OK, I thought that the T logo was Detomaso's brand he used on cattle when he was in Argentina. Now I find this info.. http://tinyurl.com/37j8cqp What is the real story?
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quote:T logo was Detomaso's brand he used on cattle
Correct
quote:Now I find this info.
The eBay seller writes:
.....These shields are Detomaso's Logo. The emblem is an Egyptian "I" which represents Elahondro's wife's name, Isabel. .......
Often thought to be correct. But wrong.
Heck, the seller can't even spell Alejandro's name correctly!!!
Larry
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Gents..... I read that the I is for his wife Isabella and not a cattle brand from his farm days. Check out this Link for more info http://www.poca.com/index.php/mrq/de-tomaso
It looks like Alejandro might had choosen the I because Isabella's family owned 80% of the company's stock. Couple that with the fact that Isabella was a "Jersey Girl" and I think Alejandro got off easy by chosing the I.
Regards............ Doug.H
It looks like Alejandro might had choosen the I because Isabella's family owned 80% of the company's stock. Couple that with the fact that Isabella was a "Jersey Girl" and I think Alejandro got off easy by chosing the I.
Regards............ Doug.H
Here we go again...... 
The link Doug provided is the history of De Tomaso as posted on the POCA website.
While that article does mention the Isis, it has nothing to do with the logo. "Isis" was the name of De Tomaso's first car.
This is what Doug is likely referring to:
----------------------------------
This time the Maserati brothers gave permission for the use of their DOHC 1492 cc OSCA engines and the Isis, (named after Isabelle) made its racing debut at the Sebring circuit in December 1959. The Isis made a good impression with a top speed of 240 km/h but had to retire from the race with mechanical problems.
------------------------
Thus the reference is to Isis the car, not Isis the often-used description of the logo.
Here is a post from 2001 on the POCA forum.
Read it and you will understand the logo is based on the cattle brand and the Argentinian flag colors.
By the way, while the Isis was named for Isabelle, her birth name was Elizabeth. She changed it to the Italian spelling when she married Alejandro in 1956.
Larry
P.S. - Sorry for the form of this info - best I could do without mucho time invested.
The writer of the long explanation portion of this is Mike Drew.
---------------------------------
DeTomaso Mailing List: February 2001, Message #261
[previous topic] [previous] [index] [next] [next topic]
From: "PanteraGTS"
Subject: RE: Why? and Isis logo
Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2001 17:01:59 -0500
Mike, you've heard this from me before, so ignore this message.
I visited the factory in March of 1995. I happened to be sent to Aviano Air
Base with my reserve F-16 unit for Deny Flight. I asked about a tour of the
factory and they obliged. It turns out, the Guara was about to be introduced
and they wanted to take a promo photo of the car with an F-16 (because the
top half of the Guara is shaped like a 16 canopy). So, they tried to use me
to get the Air Force to oblige. And yes, the NSX was fashioned the same way.
The result was, a personal tour of the plant with Giordano Casarini, his
girl friend and Mrs. deTomaso (and a ride in the prototype Guara). While
sitting with Mrs. deTomaso in her office, I asked her about the logo. She
said what Mike said. It was the deTomaso family brand from Argentina. She
also said, when she asked Alejandro about the design, he did not know or
remember how it was designed or what it meant. I think she said his
grandfather came up with it and is probably a fancy "T" for Tomaso.
Richard
Austin, TX
#7080
> -----Original Message-----
> From: bounce_pantera-40opticmail-2Ecom@realbig.com
> [mailto:bounce_pantera-40opticmail-2Ecom@realbig.com]On Behalf Of
> MikeLDrew@aol.com
> Sent: Tuesday, February 06, 2001 12:25 PM
> To: Multiple recipients of list
> Subject: Re: Why? and Isis logo
>
>
>
> In a message dated 2/6/01 10:11:55, JAFount@aol.com writes:
>
> << Also, I have ben scouring that book I bought, but I can't seem
> to locate
> the
> heritage if the Isis logo. Does anyone know how/why it came to
> be? Does the
> logo itself have a meaning? I know this is unimportant, but my
> problem is
> when I do something, I do it all the way and want to know as much
> about it as
> I possibly can. >>
>
> >>>Well, here you go then--my editorial from the 2000 #2 POCA Profiles....
