Driving around, saw a Pontiac Montana minivan in traffic. I got to thinking about the nameplate on the front door and how there is a mountain peak icon before the "M." This reminded me of the Dodge Ramcharger Prospector SUV from the 70s-80s with the crossed pick-axes on the nameplate. Any others like this? Sorry, but automaker's corporate logos don't count, only when the graphic was made only for one model. I would like to know how other companies were creative with this idea.

Out of my head and into someone else's!

Our 1982 Volkswagen Rabbit had a little graphic of a rabbit on the tailgate, floormats, and steering wheel. Looked like this:

Cool, thanks
I remembered the Buick Skyhawk had "Happy" the eagle on the nameplate for some years. I'll let that one be a part of this, even as Buick had widespread corporate use of the eagle image during the 1980s.
http://storm.tocmp.com/buickskyhawk1985.htm

An easy one: the Mustang symbol on the Ford Mustang, instead of a Ford oval on the grille.

Funny how they added a Mountain to the Montana, which now makes me think they meant Montaña, in Spanish, but i guess adding it with an "ñ" would have made many people to look at it strangely.

I dont know if this counts or if it was home made but ive seen several Citroen 2CV with two horses on the hood, you take it dont you?

About Montana, as there are many mountains there (it is a US state) it is more related to that than to the original Spanish name (from where the state takes its name, indeed)

About the 2CV, as far as I know this is not a factory thing. Or maybe there was some special version with that?

Yes but then it would have been named Mountain, and not Montana i guess, but well it doesnt mater, about the 2CV it might home made indeed, its a bit tasteless also, i dont like it...

No, it is named after a state full of mountains:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montana
so the "Montana" name (without accent) is still logical with a mountain logo.

You are right but, what i wanted to mean:

To stick with the mountains: Some Jeeps currently wear the "Trail Rated"-Badge

The Citroën 2CV had many official special versions, many of which were only locally available. In Germany the 2CV was nicknamed 'Ente' (duck) and probably only a fraction of people that knew the 'Ente' actually knew it was made by Citroën! i remeber two special versions that used the nickname:
The 'Sausss-Ente'


and the 'I fly bleifrei' (bleifrei means lead-free)

Never quite understood that Buick "hawk" thing. I have a 1978 Buick full-line sales brochure and that brown hawk is all over it. It just doesn't make sense in my mind why they would want to be represented by a hawk.

I always liked the manta ray emblem on early Opel Mantas.
And don't forget the Viper's snake head or the Corvette flags.

Two more, though appearing only as decals, not on badges: Dodge Super Bee and Plymouth Roadrunner Superbird

Close up of Superbird rear wing.

Edit: One from US-market,--Mercury Cougar.
See grille emblem:


Another decal-only: Pontaic Firebird

I don't mean to offend, but perhaps this is the time that some American car companies were trying to sell cars by patriotism alone? For the record, the bird mascot was an eagle, which, while not the national symbol of the Bald Eagle, still commands some authority in the animal kingdom.

Yes, two things wrong with the re-imaging of Buick during that time. (1) How could the new corporate mascot be so linked to the brand's sub-compact class offering, when the brand had always been known for its large luxury sedans that still have plenty of power? (2) Couldn't they find a more "Regal" name for that bird than "Happy?" I mean, come on!

The Chevy Impala also wears a special badge.

A globe on the 1952-1959 Ford Taunus.

The legendary motorbike Münch TTS ( http://imcdb.org/vehicle_105887-Munch-4-TTS-1200-1971.html ) is always called Münch "Mammut" (mammoth). But the constructor Friedel Münch wasn't allowed to use the name "Mammut". But often a logo with a mammoth-head was mounted on the bikes.

The first Mazda RX 7 had the shape of the "trochoide" (the "cylinder" of the Wankel-engines) not as a logo, but as a design-element of the wheels:
http://imcdb.org/vehicle_117266-Mazda-RX-7-FB-1981.html

But I think, these wheels were only available in Europe. The most pics of RX 7 in this forum are from US-movies, and there you cannot see these wheels. But in Europe they are still popuplar for RX 7-freaks.