DeTomaso Mailing List: February 2001, Message #243

In a message dated 2/6/01 10:11:55, JAFount@aol.com writes:

<< Also, I have ben scouring that book I bought, but I can't seem to locate 
the 
heritage if the Isis logo.  Does anyone know how/why it came to be?  Does the 
logo itself have a meaning?  I know this is unimportant, but my problem is 
when I do something, I do it all the way and want to know as much about it as 
I possibly can. >>

>>>Well, here you go then--my editorial from the 2000 #2 POCA Profiles....

=

Recently, the popular automotive media has been devoting an unusual amount of 
attention to the cars of De Tomaso.  After languishing in the shadows of the 
automotive world for year, De Tomaso automobiles are beginning to gain 
respectability in the eyes of the automotive cognescenti.  

This is obviously a good thing for all of us, but when ill-informed 
journalists spread erroneous information and label it as fact, they are (in 
my view) performing as much harm as good. 

Just last month, Sports Car International magazine featured a short article 
detailing the history and meaning of the De Tomaso logo.  They repeated the 
oft-told tale that says the squiggly black symbol is actually a stylized 
hieroglyphic “I” in honor of Isabella De Tomaso; they also stated that it 
stands for “Isis”, the first De Tomaso car.  

(In fact, people routinely refer to the logo as “the Isis logo.”)
 While I applaud the magazine’s efforts to help publicize the DeTomaso 
marque, there’s just one problem.

The story they told is complete hogwash!

I can only speculate as to how that story originally came to be.  The first 
book published on DeTomaso automobiles was written by Jan Norbye and is a 
textbook example of how not to write a marque book.  Throughout the book, 
Norbye showed a tendency to generate his own “facts” when he was unable to 
determine them through more traditional means.  Many of his statements are 
absolutely ludicrous, including his description of the meaning of the 
DeTomaso logo.  

Subsequent books on the marque by Wallace Wyss and Matt Stone unfortunately 
relied far too heavily on the flawed Norbye book, and both incorporated this 
fanciful and highly improbable tale.  Unfortunately, as a result it has now 
become the accepted story, appearing regularly in Pantera International, and 
sad to say, undoubtedly appearing previously in these august pages as well.

To get the straight scoop, I merely picked up the telephone and called the 
DeTomaso factory in Italy and spoke with Georgia Ferrari, the Assistant 
Manager.  (I had previously spoken of this with both Santiago and Isabelle 
DeTomaso, but wanted to confirm my recollection before committing myself in 
print.)  The true story is rather straightforward.

Alejandro De Tomaso was born in Buenos Aires to a powerful family with a 
strong ranching heritage; his mother belonged to one of the oldest families 
which controlled Argen-tinian agriculture, and his father was an eminent 
politician who had been appointed Minister of Agriculture in the 1930’s.  The 
De Tomaso family had a very distinctive cattle brand used to mark the horses 
and cattle in their “estancia”, shaped like a stylized “T”.

During the early 1950’s, Alejandro became a political activist against the 
dictatorship of Juan Peron.  It soon became apparent that his life was in 
jeopardy, and he was forced to flee the country.  At the age of 27 he fled to 
Italy, and armed with a reasonable amount of money, began devoting his life 
to racing automobiles.  In 1959 he formed his own company, with the intent of 
manufacturing small racing cars.

Needing a corporate logo, he simply combined his ardent family pride (the 
“T”) with his staunch Argentinian nationalism (the flag of Argentina), and 
that is how the DeTomaso logo was created.

So the next time you hear somebody parroting the ridiculous story of “the 
Isis logo,” please take the time to straighten them out.  I figure it should 
only take about 20 years or so before everybody gets it right!