>
> =
>
> Recently, the popular automotive media has been devoting an
> unusual amount of
> attention to the cars of De Tomaso. After languishing in the
> shadows of the
> automotive world for year, De Tomaso automobiles are beginning to gain
> respectability in the eyes of the automotive cognescenti.
>
> This is obviously a good thing for all of us, but when ill-informed
> journalists spread erroneous information and label it as fact,
> they are (in
> my view) performing as much harm as good.
>
> Just last month, Sports Car International magazine featured a
> short article
> detailing the history and meaning of the De Tomaso logo. They
> repeated the
> oft-told tale that says the squiggly black symbol is actually a stylized
> hieroglyphic “I” in honor of Isabella De Tomaso; they also stated that it
> stands for “Isis”, the first De Tomaso car.
>
> (In fact, people routinely refer to the logo as “the Isis logo.”)
> While I applaud the magazine’s efforts to help publicize the DeTomaso
> marque, there’s just one problem.
>
> The story they told is complete hogwash!
>
> I can only speculate as to how that story originally came to be.
> The first
> book published on DeTomaso automobiles was written by Jan Norbye and is a
> textbook example of how not to write a marque book. Throughout the book,
> Norbye showed a tendency to generate his own “facts” when he was
> unable to
> determine them through more traditional means. Many of his
> statements are
> absolutely ludicrous, including his description of the meaning of the
> DeTomaso logo.
>
> Subsequent books on the marque by Wallace Wyss and Matt Stone
> unfortunately
> relied far too heavily on the flawed Norbye book, and both
> incorporated this
> fanciful and highly improbable tale. Unfortunately, as a result
> it has now
> become the accepted story, appearing regularly in Pantera
> International, and
> sad to say, undoubtedly appearing previously in these august
> pages as well.
>
> To get the straight scoop, I merely picked up the telephone and
> called the
> DeTomaso factory in Italy and spoke with Georgia Ferrari, the Assistant
> Manager. (I had previously spoken of this with both Santiago and
> Isabelle
> DeTomaso, but wanted to confirm my recollection before committing
> myself in
> print.) The true story is rather straightforward.
>
> Alejandro De Tomaso was born in Buenos Aires to a powerful family with a
> strong ranching heritage; his mother belonged to one of the
> oldest families
> which controlled Argen-tinian agriculture, and his father was an eminent
> politician who had been appointed Minister of Agriculture in the
> 1930’s. The
> De Tomaso family had a very distinctive cattle brand used to mark
> the horses
> and cattle in their “estancia”, shaped like a stylized “T”.
>
> During the early 1950’s, Alejandro became a political activist
> against the
> dictatorship of Juan Peron. It soon became apparent that his life was in
> jeopardy, and he was forced to flee the country. At the age of
> 27 he fled to
> Italy, and armed with a reasonable amount of money, began
> devoting his life
> to racing automobiles. In 1959 he formed his own company, with
> the intent of
> manufacturing small racing cars.
>
> Needing a corporate logo, he simply combined his ardent family pride (the
> “T”) with his staunch Argentinian nationalism (the flag of
> Argentina), and
> that is how the DeTomaso logo was created.
>
> So the next time you hear somebody parroting the ridiculous story of “the
> Isis logo,” please take the time to straighten them out. I
> figure it should
> only take about 20 years or so before everybody gets it right!
>
The link Doug provided is the history of De Tomaso as posted on the POCA website.
While that article does mention the Isis, it has nothing to do with the logo. "Isis" was the name of De Tomaso's first car.
This is what Doug is likely referring to:
----------------------------------
This time the Maserati brothers gave permission for the use of their DOHC 1492 cc OSCA engines and the Isis, (named after Isabelle) made its racing debut at the Sebring circuit in December 1959. The Isis made a good impression with a top speed of 240 km/h but had to retire from the race with mechanical problems.
------------------------
Thus the reference is to Isis the car, not Isis the often-used description of the logo.
Here is a post from 2001 on the POCA forum.
Read it and you will understand the logo is based on the cattle brand and the Argentinian flag colors.
By the way, while the Isis was named for Isabelle, her birth name was Elizabeth. She changed it to the Italian spelling when she married Alejandro in 1956.
Larry
P.S. - Sorry for the form of this info - best I could do without mucho time invested.
The writer of the long explanation portion of this is Mike Drew.
---------------------------------
DeTomaso Mailing List: February 2001, Message #261
[previous topic] [previous] [index] [next] [next topic]
From: "PanteraGTS"
Subject: RE: Why? and Isis logo
Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2001 17:01:59 -0500
Mike, you've heard this from me before, so ignore this message.
I visited the factory in March of 1995. I happened to be sent to Aviano Air
Base with my reserve F-16 unit for Deny Flight. I asked about a tour of the
factory and they obliged. It turns out, the Guara was about to be introduced
and they wanted to take a promo photo of the car with an F-16 (because the
top half of the Guara is shaped like a 16 canopy). So, they tried to use me
to get the Air Force to oblige. And yes, the NSX was fashioned the same way.
The result was, a personal tour of the plant with Giordano Casarini, his
girl friend and Mrs. deTomaso (and a ride in the prototype Guara). While
sitting with Mrs. deTomaso in her office, I asked her about the logo. She
said what Mike said. It was the deTomaso family brand from Argentina. She
also said, when she asked Alejandro about the design, he did not know or
remember how it was designed or what it meant. I think she said his
grandfather came up with it and is probably a fancy "T" for Tomaso.
Richard
Austin, TX
#7080
> -----Original Message-----
> From: bounce_pantera-40opticmail-2Ecom@realbig.com
> [mailto:bounce_pantera-40opticmail-2Ecom@realbig.com]On Behalf Of
> MikeLDrew@aol.com
> Sent: Tuesday, February 06, 2001 12:25 PM
> To: Multiple recipients of list
> Subject: Re: Why? and Isis logo
>
>
>
> In a message dated 2/6/01 10:11:55, JAFount@aol.com writes:
>
> << Also, I have ben scouring that book I bought, but I can't seem
> to locate
> the
> heritage if the Isis logo. Does anyone know how/why it came to
> be? Does the
> logo itself have a meaning? I know this is unimportant, but my
> problem is
> when I do something, I do it all the way and want to know as much
> about it as
> I possibly can. >>
>
> >>>Well, here you go then--my editorial from the 2000 #2 POCA Profiles....
>
> =
>
> Recently, the popular automotive media has been devoting an
> unusual amount of
> attention to the cars of De Tomaso. After languishing in the
> shadows of the
> automotive world for year, De Tomaso automobiles are beginning to gain
> respectability in the eyes of the automotive cognescenti.
>
> This is obviously a good thing for all of us, but when ill-informed
> journalists spread erroneous information and label it as fact,
> they are (in
> my view) performing as much harm as good.
>
> Just last month, Sports Car International magazine featured a
> short article
> detailing the history and meaning of the De Tomaso logo. They
> repeated the
> oft-told tale that says the squiggly black symbol is actually a stylized
> hieroglyphic “I” in honor of Isabella De Tomaso; they also stated that it
> stands for “Isis”, the first De Tomaso car.
>
> (In fact, people routinely refer to the logo as “the Isis logo.”)
> While I applaud the magazine’s efforts to help publicize the DeTomaso
> marque, there’s just one problem.
>
> The story they told is complete hogwash!
>
> I can only speculate as to how that story originally came to be.
