Tripower Emblem

At the POCI convention last month, I was informed by the judges that the Tripower emblems on my Bonneville were incorrect. They said tripower emblems were not applied to the Bonneville model by the factory. Since my tripower was not a factory installation, I could not argue with him; but I have pictures of a bunch of Bonnevilles with tripower emblems on them. One story I heard was that the emblems were dealer installed because Bonneville owners wanted eveybody to know they had tripower. Does anybody know the true story?

59Bonvl
All I can tell you is my original 1959 Bonneville purchased new did have factory
installed tri-power (I ordered the car with this option) but it did not have the tri-power emblems. I have a vintage photo to prove it.

I did not know that. I have also see these emblems placed in 2 different locations. On the door and on the fenders. My star chief had a tri power emblem on each fender.

I'm pretty sure it was a dealer install and not factory related.

As far as position goes, The fender is the traditional position for the emblems.

Does this include star chiefs? I don't think I've ever seen a tri power car without tri power emblems. Are you sure this information is true?

My limited and unscientific research (4 owners of unrestored cars) is that Bonnevilles did not come from the factory with the emblems. The general consensus was that the stylists felt that they would clutter the area, since the Bonnevilles already had the crest on the door. Too bad, because they are really kool. If you got it flaunt it! I suspect any Bonneville that has them, they were dealer or owner installed. Catalinas and Starchiefs don't have the door crests, so they could be on them from the factory. Keep in mind that Tri-Power itself could also be dealer installed with over the counter parts. Back in the days when these cars were relatively new, I knew of a man who had a Starchief Vista with Tri-Power, that had the emblems. I raced his dorky son a couple times in my 420E Catalina Sport Coupe. I could pull a carlength on him for about a tenth of a mile, then when the secondarys kicked in he'd blow by me like I was standing still. By the way, the emblems should be 6" in front of the trailing edge of the front fender, and 1" above the fender spear.......John

If they're dealer installed why is there a certain place it should be? Just to mock the correct placement of the SC and Cats?

CATBIRD wrote:

My limited and unscientific research (4 owners of unrestored cars) is that Bonnevilles did not come from the factory with the emblems. The general consensus was that the stylists felt that they would clutter the area, since the Bonnevilles already had the crest on the door. Too bad, because they are really kool. If you got it flaunt it! I suspect any Bonneville that has them, they were dealer or owner installed. Catalinas and Starchiefs don't have the door crests, so they could be on them from the factory. Keep in mind that Tri-Power itself could also be dealer installed with over the counter parts. Back in the days when these cars were relatively new, I knew of a man who had a Starchief Vista with Tri-Power, that had the emblems. I raced his dorky son a couple times in my 420E Catalina Sport Coupe. I could pull a carlength on him for about a tenth of a mile, then when the secondarys kicked in he'd blow by me like I was standing still. By the way, the emblems should be 6" in front of the trailing edge of the front fender, and 1" above the fender spear.......John

Your account squares with what I was told by one of the 59 owners at the convention. I'm with you; if you have it, flaunt it. I suspect that is why the emblems appear on so many Bonnevilles with tripower. Thanks for the info.

CATBIRD wrote:

By the way, the emblems should be 6" in front of the trailing edge of the front fender, and 1" above the fender spear.......John

Are these measurements to the outer most edge of the emblem or to the center of the emblem? I have a pair and have been pondering installing them.

After I posted last night, I did a little further research, and found some interesting information. I went to my Master Parts Catalog, and looked up the part. It lists the emblem #531852 as "58-59....ALL 3/2 B.C." quantity 2. Strange that this one part number is listed for both years, since the 1958 emblem has a red, white, and blue background. while ours are gold. Also it doesn't exclude Bonnevilles for the application. However, further down the page it lists the barrel type nuts that fasten them to the fenders as part #445193 as "59....21-24....ALL 3/2 B.C." quantity 10. That would seem to exclude models 28-Bonneville and 27-Bonneville Safari. The measurements are 6" from the tip of the "T" and the end of the "r" to the edge of the fender, and 1" from the bottom point to the spear.....John