Corvette Badges Through the Ages

By now, anyone who cares about the Chevrolet Corvette has January 13, 2013, market on their calendars—physical, digital, metaphysical—because that is the day that the seventh-generation Corvette—a.k.a., the C7—will be “officially” unveiled at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. (It will undoubtedly be unofficially unveiled long before that time.)

As a teaser for the C7, Chevy revealed the new Crossed Flags logo that will be applied to the 2014 ‘Vette:

About it, Ed Welburn, GM vp of Global Design, said, “The new Crossed Flags design reflects the character of the next Corvette. The flags are much more modern, more technical, and more detailed than before—underscoring the comprehensive redesign of the entire car.”

The whole Crossed Flags motif goes back to the original 1953 Corvette’s badge:

And in subsequent iterations of the Corvette it looked like this in 1962:

This in 1972:

This in 1984:

This in 1997:

And this in 2005 (which carries through to today on the C6):

If you look closely you’ll note that in addition to the racing checkered flag, there is the Chevy Bowtie logo and the French fleur-de-lis (presumably a nod to the founder of Chevrolet, Louis Chevrolet, who was a race driver born in Switzerland, but was of French descent). But you’ll also note that the 1984 badge—for the C4—blew up that tradition, foregoing the fleur-de-lis.

Speaking of leaving things out, the C7 is taking little from the C6. Said Tadge Juechter, Corvette chief engineer, “There are only two carryover parts from the C6 used in the C7—the cabin air filter and the rear latch for the removable roof panel.”