> The first
> book published on DeTomaso automobiles was written by Jan Norbye and is a
> textbook example of how not to write a marque book. Throughout the book,
> Norbye showed a tendency to generate his own “facts” when he was
> unable to
> determine them through more traditional means. Many of his
> statements are
> absolutely ludicrous, including his description of the meaning of the
> DeTomaso logo.
>
> Subsequent books on the marque by Wallace Wyss and Matt Stone
> unfortunately
> relied far too heavily on the flawed Norbye book, and both
> incorporated this
> fanciful and highly improbable tale. Unfortunately, as a result
> it has now
> become the accepted story, appearing regularly in Pantera
> International, and
> sad to say, undoubtedly appearing previously in these august
> pages as well.
>
> To get the straight scoop, I merely picked up the telephone and
> called the
> DeTomaso factory in Italy and spoke with Georgia Ferrari, the Assistant
> Manager. (I had previously spoken of this with both Santiago and
> Isabelle
> DeTomaso, but wanted to confirm my recollection before committing
> myself in
> print.) The true story is rather straightforward.
>
> Alejandro De Tomaso was born in Buenos Aires to a powerful family with a
> strong ranching heritage; his mother belonged to one of the
> oldest families
> which controlled Argen-tinian agriculture, and his father was an eminent
> politician who had been appointed Minister of Agriculture in the
> 1930’s. The
> De Tomaso family had a very distinctive cattle brand used to mark
> the horses
> and cattle in their “estancia”, shaped like a stylized “T”.
>
> During the early 1950’s, Alejandro became a political activist
> against the
> dictatorship of Juan Peron. It soon became apparent that his life was in
> jeopardy, and he was forced to flee the country. At the age of
> 27 he fled to
> Italy, and armed with a reasonable amount of money, began
> devoting his life
> to racing automobiles. In 1959 he formed his own company, with
> the intent of
> manufacturing small racing cars.
>
> Needing a corporate logo, he simply combined his ardent family pride (the
> “T”) with his staunch Argentinian nationalism (the flag of
> Argentina), and
> that is how the DeTomaso logo was created.
>
> So the next time you hear somebody parroting the ridiculous story of “the
> Isis logo,” please take the time to straighten them out. I
> figure it should
> only take about 20 years or so before everybody gets it right!
>
Well, I admit, I've been guilty of calling it the 'Isis' logo. I'd never heard the cattle branding story until now, and although I knew it was the Argentinian flag in the background, and I always thought it looked more like a 'T' than an 'I', the only story I'd ever read was that it was a stylized symbol for 'Isis', so who am I to argue with the Internet? Thanks, I've learned something new!
BTW - When folks were discussing the May 2010 Hemmings Sports and Exotic Car magazine (featuring the Pantera), someone mentioned that there was an article on the DeTomaso Isis logo in the prior month's edition - April - anyone have a copy lying around that can check and let us know which version of the story they published?
BTW - When folks were discussing the May 2010 Hemmings Sports and Exotic Car magazine (featuring the Pantera), someone mentioned that there was an article on the DeTomaso Isis logo in the prior month's edition - April - anyone have a copy lying around that can check and let us know which version of the story they published?
quote:the logo is based on the cattle brand and the Argentinian flag colors
And THAT must be why the artwork/logo that represents a business is called a "brand."
The Isis story has been around quite a while, since the 80s, but its pure fiction. I'm not sure who the originator of that story is, but I have a couple of suspects. It appeared in one of the big car magazines in a road test of a GT5-S, the one that included the lady model holding a panther on a leash.
Like a lot of things, somebody writes some tongue in cheek fiction, and it later is accepted as gospel truth.
The background is the colors of the Argentinean flag & the symbol is the cattle brand of the Ceballos ranch, the ranch belonging to his mother's family, where Alejandro grew up. That's the truth.
Like a lot of things, somebody writes some tongue in cheek fiction, and it later is accepted as gospel truth.
The background is the colors of the Argentinean flag & the symbol is the cattle brand of the Ceballos ranch, the ranch belonging to his mother's family, where Alejandro grew up. That's the truth.