Taxonomy
Heraldry and badges
6 entries
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Book II
Vauxhall Wyvern
A two-legged winged serpent, sold to families in postwar Luton
Vauxhall’s badge is a griffin. Vauxhall named a car after a wyvern. For nine years the company sold one mythical beast while wearing another, to a…
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Book IV
Alfa Romeo — the Biscione
A serpent with a human being in its mouth, on the nose of every car the company has ever built
Since 1910 every Alfa Romeo has carried, on its grille, a crowned serpent from which a human figure is emerging. Whether the figure is being eaten…
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Book IV
TVR Chimaera
Lion at the front, goat in the middle, serpent at the back — which is the end you have to watch
Homer describes the Chimera as lion in front, goat in the middle and serpent behind. TVR built a Rover V8 roadster with no traction control, no…
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Book IV
SsangYong — Twin Dragons
The company was literally called two dragons and nobody in Europe ever noticed
쌍용 means “twin dragons”. For thirty-five years a company named after a pair of mythological serpents sold diesel estate cars in Britain, and the…
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Book IV
Dacia — the Draco
Named after a kingdom whose battle standard was a serpent that screamed in the wind
The Dacians carried into battle a wolf-headed windsock with a long fabric serpent’s body that howled as the cavalry advanced. Two thousand years…
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Book IV
Gilbern — the Welsh Dragon
The only cars ever series-produced in Wales, from a country whose flag is a dragon
Wales has produced exactly one series car manufacturer. Wales also has, uniquely among nations, a dragon on its flag. Gilbern built glass-fibre…