VELIE

Velie Motor Vehicle Co. (1909-1918)
Velie Motors Corp. (1918-1929)
Moline, Illinois

This is a Velie radiator emblem (1909-1914)     mjs
Size: 63mm diameter    MM: None

The Velie Carriage Company was established in 1902 and began building horse drawn buggies. This was followed by the Velie Motor Car Company, which was set up by Willard Lamb Velie in July 1908. 

The first Velie 30 cars built for the 1909 model year appeared towards the end of 1908. The Velie 30 was a 30/35 hp four-cylinder car offered as a five-passenger touring or a 2/3-passenger roadster. A series of 40 hp models was offered from 1910 to 1912 in a variety of body styles.The Velie was successful from the start with production reaching over 1,200 units in 1910 and reached 3,628 units by 1912. Velie introduced its own 34 hp six-cylinder engine in a passenger car in 1914.

The first Velie commercial vehicles were introduced in 1911 and, apart from a break in Velie truck production from 1924 to 1927, Velie commercials were produced until 1929 (see Velie Truck). 

During the First World War the Velie company did well on government contracts by building Liberty Trucks and the company was reorganized as Velie Motors Corporation in late 1918.

After the war, Velie cars performed well in the annual Pikes Peak race and car production increased to 7,738 units for 1920. Velie cars had all been six-cylinder models since 1916 but in 1928 a 90 hp straight-eight model joined the line. Then in October 1928 Willard Lamb Velie died suddenly and a few months later, in 1929, his son, Willard Lamb Velie, Jnr. also died and the Velie car was finished.

Emblems

The Velie Carriage Company buggies carried a small metal name tag attached to the rear of the buggy, see example below:

This is a Velie buggy tag (1902-1908)     jab

The 1908 Velie advertisement shown below for the first Velie production models for the 1909 model year was produced before a Velie logo had been finalised:

This is a Velie advertisement (1908)   ms

The first Velie cars that appeared late in 1908 did not carry an emblem, but they did display the "Velie" name on a brass Velie script mounted on the radiator core, see example shown below. This style of Velie radiator script was probably produced hurriedly, as a new logo style of the "Velie" name appeared on the first Velie radiator emblem a few months later. The first "Velie" radiator script design was used on some models in 1909. Original Velie scripts with this design are very rare.

This is a surviving Velie showing a radiator script (1908-1909)   hcg

Original photos from the Boston Motor Show in March 1909 show Velie cars on display at a dealership stand, with some models displaying only the above Velie radiator script and other models carrying a round radiator emblem with no radiator script, see below:

This photo shows Velie cars at the Boston Motor Show (1909) dpl

Close-up showing Velie car with radiator script (March 1909)

Close-up showing Velie cars with radiator emblem (March 1909)

The radiator emblem shown on the above photo is the blue and white enamel Velie radiator emblem shown at the top of this post and again below. This Velie radiator emblem is very rare.

This is a Velie radiator emblem (1909-1914)    mjs
Size: 63mm diameter    MM: Unknown

The following is a Velie hub emblem, which continued in use for many years. This Velie hub emblem is scarce.

This is a Velie hub emblem (1909-1918)     mjs
Size: 53mm diameter   MM: None

The Velie radiator emblem uses a new logo style for the "Velie" name, which was used in Velie advertisements from 1910, see example shown below:

Velie ad using the new script logo (1910) ms

The new "Velie" script logo was used as a brass radiator script from early 1910, see example shown below. There were different sizes of this radiator script. Original "Velie" radiator scripts with this design are scarce.

This is a Velie radiator script (1910-c1913)     mjs
Size: 226mm wide

The new "Velie" radiator script was sometimes displayed without a radiator emblem, see rather poor quality original 1910 photo shown below:

This Velie 40 shows a radiator script but no emblem (1910)  flickr

More usually the radiator script was displayed together with a radiator emblem, see photo below of a surviving example:

This is a Velie 40 showing radiator script and emblem (1910)  justacarguy

There was a change in the Velie radiator emblem design in 1914. The following original photo of Velie cars, taken in 1914, shows a Velie with the round radiator emblem shown above standing next to a Velie with a new radiator emblem design:

This shows a Velie car with a new radiator emblem design (1914) eBay

This new Velie radiator emblem design was the large bow-tie shaped, white and blue enamel Velie radiator emblem shown below. This Velie radiator emblem is very rare.

