model T.
The Chevrolet "bowtie" logo made its first appearance in 1919. Legend has it that Durant was inspired by a pattern of wallpaper in a Paris hotel room when he suggested the now legendary logo.
PGR 3 Car Manufacturers—What's in a Name: Part Two