Vintage may mean ‘old,’ but it’s not going out of fashion.
Take electric cars, the supposed future of the automobile industry. Many automakers are now going the vintage route. 

How? 

Zero Labs, a car company, is remaking the past for the future by converting classic or vintage cars to electric versions. The resulting automobile retains its vintage feel and look, but the function is modern electric.

They look exactly like this:

The cars look stunning, right?
But don’t just pay attention to their builds and colors. Look at the logos (Ford & Land Rover) in front. Notice how stunning they are despite being vintage?

Now, let me ask you something.
As a vintage designer, how long do you think it would take you to recreate such a unique logo?

If you’re a veteran designer, it could take anywhere from 15-20 hours or more. Maybe weeks if you’re a new or intermediate designer. And using Adobe Illustrator, the design industry standard, won’t make matters easier. 

Lia Torres, an experienced graphic designer observed this:

One reason is that it takes years to master Illustrator:

Now, what if you could create stunning vintage logos in a matter of hours?
That’s where Kittl, the vintage logo maker comes in:

The vintage car logos above were easily created, manipulated, and customized with Kittl in hours, not weeks. And designers love Kittl for that. 

Take Mircea Zahacinschi: 

Before we get into the nitty-gritty of how to use Kittl for your vintage car logo design needs, let’s take a road trip down memory lane.

Let’s compare: Car Logos Then vs. Now

Unless you’re living under a rock, you would have noticed that car logos look the same nowadays. Sure, there is a reason for this trend, and according to Alex Center, Founder of CENTER, a Design and Branding Company.

But there’s something elegant about the previous vintage versions of these brands’ logos. And since trends are constantly evolving, I wonder if car logo designs won’t return to the vintage style soon.
You see, car brands like Peugeot have started making this pivot as the logo they released in 2021 is reminiscent of its 1960s logo:

In light of this, we’ll look at the evolution of some brands from vintage to minimal logos. 

Ford

Fun fact: It has been reported that the typography for the Ford logo comes from the handwriting of the founder, Henry Ford. This makes their font unique.
Ford introduced its original logo in 1963. It was a product of its era with ornate frames and swirling shapes. Today? The logo is much more simplified and colored:

Cadillac

As the second-oldest American carmaker still in operation, the Cadillac brand has been in operation for over a century. Their first logo or “Crest’ was vintage-looking. 120 years later, this is what we have:

Lincoln

How did we go from this:

To this?

Evolution and adapting to trends is what it is:

Lincoln motors is named after Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States. To date, the car symbolizes luxury and prestige.

Alfa (Milano) Romeo

If you look closely, the logo above shows a snake swallowing a man, making the Alfa Romeo logo one of the most bizarre in the automobile industry.
In 2015, they released their current logo which is not so different from the original logo. Here are both logos placed side by side so you can compare:

Mercedes

Finally, we have Mercedes, also known as Mercedes-Benz or just Benz. 

This brand is well known and associated with luxury. Their most recent (and recognizable) logo is sleek and minimalist. But it didn’t start that way.
Their first logo in 1902 was only the brand name, ‘Mercedes.’ Seven years later, the word mark on their vintage style logo changed to ‘Benz’. After a couple switches between the name ‘Mercedes’ and ‘Benz’ they eventually settled on hyphenating both names with the grey three-pronged star we know and love toda

Now, I’m no professional designer, but I attempted recreating their 1909 logo in Kittl in less than 5 minutes. Here’s what I came up with:

And I did it in the following steps:

Want to try your hands at recreating some of the vintage logos above?

Now, we’ve seen how to recreate vintage car logos. 

How about designing retro logos for vintage car garages or shops? You can do that too with the design templates available in Kittl as shown below:

One of the first things you’ll notice when you log into your Kittl account is the different categories of designs:

Since we’re concerned about logo designs today, click on the ‘logos’ category:

Next, search for the type of logo you want to design. In this case, “car” samples:

Scroll down the results to find a suitable vintage design:

Then customize the logo template to your taste:

Didn’t find something the first time? Simply play around with other search terms to get varying designs. 

Feeling Stuck? Get Inspired by Other Brilliant Designers

Another benefit of using Kittl is you never have to feel stuck again thanks to its news feed. With this feature, you can get inspiration from the works of other designers. 

Other Kittl users have found this to be true:

You can also get praise from other community members when you post a design of yours:

What are you still waiting for? 

Get started creating beautiful vintage logos and if you need more information, check out our vintage logo design guide.