Shelby Logo

Shelby American is a car manufacturer that specializes on the development and creation of very powerful cars. Over the course of their history, they have been partners with various other car manufacturers, including AC Cars and Mustang. However, they are still an independent company, and one of the top in its niche.

Meaning and History

The history of this brand’s emblem isn’t all too exciting. The company itself has only ever had one logo, which they came up with in 1962, at the birth of their enterprise. There have been several others, but they are used for specific models. Nevertheless, Shelby American made only one logo.

1962 – now

This logo is very complex, and as such is mostly used on corporal property, like buildings, papers or equipments. The cars used either the logos created specifically for them, the logos of their co-manufacturers or just the word ‘Shelby’ on the hood.

In the center of this logo stands a big bold word ‘Shelby’ in dark blue. This writing is surrounded from the right, bottom and the top by a blue frame that consists of two lines that should symbolize a road of a trek.

In the right bottom corner of this rectangular frame sits a writing that says ‘American, Inc.’ – a full company name, alongside the text from above. This writing is a lot smaller than the central one, but it follows the same style – bold blue letters, all uppercase.

On the left side, this entire structure is continued by a letter S, styled as a part of the frame. In the top, the lines are started with a combination of dots designed to resemble a racing flag. Then, the lines proceed identically to the lines on the other side of the frame. Sometime after the second turn they twist into a big letter S.

This part of the larger logo is sometimes used to represent Shelby, when it’s essential to save the space. However, it’s not a standalone emblem.

Sometimes the logo can also be accompanied by the company logo – ‘earning our stripes since 1962’ – under the bottom left corner of the frame.

Shelby Cobra logo

Cobras were the first cars created by Shelby American. This multigenerational model was designed to compete with Chevrolet’s Corvette. Like Corvette, Cobra received its custom logo.

This emblem was worn by most Cobra cars on their front, so it’s not as much a logo as a car badge.

The usual variant depicted a red circle. About the third of the way from the bottom, it was overlapped by a plaque that said ‘Cobra’ (Sometimes ‘Shelby’, instead) in silver capital letters. The same color is used as an outline for the whole shape. Behind it sits a cobra with bared fangs.

Most of it was also silver, except for two symmetrical blue lines that wave and change size in different sections. Between them designers put thin horizontal lines, slightly curved in the middle and with varying intervals between one another.

The vertical blue strokes culminated in a red face – a red mouth with four silver fangs, as well as two red triangular eyes.

Shelby Mustang logo

Shelby Mustang has been created by this company in partnership with Ford since the 60s. The earlier versions sometimes wore the Ford emblems or just the metallic writing ‘Shelby’ on the hood. The modern models, however, are given the custom car badges specifically for them.

The design may vary, but all of them depict a cobra snake. Unlike the Shelby Cobra logo, this one mostly only depicts the reptile itself in a highly detailed way. It is cast in metal, with the majority of colors being either black or silver (metal).

The bottom of the snake is coiled, but it’s posed for attack – its hood is spread out, and the mouth is wide open with long fangs sticking out of it.

On some designs, there is also a metal plaque behind the snake that describes the model of the car, as well as its brand.

Emblem and Symbol

Since many of Shelby’s products are made with the help of or in association with other brands, a lot of them wear the badges of these brands. This is in part the reason why Shelby isn’t a very familiar car producer. These badges include the emblems of Ford, Dodge and others.

The Legends

Shelby Cobra and Shelby Mustang are notorious brands of racing and sports cars. They are classic Shelby cars, both created in the 60s right after the company itself was founded. There have been many generations of these models, but the Cobras weren’t seriously continued after the 70s.