Hasta La Ideas

In 1977, Chevy ditched the “sunburst” design for their Corvette logo and went with (above) this clean, graphically-stylized update on the original crossed flags. The fleur-de-lis from Louis Chevrolet’s family crest is still up front on the red flag, with the Chevy “bowtie” partially obscured behind it.

1978 was the Corvette’s 25th Anniversary, and cars released that year got this fancy badge:

Corvette’s from ’79, however, reverted to the design of the ’77.

In 1980 a new decade arrived, bringing with it more angular designs. The ’80 Corvette saw a weird kickback to the 1963 design by arranging the flagpoles in such a way that they formed a “V.” Conspiracy theorists will see a Firebird or Thunderbird logo in their mind’s eye, but I don’t think those cars were truly competitive fears, as the former wasn’t in the same price range and the latter wasn’t in the same performance category. In any case, the logo persisted through ’81.

Buyers of the 1982 “Collector Edition” Corvette had this special badge with the throwback circle from the ’63 or ’73 ot ’76. It’s also unusual in that the fleur-de-lis is dispensed with altogether, and for the first time in years we see an unobstructed bowtie.

For 1983 to ’84, the fleur-de-lis again takes a hike, and the bowtie reigns supreme. The graphic treatment of the waving flag is dispensed with and the flags switch sides; I have no idea why, but it screams “focus group.” The circle also makes a comeback.

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