I was looking up some rumors about the original Dodge logo – which was, essentially, a Mogen David, or Star of David or Jewish Star or whatever you’d like to call it – just to see if there was any contemporary associations with Judiasm for the company. There really wasn’t; the Dodge Brothers, Horace and John, were not Jews, and it does not seem like the chosen logo was intended to reference anything Judiac or biblical or anything like that at all. In fact, the brothers never really explained why they picked that logo, and it seems like they just liked it. There’s been theories that it’s two interlocked deltas for the two Dodges or some other vague spiritual connection, but there’s no evidence for any of that.
Personally, I like the rumor that they picked it just to piss off notorious anti-Semite Henry Ford, but they were on good terms with Ford and at that time, around 1914, the Star of David wasn’t even really tightly associated with Judaism. It would be pretty funny if that was why they picked it, though, and ghoulish old Henry would ball his bony fists up in rage every time he spied that confounded symbol on a passing Dodge radiator.
Anyway, this rabbit hole eventually disgorged me at this 2014 Dodge commercial that featured actors playing the brothers, shot for the company’s centennial:
The commercial is a pretty simple premise, just some healthy sibling rivalry, as the brothers race against one another in Dodges from representative times in their history.
What I found interesting about the commercial is which cars they chose to feature, and, as a result, which eras they chose to feature, and even more importantly, which ones they didn’t, because the absences hear scream pretty loudly. Let’s take a quick look at the cars that did get featured in this little race between some long-dead gentile brothers:
Okay, so it all starts with the first Dodge Brothers car, the Model 30-35. This was quite an advanced car for its time, with an all-steel body and was one of the first with a 12V electrical system! That’s way ahead of its time! They went to the industry-standard 6V a few years later, but still. Also, I like the sort of surprised-looking face these old Dodges had.
What’s next?
Okay, we jump a couple decades to 1939, where we see this Dodge Luxury Liner. That’s what they called them!
These were good looking cars, and I guess skipping the entire 1920s makes some sense here.
Next we see a 1956 Dodge Custom Royal; I’m a little surprised Dodge’s wartime years weren’t represented at all here; you’d think Dodge would be pretty proud to show a WWII-era Power Wagon or something, but no, we’re leaping to the mid-’50s here.
From the ’50s we take a predictable leap to the muscle car-era, with this 1969 Dodge Coronet R/T 440. Look at those twin hood scoops!
Okay, here’s where things get really interesting. Look what comes next:
That’s a 2015 (model year) Charger SRT Hellcat, tearing ass down the road, shortly followed (and passed) by this next car:
… a 2015 Challenger SRT.
It’s pretty telling of something that Dodge managed to skip a solid 40 years of their own history, the entire 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. That’s a huge block of time; in fact, it’s a full 40% of their centennial. This is a pretty huge and loud absence, and just made me think about all those Dodges from what seems to be their Time of Shame:
Where are the Apens? With stripes?
Or the K-Cars? The legendary K-Cars that saved Chrysler!
And all the captive imports of the ’80s! Like the marvelous little Colt!
Or, if they’re so proud of Chargers, what about a prime ’70s personal luxury-era Charger, for classiness?
This was a solid decade ago, but I suspect if Dodge were to make this same ad this year, we might see the exact same set of cars. Maybe they’d throw in an electric Charger Daytona, just to mix it up a bit? But I’m pretty sure there wouldn’t be any Darts or Journeys or Nitros.
Or, more seriously, what about the Neon?
Or a huge revolution in pickup truck design!
Stop being so self-conscious, Dodge! You can’t just try and pretend 40 years of building cars didn’t exist! It’s time to confront and accept and even embrace your past all of your past. Otherwise, how can you expect to grow and move on?
You left out all the Dodges I grew up with! Time to re-evaluate, I think.
Not having a 1969 Daytona was a serious miss.
No, that wasn’t a Corvette.
Both Dodge brothers died in 1920, six years after the 1st Dodge automobile. Long before most of these cars came out.
The Dodge Boys originally were Ford suppliers and were responsible for a large part of the Model T. They split from Henry and were not buddies when they created that logo. Still, it likely wasn’t a burn on the old man.
One of my favorite ads of all time.
My theory on the missing decades: the “plot” of the ad is the brothers swapping the lead racing. So each generation of car in the ad has to be (a) faster and cooler than the previous one, and (b) not too fast that the next generation can’t beat it.
That rules out most Malaise vehicles (too slow to beat a ‘60s muscle car), and the mighty Viper (too fast for the 2015 Charger / Challenger). There were a few exceptions – maybe the Daytona, or the Shelby Charger? But they don’t really fit the bigger-faster-meaner vibe of the ad. Maybe the Stealth? But it was a rebadged Mitsu.
I do think they missed a trick not throwing the L’il Ted Truck in from the ‘70s – one of (maybe the?) fastest American vehicles of its era.
The hexagram has been around for tens of thousands of years. Wayyyyyyyyyyy before Judaism.
Mirada, St. Regis, Magnum? Nothing? Bueller?!
The lack of the WWII Power Wagon, or other trucks, is because that’s RAM’s job now and they don’t want to remind you how stupid a brand name RAM is.
Man, you’re Gen-X and you expect anything about us to be remembered?
Well most of these cars mentioned were gutless-wonders so no surprise they glossed over them. But as has been mentioned leaving out the Viper and Stealth seems like an oversight. And what about the K-Car variant the 1985 Dodge Lancer Turbo? That was a quick import-fighter, as long as you were ok waiting a couple minutes for the turbo lag. But the biggest travesty here is skipping over the Dodge Caravan. Granted it was not quick but it was revolutionary.
“Or a huge revolution in pickup truck design!”
Or how trucks were very much a BIG part of Dodge’s history… and how Ram trucks should be put back under Dodge!!!
This was quite an advanced car for its time, with an all-steel body and was one of the first with a 12V electrical system!
Yes, but… 12 volt positive ground.. another factor that hadn’t been standardized was the polarity of ground. My brother had a ’24 (I think) Dodge that ran great for 20 minutes. I was visiting him and while it was “dead” we tested ignition and he had no spark. During a surreal visit to an older collector of Franklins (still in his pajamas and drinking whiskey at noon) the positive ground issue dawned on us. Back at my brother’s garage I drew the coil on a backboard to explain its operation and why it was failing. swapping the polarity on the coil fixed the issue and the blackboard drawing stayed there for years. These cars also have total loss oiling, you added oil to the case, it ran through the driveshaft, into the diff and out a weephole.
Perhaps their star of David was just an early version of the Conjoined Triangles of Success. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_nuZD4Y7IM&t=193s
When my grandmother, an orthodox Jew, was a teenager she left Poland and came to America and went to work for the Dodge brothers. The actual brothers. I think a year or two before they died. I always wondered if that logo had anything to do with it.
I think they neglected to include the Viper because if they did, it would remind people that it was on its way out in 2015. :\
Everyone skips the 70s, especially related to American cars.
But 80s/90s: Neon, Shelby stuff, etc.