American brand… Designed by the British!

In 1896, Henry Ford built the Ford quadricycle with a water-cooled 4-horsepower engine. He founded the “Detroit automobile company” in 1899 to market his invention, and it was liquidated in 1901. In the same year, a new company called “Henry Ford company” appeared. Eventually, it became the “Ford motor company” in 1903. Ford’s first logo consisted of an oval with the words “Ford Motor Co” and “Detroit, Mich” in it. The center of the logo, which is an art nouveau design that was very fashionable at the beginning of the 20th century, is decorated with arabesques.

As early as 1907, an American football ball

From 1907 to 1909, the letters Ford in capital letters are framed by an expanding oval at the top and bottom, signifying a type of American football where the cars are warranted for 12 months. The change consisted of using only the surname and the ending “D” as signature in cursive italics in the same year. In 1911 and 1912 the name Ford was for the first time placed within a true oval surrounded by the word “famous motor car”. It makes sense because the Ford T was the only model of the brand and had become symbolic.

separation in 1912

That year, a team of designers created a sort of blue-winged triangle resembling a phoenix, framing Ford’s name and underlined by a slogan: the “Universal car”; universal car. The logo will last until 1917 before returning to the oval. From 1917 to 1957, the Ford name (a big F and a fairly wide D) was added to a logo attributed to the Ford England team that would become the official logo in the 1920s. In 1957 the logo took the form of an American football ball, and that was until 1961.

slightly flattened oval

Since 1961, designers have used the same logo; a fairly flat oval whose color will change to several shades of blue. The letters of the Ford name are part of this design, especially from 1976 to 2003, which will sometimes take on metallic reflections for relief. The logo will finally be simplified; The name Ford on a blue background is surrounded by a white line, again surrounded by a blue line.