This is a Velie radiator emblem (1914-1915)    mjs
Size: 91mm wide 48mm high  MM: Unknown (some Greenduck)

This radiator emblem is clearly seen in the following original Velie photo from 1915:

This is a Velie showing the radiator emblem (1915)   hcg

There was a change to a much smaller version of the Velie bow-tie radiator emblem by 1916, see original photo of a Velie Six touring car shown below:

This Velie Six shows a small radiator emblem (1916) shorpy

Close-up showing the radiator emblem (1916)

The new radiator emblem is the small bow-tie shaped, white and blue Velie radiator emblem shown below. This Velie radiator emblem is rare.

Velie radiator emblem (1920)   conceptcarz

This is a Velie radiator emblem (1916-1919)     mjs
Size: 46mm wide 25mm high   MM: Greenduck (some Childs)

After the change to Velie Motors Corporation in 1918, the Velie hubcap design was changed to that shown below:

This is a Velie hubcap (1918-c1922)   dkc

The small bow-tie shaped Velie radiator emblem shown earlier above continued in use into 1919, see original 1919 photo showing a Velie Model 38 with this emblem:

Velie Model 38 showing small bow-tie rad emblem (1919) wheelsage

However, Velie Motors Corporation clearly planned on new car models to replace the 1919 line-up that had been essentially unchanged from 1918. A new Model 48, the New Velie Six, was designed using an angular straight-line style with a new radiator, which led to a complete change in the Velie radiator emblem design. 

The process for deciding the radiator emblem design appears to have begun in early 1919, was followed by a change of mind and ended in a new radiator emblem in late 1919, ready for the 1920 model year. 

A new Velie trademark was filed in April 1919, see below:

Velie trademark (April 1919)   rsc

The April 1919 trademark formed the basis for the design of the following white, red and black enamel Velie radiator emblem. This Velie radiator emblem is extremely rare.

This is a Velie radiator emblem (1919)   tcc
Size: 72mm wide 57mm high  MM: D L Auld

However, a catalog produced for the New Velie Six shows a different radiator emblem, see below:

New Velie Six catalog page showing radiator emblem (1919)  ebay

The emblem is referred to as "The Mark of the New Velie Six", see below:

New Velie Six catalog page showing Velie models (1919)  ebay

This is the black, white and red enamel Velie radiator emblem shown below. This Velie radiator emblem is also extremely rare.

This is a Velie radiator emblem (1919)   tcc
Size: 72mm wide 57mm high   MM: D L Auld

The two new Velie radiator emblems shown above are particularly interesting. They both have the same two marks on the back, see example shown below:

Velie radiator emblem reverse side (1919)   tcc

There is an unusual D L Auld maker's mark, see below:

D L Auld maker's mark

There is also a I H Garfinkel design patent mark, see below:

Garfinkel design patent mark

This set of maker's marks is unique in my experience. 

Most often the emblem maker would produce an emblem design at the auto manufacturer's request and make samples for the customer or the auto manufacturer would produce an emblem design and get the emblem maker to produce samples before deciding to go ahead with emblem production. Here we seem to have the I H Garfinkel Company making a design, applying for a design patent and having a sample made by D L Auld presumably to show to Velie.

Velie clearly accepted this emblem design for its advertisements and had some emblems made, although there is no evidence yet that this emblem design was actually used on a Velie car. The emblems shown above are both unused and have a flat backs, which would require either soldering or pinning to the radiator, whereas other emblems used by Velie at this time were made using male/female dies and an Auld type cup fixing. So far, only the two unused Velie emblems with this design shown above have been found, whereas the next Velie radiator emblem actually used from late 1919 for the 1920 model year, is much more readily found. It is likely that the two Velie radiator emblems shown above were sample emblems. 

However, please do let me know if you have this Velie radiator emblem in original used condition. An original used Velie radiator emblem with this design would be ultra rare.

It appears that Velie Motors Corporation had considered a different radiator emblem design before making their final decision, as the following revised trademark design was filed in July 1919:

Velie trademark (July 1919)   khc

This Velie trademark design includes a change to the letter "V" and indicates a preference for a lighter color shade for the "Velie" name. 

