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Above: Look at the photo of the emblem on the fuel door of a 1964 Corvette. Now ask yourself: "Why is there a Fleur-de-lis on the emblem?"
First, a description of the Fleur-de-lis. Per the Wikipedia page: The fleur-de-lis is a lily (in French, fleur and lis mean 'flower' and 'lily' respectively) that is used as a decorative design or symbol.
The fleur-de-lis has been used in the heraldry of numerous European nations, but is particularly associated with France, notably during its monarchical period. The fleur-de-lis became "at one and the same time, religious, political, dynastic, artistic, emblematic, and symbolic," especially in French heraldry.
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The fleur-de-lis is common along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers due to the history of French settlements in the area. It can be found on the flag or seal for the cities of Baton Rouge, Detroit, Lafayette, Louisville, Mobile, New Orleans, Ocean Springs and St. Louis.
Following Hurricane Katrina on 29 August 2005, the fleur-de-lis has been widely used in New Orleans and throughout Louisiana as a symbol of grassroots support for New Orleans recovery. NFL fans will recognize it as a feature on the helmets of the New Orleans Saints professional football team.
That's all very nice, but what does this have to do with Corvettes?
To answer the question, one needs to go back to the first Corvette seen by the public: The EX-122 (EX stood for experimental) revealed at the Motorama show at New York’s Waldorf-Astoria on Saturday, January 17th, 1953.
Interior designer Robert Bartholomew was tasked with creating an emblem for the new sports car. His first iteration (below) had an American flag to emphasize the entry into the sports car world which at the time was dominated by foreign makes. But the Legal Department got involved, saying that it is against the law (US Flag Code, 1942) to use an American flag on any commercially made product.
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Original front emblem design with the American flag. It is currently on display at the Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, KY and is still owned by GM. Below: The front nose emblem that was eventually used on the EX-122 Motorama car. The same emblem was used on the 1953 thru 1955 Corvettes but the "Corvette" script was dropped.
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So it was back to the drawing board for Mr. Bartholomew. He thought of Louis-Joseph Chevrolet, the founder of the Chevrolet Motor Car Company in 1911 and looked for a coat of arms or some sort of family crest that could be used. He didn't find any and time was running short. Mr. Chevrolet was of french descent so the research went in that direction and the fleur-de-lis was chosen. The three lines below it represent the three Chevrolet brothers.
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The tradition continued with the 1956 trunk emblem (left) and the 1963 nose emblem - a scan from the owners manual. Note that the three lines under the fleur-de-lis remained.
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The fleur-de-lis continued on the C3 Corvette for the 1968 (above left) and 1973 model years (right). Both continued the three lines under the fleur-de-lis. Below left is the 1978 Special Edition front nose emblem and (right) the 1981 emblem. Notice that the three lines under the fleur-de-lis were replaced by a single line.
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Below: The fleur-de-lis took a break starting in 1982 and (right) was not seen at all for the C4 generation.
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In 2012 Chevrolet released the Chevrolet Centennial Edition Corvette. For this one special edition, the fleur-de-lis was replaced by "100" (below). GM really doesn't say what the significance of the "100" is, but it's most likely related to the 100th anniversary of the founding of Chevrolet as a car brand which occurred on November 3, 1911.
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The tradition continues with the C5 and C6 Corvettes (above) and the C7 and C8 Corvettes (below).
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