Every badge tells a story. Some are about family dynasties. Others are secret tributes to mistresses or mistakes baked into corporate lore. These logos live on every hood, wheel, and trunk badge—but their stories? Most of us never hear them. So pull up a chair for the quirky stories behind 20 of your favorite car logos. They’re sure to make you popular at your next Cars & Coffee or pub trivia night.

Ford

The quirkiest thing about the Ford logo is that, while other automakers constantly redesign theirs, Ford soldiers on with its OG layout. The font dates back to a 1906 signature by founder Henry Ford. The Blue Oval debuted in 1907 and has lasted nearly a century.

Lexus

There’s an old rumor that Lexus stands for “Luxury U.S. Export Division.” There’s no confirmation this is true, but Lexus is definitely a luxurious-sounding word made up by Toyota’s marketing division. Its logo—just like Toyota’s—is a ring around the first letter of its name: L. But that L looks like it suffers from serious scoliosis. Lexus has gone on record to say the bent-over letter has smooth curves to communicate aerodynamic quality. In addition, the angle between the top and bottom halves of the L is a precise mathematical formula the company uses in manufacturing. Brilliance or marketing mumbo jumbo? You decide.

Rolls-Royce

By 1909, many luxury car buyers were already commissioning hood ornaments to customize their rides. Some of these little statues weren’t exactly “safe for work,” and the Rolls-Royce company worried about its reputation. So company owner Baron John Walter Edward Douglas-Scott-Montagu hired Charles Sykes to design a tasteful hood ornament they could ship on every car. Sykes followed directions—but secretly based the “Spirit of Ecstasy” on Eleanor Thornton, Lord Montagu’s mistress and baby mama.

Skoda

During the 1920s, it became trendy for luxury carmakers to use wings in their logos. Chrysler, Aston Martin, Bentley, and Mini still do. But Skoda is a bit of an outlier. Its logo looks like a single wing on an arrow. Rumor has it that founder Emil von Skoda was so obsessed with Native American headdresses, he based his logo on one. Ironically, the company he founded doesn’t sell cars in North America.

Pontiac

This U.S. automaker was named after a Native American chief, and its logo was an arrowhead. With mounting public blowback against cultural appropriation—and organizations such as the Washington Redskins changing their names—you’d think by the end of its run, Pontiac might have downplayed the origins of its name. It could have changed its logo to a generic arrow and even claimed it was named after Pontiac, Michigan. But nope. The automaker leaned in with models such as the Chieftain, Star Chief, and finally the 2001 Pontiac Aztek.

Maserati

Like any good family story, the truth behind the Maserati logo is up for debate. Of the five brothers who founded the car company, they tasked Mario with designing a logo. One story goes that he thought long and hard and decided the trident is emblematic of gladiators. Another story says he just copied the trident held by Poseidon in a statue in his hometown. I Googled the statue—the resemblance is uncanny.

Infiniti

Nissan’s luxury division is called Infiniti. Similar to Lexus, Infiniti’s logo is an oval surrounding the letter “I.” But in this case, the I narrows at the top, so it looks like it’s disappearing into the horizon—or disappearing into infinity. I see what you did there, Nissan.

Acura

The logo of Honda’s luxury division, Acura, fits with the other Japanese luxury brand logos. It’s a circle around what appears to be the letter “A.” But that A is actually a set of calipers, like the kind engineers use. It’s a nod to the company’s “accurate” engineering, which the name is also supposed to evoke.

Callaway

This car customization company tried to pen the most ’Merica logo ever. It used red, white, and blue stripes shaped like the outline of cars, then stacked them. Star-spangled awesome, right? Well, critics later pointed out that the horizontal red, white, and blue stripes are actually the flag of the Netherlands. Maybe the artist should’ve thought that one through.

Citroën

This French company’s logo may look like a pair of chevrons, like military rank. But they’re actually dual helical gear teeth. The image is a callback to a 1927 patent company founder André Citroën filed for herringbone gears. Manufacturing these gears funded his early car company, and of course, early Citroëns used them in the rear axle.

Tesla

This EV startup was founded by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, but named after historic inventor Nikola Tesla. (Elon Musk invested later.) While the logo may just look like a T, it also represents an important car part. It’s one pie-shaped piece of a cross-section of the rotor of an electric induction motor.

Subaru

The automotive division of Fuji Heavy Industries has an often-overlooked logo. Its six-star badge represents the Pleiades constellation—and the unity of the small companies that merged to form Subaru. The constellation works so well for the outdoorsy car brand that Fuji actually changed the entire conglomerate’s logo to the Subaru badge. The Pleiades constellation’s name in Japan? “Subaru.” It also means “unity.” You might say, it’s what makes a Subaru a Subaru.

Chevrolet

The automaker’s bowtie logo is one of the most recognizable shapes on the planet. Rumor has it founder William Durant saw the shape in the trippy Art Deco wallpaper of a Paris hotel and tore off a piece to bring home to his designers. That ties in well with the company’s French name. But Chevy’s never confirmed this. Maybe the wallpaper’s still at HQ—and the hotel wants it back.

Rivian

The automotive startup has a unique diamond-patterned logo made of four arrows. It claims these are based on the four points of a compass, tying into its outdoorsy image. They could also look like crosshairs, but hunting imagery isn’t exactly on-brand for the sustainability-focused automaker.

Audi

No, its four interlocking rings aren’t stolen from the Olympics. They represent the four German automakers that merged to form Auto Union in 1932. Because “Auto Union” was a bit too no-nonsense for markets outside Germany, VW rebranded it as Audi in 1965. But don’t get it confused with Adi—a nickname for the common German name Adolf.

Lincoln

Ford originally had a sub-brand called Continental, which built vehicles inspired by the European luxury cars Edsel Ford loved. It was represented by the four-point “Continental Star.” When Ford merged Lincoln and Continental, it kept the star as Lincoln’s logo and the Continental name for a Lincoln model. Rumor has it designers penned the star just hours before pitching it to Ford’s board for the Continental Mark II launch.

Volvo

No, Volvo doesn’t use a circle and arrow in its logo because it’s the symbol for “male.” The automaker points out that in medieval alchemy, this symbol stood for iron. And Volvo cars are strong like iron.

Mitsubishi

This company’s name is a combination of the Japanese words for three (Mitsu) and water chestnut/rhomboid (hishi). The word for diamond or rhomboid is the same as water chestnut because of the plant’s leaf shape. So of course Mitsubishi’s logo is three diamonds. It might seem cool and original to English speakers, but it probably looks a bit redundant in Japan.

Holden

Multiple car companies have a lion logo. One is Peugeot (France). Another is Holden (Australia). But Holden’s lion is rolling a big round object with its paw. The automaker says the image is based on a fable that humans only invented the wheel after watching a lion roll a stone. I like to imagine the huge predator just batting the thing around like a kitten with a ball of yarn.

Abarth

In 1949, Carlo Abarth slapped his own name on a tuning house and automaker. He chose a scorpion as his logo. Why? It’s quick, fierce, and he happened to be a Scorpio. Today, when every other hipster has a zodiac tattoo, it seems basic. But in 1949, it was downright quirky.

Learn the stories about even more car logos in the YouTube video below: