Different size Motion bages??

[COPO]

It seems like the larger ones might be older. The larger ones I have are from 1970 and Pantera's from 1970 are also the larger ones.

camarojoe, can you date any of yours?

[Born30YrsLate]

I have a friend that bought a set of MOTION badges (just the badges) back in the early 1970's (have to confirm the date) and they were the larger ones...

[camarojoe]

None of 'em are any older than 70, thats when they first were produced at all from what i have found. The idea of the bigger ones being the "first run" of them sorta makes sense to me, as does the idea of having them made smaller to fit in the valve covers in the second batch...I never really gave it much thought until now to be honest... From my experiences in tracking this stuff down it seems the smaller ones are much more plentiful. (although there are also fake small ones out there) My guess is there was possibly only one batch on the large ones made, probably the very first ones in 1970. After paying someone to sit and file the edges off of 2 of 'em for every pair of valve covers, the smaller ones probably were phased in with the second order. (no pun indended ) Yenko did similar things with his emblems, using the stick-on style in 70, likely to make installation quicker/easier. I know Rayburn's 1973 vette has the smaller ones on it, both on the body and the valve covers...I don't know if the emblems are the originals to the car or not though, as I believe its been restored. Speaking of valve covers, I'm curious about the chrome plated ones vs. the polished ones... I once thought the plated ones came out later, but if the theory that the "big" emblems were a 70-only thing is true, and you have a pair of original chromed covers with the big emblems in them, it would tell me that both plated and non plated were available from the beginning. (Either that, or the whole theory of the big emblems being early is wrong) The only pair I have with the big emblems are polished (not plated) All the chrome ones I have use the smaller emblems. Born30Yearslate... when you say your friend bought the larger emblems in the early 70s, do you mean around 1970, or much later than that? See if you can get a more firm timeframe, it may or may not help in determining when these bigger emblems were produced, installed, and sold. -JB

[55chevy]

Why not just ask Joel? He did it and he's still around....

[JoeG]

Might come down to that--It would seem to make sense about the larger emblems being first and cut--But The emblems I picked up back then were the smaller size and I always remembered it as very late '69 or early '70 after I picked up the car in the summer of '69
The polished valve covers were picked up later, late'70 or '71--------Gonna have to get Joel to play King Solomon--AT least we'll know the answer to emblems/valvecovers and if I should start lookin for a nursing home :--Either way I could use the rest

[Born30YrsLate]

Joe - he purchased the badges sometime between Jan - Mar. of 1972. My guess to all this is that the larger ones were first runs and then he noticed they do not fit in the valve covers and had another size made up and ended up using the larger ones for people who may have just wanted the badges...

[COPO]

JoeG, I too have always heard that the badges first came out in late 1969, so they could have been on some of the '69 cars. I know both my '69 BM Camaro and the '69 LS-7 BM Camaro were very late cars, both being delivered in early 1970.

[owners2]

original owner of my feb.71 z28 i bought had given me lots of motion parts with the car. he said he bought parts at motion but never had them do any work to his car. the valve covers he gave me are polished & say japan 739 inside & have long emblems that were cut.there is an additional long emblem that has never been installed on anything & still has the protective backing on the yellowed out 2 sided tape.i called & asked him if he recalls when he got these & he thinks about late 1971.

[JoeG]

Here's a photo of the '70 yellow vette's engine compartment at Palm Beach Motors when it was found in '92(or there abouts )--It says the engine compartment was still completely intact--(I'm just guessing everything is still original from birth)--It does show the long emblems---Can't really tell if the covers are polished or chromed--This car was delivered to the West Coast in 10/'70 ( car was built 8/70??)------------The emblem I have with my old Motion items is the short one--I always thought this was one of the ones I had bought first--But to be honest, looking at a Motion emblem back then I wouldn't pick up on the size unless the two were together as Joe showed---Anyway , for those with a need to know, --Still working back in time to see when they first were issued and if the larger ones were indeed first , but it's getting to look that way--I'll check with the higher ups when they're not so busy--- I think I would like a room with a nice view of the ocean at the home ----------

[owners2]

Hey guy's,if you look through some old magazines,the emblems appear to me, to be randomly used. earliest i found was CARS april 1971 has the ribbon car feature with a picture of the engine that has cut emblems. the latest i have seen is CARS may 1973 and it say's, "we recently had the opportunity to check out the first big block job to come out of motion in 1973."if you look real close it appears to have cut emblems.