Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi again

Can anyone explain the provenance of the bull motif?

The Abarth logo is a scorpion, Ferrari is a prancing horse, Lamborghini is a raging bull, but our Morris motif is bit, well, dare I say farmyardy?

I’m not knocking it by the way, just wondered why the bull in the first place!

Pete

I believe the ‘bull’ is really an ox crossing a river. Part of the coat of arms of Oxford.

Aah, now that does indeed make sense

Thank you steve

~The red animal is an ox. The blue wavy lines are a ford; hence Oxford where William Morris had his first workshop and then factory where the cars were made.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_Oxford

The centre of the heraldic device is used as the Morris badge and can be easily identified as such.

Willienelson wrote: ↑Sun Oct 13, 2019 8:59 amour Morris motif is bit, well, dare I say farmyardy?

I worked on a farm when I was a kid in the West Country, I find it quite fitting that I now have a........Austin van

I always find the Alfa Romeo one a bit odd. A snake devouring a baby (or very small human - or large snake)

"The company wanted to be associated with the city of Milan, so they used the red cross typically associated with the Crusades in Milano. (Before the medical Red Cross, there was the Crusades red cross).

The second half of the symbol depicts a man being eaten by a serpent.

Interesting, right?

To be sure, the origin of this image is a little less clear.

However, many people believe that it has to do with the Christian Crusaders defeating various other religious sects (there’s no definitive proof).

Others simply say it is the emblem of the House of Visconti.

This powerful family ruled Milan during the 14th century. While both ideas are plausible, we may never actually know the real story regarding the origin of this half of the Alfa Romeo Badge."