Plymouth Motor Co., Chrysler Corp. (1928-2001)
Detroit, Michigan
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| This is the first Plymouth radiator emblem (1928) mjs Size: 41mm high 32mm wide MM: None |
Chrysler introduced the Plymouth in July 1928, as an inexpensive family car to compete with market leaders Chevrolet and Ford. Plymouth helped Chrysler to survive the Great Depression. In 1931 Plymouth production went over 100,000 and displaced Buick from third place in the industry but was still way behind Chevrolet and Ford. But by 1933, Plymouth production was 218,000, compared to Ford at nearly 272,000 and Chevrolet nearly 434,000, an incredible achievement in the midst of the Depression.
Walter Chrysler's purchase of Dodge in 1928 was important in giving a nationwide dealer organization to help sell the Plymouth. In 1936 Plymouth built more than 500,000 cars. The Plymouth had surpassed all other American cars with the level of sales achieved in the first decade of production and by 1942, when production ceased due to World War II, more than four million Plymouth cars had been built.
The early Plymouth cars were 30 hp four-cylinder models with the first six-cylinder model appearing in 1933. The Plymouth Deluxe was introduced in 1934 and was a high point for Plymouth in terms of looks and technical equipment and boosted Plymouth sales enormously. Plymouth entered the commercial vehicle field in 1935, initially with a two-door commercial sedan with a panel delivery van added in 1936. In 1939 there was a line of small trucks using the Dodge truck chassis. Plymouth commercials gave way to Dodge after 1942.
After World War II the development of the Plymouth closely followed other products of Chrysler Corporation and rather old-fashioned styling lost Plymouth its third place in the industry to Buick. Plymouth changed its style in the 1960's with the introduction of the compact Valiant, the medium-sized Belvedere, the full-sized Fury and the Barracuda sports models. By the 1970's most Plymouth models like Volare and Neon were badge-engineered versions of Chrysler, Dodge or Mitsubishi cars.
Plymouth production peaked at 973,000 in 1973 but fell thereafter. By the 1990's Plymouth had lost much of its identity and sales rarely exceeded 200,000. The last unique Plymouth model was the Plymouth Prowler, a hot-rod styled sports car. The Plymouth name was dropped in 2001.
Emblems
Emblems
The early Plymouth emblems depict the Mayflower, which was the ship that carried the Pilgrim Fathers from England to Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620. Chrysler apparently decided to use this logo, because it represented endurance, strength and rugged honesty.
The first Chrysler Plymouth radiator emblem was used for the model Q in 1928 and was a simple rectangular enameled emblem, as shown above at the top of this post. The Plymouth was also produced in Canada and had similar radiator emblems, as shown below:
The name Chrysler Plymouth was reduced to Plymouth on the radiator emblem for the Model U in 1929, see examples below:
The first Chrysler Plymouth radiator emblem was used for the model Q in 1928 and was a simple rectangular enameled emblem, as shown above at the top of this post. The Plymouth was also produced in Canada and had similar radiator emblems, as shown below:
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| This is the first Canadian Plymouth radiator emblem (1928) mjs Size: 41mm high 32mm wide MM: Day Name Plates |
The name Chrysler Plymouth was reduced to Plymouth on the radiator emblem for the Model U in 1929, see examples below:
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| This is a Plymouth Model U radiator emblem (1929) mjs Size: 41mm high 32mm wide MM: None |
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| This is a Canadian Plymouth Model U radiator emblem (1929) mjs Size: 41mm high 32mm wide MM: Day Name Plates |
The Plymouth radiator emblem was changed again in 1930 with the addition of the words "Chrysler Motors Product" under the name Plymouth, see examples below:
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| This is a Plymouth radiator emblem (1930) mjs Size: 41mm high 32mm wide MM: Fox |
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| This is a Plymouth Model 30-U radiator emblem (1930-31) mjs Size: 41mm high 32mm wide MM: Fox |
The Plymouth radiator emblem became shield shaped from 1931, see example below:
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| This is a Plymouth radiator emblem (1931-c1937) mjs Size: 49mm high 31mm wide MM: Fox |
The black Plymouth radiator emblem was fitted within a metal surround, see below:
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| This is a Plymouth radiator emblem (c1931-1933) mjs Size: 60mm high 45mm wide MM: None (metal surround) |
In about 1934, the black radiator emblem was placed within a taller winged surround, some with open wings, some with closed wings, but I do not known the exact dates of these variations, see examples below:
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| This is a Plymouth radiator emblem (c1934-1936) mjs Size: 123mm high 50mm wide MM: DC PD (wings) |
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| This is a Plymouth radiator emblem (c1934-1936) mjs Size: 123mm high 50mm wide MM: DC PD (wings) |
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| This is a Plymouth radiator emblem (c1937) mjs Size: 138mm high 65mm wide MM: None (wings) |
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| This is a Plymouth trunk emblem (1936) mjs Size: 195mm wide 67mm high MM: None (wings) |
The black color was changed to red for the Plymouth radiator emblem for some models from about 1935, see examples below:
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| This is a Plymouth radiator emblem (c1935) mjs Size: 50mm high 31mm wide MM: Fox |
The Plymouth radiator emblem shown below has the addition of "USA" at the bottom of the emblem.
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| This is a Plymouth radiator emblem (c1938) mjs Size: 94mm high 45mm wide MM: None (surround) |
Plymouth displayed a small Plymouth script on each side of the hood front in 1939 and 1940, see example below:
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| This is a Plymouth hood script (1939-1940) mjs Size: 118mm wide MM: D L Auld |
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| This is a Plymouth emblem (c1939) mjs Size: 47mm high 23mm wide MM: None |
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| This is a Plymouth radiator emblem (c1940) mjs Size: 77mm high 26mm wide MM: Fox |
The Plymouth radiator emblem shown above was fitted within a larger red shield, see example below:
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| This is a Plymouth radiator emblem (1941) mjs Size: 101mm high 46mm wide MM: None (surround) |
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| This is a very small Plymouth emblem (date unknown) mjs Size: 25mm high 15mm wide MM: D L Auld |
There was a new radiator grille with a large red, white and blue shield emblem below and a red painted Plymouth nameplate above for the last Plymouth in 1942 before production ceased due to World War II, see below:
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| This is a Plymouth radiator nameplate (1942) mjs Size: 183mm wide 40mm high MM: DC PD |
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| This is a Plymouth radiator emblem (1942) mjs Size: 107mm high 37mm wide MM: Fox |
The following emblem was located on the Plymouth dash, possibly on the radio but I am not sure:
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| This is a Plymouth dash emblem (1946-1948) mjs Size: 44mm high 60mm wide MM: None |
The following photo shows the Plymouth emblem used on the Plymouth hood in 1948:
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| This is a Plymouth hood emblem (1948) ms Size: Unknown MM: Unknown |
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| This is a Plymouth trunk emblem (1949) mjs Size: 40mm high 30mm wide MM: Metal Arts |
Some other Plymouth emblems are shown below, but I do not know where or when they were used.
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| This is a Plymouth emblem (use and dates unknown) mjs Size: 89mm wide 49mm high MM: Ross AD |
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| This is a Chrysler Plymouth emblem (use and dates unknown) mjs Size: 50mm high 30mm wide MM: None |
If you can provide further details and photos of these or other Plymouth emblems, please let me know in order to update this post.
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