Plymouth is the name of an American automobile marque, which was established by Chrysler in 1928 and shut down at the beginning of the 2000s. The brand was specialized in the production of affordable cars and trucks and was also known for its line of minivans.
Plymouth is a car brand with a very rich and intense visual identity history, and even though the company does not exist anymore, its logos are remembered and recognized all over the globe. Throughout the years the marque was alternating its own symbol, the legendary Mayflower clipper, with the emblem of its mother company, Chrysler, the simple logotype, and the modern and sharp abstraction.
The very first logo for Plymouth was created in 1928 and depicted a white clipper placed on a black triangular shield with a triple black and white outline. The nameplate was parched above the ship, while the “Chrysler Corporation” lettering was placed on the bottom part of the badge, under the stylized waves. The logo was a tribute to the Mayflower, the famous ship, which brought the first colonists to the United States.
In 1961 the logo was completely changed. Now it featured a rounded badge, placed on a red background above the massive serif lettering. The emblem featured a stylized image of a rocket placed vertically over a pentagon, which was vertically divided into two equal parts — red and blue.
The logo was refined in 1963. The rounded frame was removed and the wordmark changed its typeface to a modern sans-serif. Its bold square letters looked confident and strong, brilliantly complementing the sharp emblem, which was now placed on a white pentagon.
The text-based version was created in 1964. It was an italicized logotype in a custom sans-serif typeface with smooth lines and straight cuts of the edges. There were two color options for the wordmark — blue and black.
In 1969 Plymouth adopts the iconic Chrysler pentagram as its emblem. The white thin five-pointed Star was placed inside the light blue geometric figure, visually dividing it into five equal triangles.
The redesign of 1985 has put the pentagon inside a bright blue square, above the bold sans-serif lettering in white. The symbol also changed its color to white, while the elegant star became blue. An additional version in monochrome was used by the brand for official documents.
In 1994 the black pentagon with a white star was placed inside a white circle with a thick black outline. The “Plymouth” wordmark in a custom sans-serif typeface was written along the upper part of the framing, in white.
The frame and the lettering stayed untouched, but the pentagon was removed in 1996. This is when the company decides to bring back its original emblem, the Mayflower. The stylized white clipper is drawn on a black background, moving to the left.
It was the last logo, designed for Plymouth, and the fact that the brand came back to the root for the last years of its existence is truly impressive.