To confuse matters further, Velie advertisements shown later in 1919, continue to show the same Velie radiator emblem design based on the April 1919 trademark but in colors more closely matching the July 1919 trademark, see example below:

New Velie Six ad showing emblem (Oct 1919)  ma 

This Velie advertisement shows the emblem, still labeled as "The Mark of the New Velie Six", with the white letter "V" in a black background as before, but with the "Velie" name in a color shade lighter than the red in the previous catalog illustration, see detail shown below:

New Velie Six radiator emblem (late 1919)

This specific Velie emblem design continued to appear on Velie advertisements into 1921 long after a different radiator emblem had been introduced. 

It is likely that the "Velie" name was intended to be finished in orange/gold enamel, see mock-up shown below, as this was the color used in the next Velie radiator emblem actually used from late 1919, see later below. It is possible that samples of this emblem were made, so this Velie radiator emblem may be waiting to be found, although I cannot conform this.

Possible Velie Six radiator emblem (1919)   ms
Size: 72mm wide 57mm high

In the event, Velie decided to use the July 1919 trademark as the basis of their new Velie radiator emblem before going into full production of the emblem by reducing the width of the top left bar on the white letter "V" and slightly reducing the overall width of the emblem. Perhaps Velie wanted to avoid having to pay a design patent fee to Garfinkel each time they had emblems made. We may never know. 

The black, white and gold enamel Velie radiator emblem that actually appeared in late 1919 for the 1920 model year is shown below. This Velie radiator emblem is scarce but relatively easy to find. 

This is a Velie radiator emblem (c1919-1922)     mjs
Size: 69mm wide 57mm high    MM: Unknown (likely D L Auld)

This Velie radiator emblem is seen on some surviving Velie models from 1920, see example shown below:

Velie radiator emblem (c1920)   tcc 

There was a further change in Velie radiator emblem design in 1923, as seen in Velie advertisements, see example shown below:

Velie ad showing new radiator emblem (1923)  atticpaper

This is the black, white and gold enamel Velie radiator emblem shown below. This Velie radiator emblem is scarce.

This is a Velie radiator emblem (1923-1924)     mjs
Size: 65mm wide 65mm high   MM: Unknown (likely D L Auld)

There were a number of color changes to the Velie radiator emblem over the following few years. 

The following black, white, blue and gold enamel Velie radiator emblem was used for the Model 60 from 1924 to 1925. This Velie radiator emblem has a dark blue color variation and is rare.

This is a Velie radiator emblem (1924-1925)    dnc
Size: 65mm wide 65mm high     MM: Unknown (likely D L Auld)

There was a color change in the Velie Model 60 radiator emblem in 1925 to the much more commonly seen paler shade of blue, see example shown below. This Velie radiator emblem is scarce.

This is a Velie radiator emblem (1925-1926)     mjs
Size: 65mm wide 65mm high    MM: Unknown (likely D L Auld)

The following shows the Velie Model 60 hub emblem:

This is a Velie Model 60 hub emblem (1923-1927)  fantomworks

The following black and white enamel Velie radiator emblem was used in 1927. This Velie radiator emblem is rare.

This is a Velie radiator emblem (1927)    mjs
Size: 65mm wide 65mm high    MM: Unknown (likely D L Auld)

The following is a variation of the previous Velie radiator emblem with black enamel in the top panel. This Velie radiator emblem appears to be original and is rare. 

 This is a Velie radiator emblem (c1927)      mjs
Size: 65mm high 65mm wide    MM: Unknown (likely D L Auld)

The following reversed color variation may have been used on a rarer Velie model around 1927 but I cannot confirm this. This Velie radiator emblem is very rare.

This is a Velie radiator emblem (c1927)     sam
Size: 65mm wide 65mm high     MM: Unknown

There was a complete change in the Velie radiator emblem for 1928 and 1929. The emblem was round in shape and the "Velie" logo style had disappeared, to be replaced by a shield with an heraldic crest, see examples shown below.

The following black, red and white enamel Velie radiator emblem was introduced in late 1927 for the 1928 model year and is believed to have been used for six-cylinder models. This Velie radiator emblem is scarce.

This is a Velie radiator emblem (1928-1929)    mjs
Size: 50mm diameter   MM: Unknown

The following blue, red and white Velie radiator emblem is believed to have been used on the eight-cylinder models. This Velie radiator emblem is rare.

This is a Velie radiator emblem (1928-1929)     mjs
Size: 50mm diameter     MM: Unknown

The following is a Velie hub emblem used in 1928 and 1929. This Velie hub emblem is scarce.

This is a Velie hub emblem (1928-1929)     mjs
Size: 51mm diameter     MM: None