In the 1960s, Chrysler Corp developed a symbol that went on its cars, with a quirky name. What was it
Executive summary
Chrysler’s 1960s symbol was the Pentastar, a five-pointed star mark developed for corporate identity and applied to cars and marketing beginning in the early 1960s [1] [2]. The mark — often called the Pentastar — was chosen to be simple, instantly recognizable and usable across divisions and borders, though its popular lore and later uses have generated myths about what the five points represent [3] [4].
1. The symbol and its quirky name: “Pentastar”
The emblem that began appearing across Chrysler materials in the early 1960s is widely known as the Pentastar — literally a five-pointed “penta” star — a memorable, somewhat quirky compound name that stuck in marketing and public usage [1] [5]. Reporters and brand historians consistently use the Pentastar label when referring to the corporate mark that became synonymous with Chrysler during that decade [2].
2. Who designed it and how it was chosen
The Pentastar was produced through a formal design process: Chrysler engaged outside designers and the mark that became the Pentastar was selected from a very large field of proposals — more than 800 designs, according to design accounts cited in contemporary brand histories [1]. The design work credited to the Lippincott & Margulies firm is the most commonly cited origin story in recent reporting on the logo [1].
3. Why Chrysler wanted a single symbol in the 1960s
Company leadership, including president Lynn Townsend, sought a single, universal emblem that could identify the corporation as Chrysler expanded globally and diversified its businesses; the Pentastar was designed to function visually across packaging, stationery, signage and vehicles without relying on language, making it useful for international recognition [3] [2].
4. How Chrysler used the Pentastar on cars and corporate items
The Pentastar was not limited to ads: it was applied physically to vehicles and company property — notably placed on the lower passenger-side fender of Chrysler products from the 1963 model year into the 1972 model year — and was used widely on dealer signage, brochures and corporate credits such as television shows sponsored by Chrysler [4] [3] [2].
5. Myths and alternate readings about the five points
A persistent myth holds that the Pentastar’s five points represented five specific Chrysler divisions (for example, Plymouth, Dodge, Chrysler, Imperial and Airtemp), but corporate historians and logo analysts note that the symbol was chosen for its universal recognizability rather than as a literal map of divisions; sources explicitly caution that the five-point story is a popular but likely incorrect interpretation [3] [5].
6. Legacy, later revivals and what sources disagree on
The Pentastar became an icon of 1960s corporate America and continued to surface in later decades — sometimes revived as part of special badges or folded into new winged emblems — and debates remain over its precise original symbolism, with different brand histories and fan sites emphasizing simplicity, motion, or corporate unity as the intent; primary design accounts (Lippincott & Margulies) and company statements emphasize utility and recognition as the driving goals [1] [5] [3]. Where source accounts diverge — for example about whether the mark was meant to signify specific divisions — the most reliable contemporary corporate histories reject the literal five-division meaning [3].
7. What the reporting does not settle
Available sources firmly identify the Pentastar as the 1960s symbol and document its rollout and placement on vehicles, but public-facing histories and enthusiast pages sometimes offer conflicting origin anecdotes (for instance connecting earlier winged seals and radiator mascots to the Pentastar’s meaning); those deeper iconographic motives are variably reported and not fully settled in the cited materials [6] [7] [5].