Mack Trucks’ Bulldog

One of the more famous vehicular logos is the Bulldog that’s the hood ornament used on Mack trucks.

Did you know that this ornament has been around for 80 years?

Did you know that the association between Mack Trucks trucks and the bulldog goes back nearly 100 years?

The second question first. Turns out that during World War I British soldiers nicknamed the Mack AC models that were used in the war effort “Bulldog Macks.”

Then, in 1932, a chief engineer for Mack Trucks, Alfred Fellows Masury, was in the hospital for surgery and used his recovery time to carve a model of a bulldog out of a bar of soap.

Following his release, being the good engineer that he was, he applied for a patent on the bulldog design, which was granted.

Unfortunately, Masury didn’t get the opportunity to enjoy the ornaments (which serve as grips for opening the hood) as they were added to the hood in 1933, the same year he died.

Mack Trucks, incidentally, was founded in Brooklyn, New York, in 1900. Today it is owned by the Volvo Group, of Gothenburg, Sweden.