[last update: 01.10.2003] 

The (new) Cadillac Database©

Cadillac and La Salle Insignia

Colorful Complements
to the Cadillac Car



Select a topic from the table, below,
or go back to the "Miscellaneous Cadillac Stuff" index page
Return to The (New) Cadillac Database© Index Page

 

FRFLAG.JPG (773 bytes)
(en bas de page se trouve un résumé en français)

 

Many users have been asking me when I would prepare a page relating to Cadillac insignia.  Well, I had one under construction but, since you all seem to be chomping on the bit, I've decided that you can have it now, in the raw.  I will have no complaints, therefore, if any of you find that these pages are incomplete.   There will be more to come, so please be patient.  

Since GM announced (in the Fall of 1999) a major change in the design of the Cadillac crest emblem for the models of the new millenium, I thought users of The (new) Cadillac Database© might enjoy this colorful compilation that I believe illustrates well the history of the Cadillac crest, from its nebulous origins in the seventeenth century up to the one used on the Cadillac models of the last year of this (twentieth) century as well as those of the new millennium.

 

Table of topics

Topic 1

History of the Cadillac Wreath and Crest

Topic 2

Pre-WW2 insignia

Topic 3

Post-WW2 insignia

Topic 4

Mascots and stand-up hood ornaments, pre- and post-WW2

Topic 5

Cadillac insignia in sales and merchandising literature

Topic 6a

Insignia on wheel covers and hub caps, Part 1 - 1902 to 1979

Topic 6b

Insignia on wheel covers and hub caps, Part 2 - 1980 and up

Topic 7

Fisher coach logos and emblems

Topic 8

Cadillac club badges and related items

Topic 9

La Salle badges and related items

Topic 10

Fake Cadillac insignia and mascots

 

 

Coatarm0.JPG (10293 bytes)    Esparbes.jpg (3563 bytes)
The shield of Baron Sylvester of Esparbes de Lussan, lord of Lamothe Bardigues,
from which are derived the 1st and 4th quarters of the Cadillac coat of arms (below) 
which Antoine de La Mothe Cadillac, founder of Detroit in 1701, claimed to be his own. 

 crs_tony.JPG (7344 bytes)    Crst06.jpg (6879 bytes)   
Left: the Cadillac wreath and crest registered by the company on August 7, 1906
Right:  a later version [late teens] with tulip wreath and swans in lieu of merlettes

 

 

 

Coatar1.jpg (51473 bytes)    Coatar3.jpg (2301 bytes)    Coatar4.jpg (2259 bytes)     Coatar2.jpg (2015 bytes)
This is how Antoine Laumet, self-styled Sieur de La Mothe-Cadillac,  fabricated "his"
coat of arms: far left, the coronet or crown, next to it the shield of the neighboring
Lamothe-Bardigues family, with its three merlettes (martlets/martins), next to it is what is believed
to be the arms
arms of either Virès, in France's Languedoc region, or Albret in Gascony
[source: Report on Canadian Archives, Ottawa, 1911]
and, right, the completed shield

 

 

 

crst2000.JPG (4819 bytes)
This is the modified Cadillac emblem introduced in Y2K;
gone are the merlettes; gone is the 7-pointed crown;
gone, in fact, are all the symbols that Antoine Laumet
"borrowed" from a noble neighbor for his "own" family crest

 


 

FRFLAG.JPG (773 bytes)
( résumé en français)

Vous êtes nombreux (et ...breuses) à me demander des explications relatives aux armoiries de la firme Cadillac.  Voici donc l'histoire de ce blason;  nous la devons en grande partie à Jean Boutonnet, historien  à Castesarrasin et membre du CAVE 83 (club des collectionneurs de véhicules anciens de Tarn-et-Garonne)

La Cadillac Motor Car Company a annoncé cette année (1999) son intention de modifier le blason qui orne depuis près d'un siècle les capots et malles arrières des automobiles de la marque.  On verra le nouvel emblème sur les Cadillac du prochaine millénnaire. 

Aussi j'ai pensé que les lecteurs de la The (new) Cadillac Database© pourraient avoir plaisir à tout apprendre sur le faux blason de la fausse famille Cadillac, créé de toutes pièces au dix-septième siècle par un certain Antoine Laumet qui se dit Sieur de La Mothe Cadillac, l'homme qui fonda Detroit en 1701.

 

 

Select a topic from the table, above,
or go back to the "Miscellaneous Cadillac Stuff" index page
Return to The (New) Cadillac Database© Index Page

© 1996, Yann Saunders and the Cadillac-LaSalle Club, Inc.
[Background image:  superimposed Cadillac and La Salle emblems, 1929]