OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums The History Forum Company Histories VICTA LOGOs - Some Thoughts

Hello ODK History Lovers
Mervyn Victor Richardson coined the name "Victa" from the earliest
of days, when he started selling his 14-inch reel mower. In those
days, advertising primarily meant "classified" advertising and "Victa"
was presented in standard newsprint fonts of the day. Victa was a
brand without a logo.

An indulgence illustrated advertising was made from time-to-time.
And these first ads appeared in 1952. There's a bit of flair in this rare
illustrated ad of the 14" reel (below left). Similarly, in late 1952, when
a few illustrated ads for the first rotary appeared, there was a bit of flair,
highlighting the brand name. But it's not a logo.



A seminal change appears to have been made in about August of 1954,
when a new wide-and-slanted font appeared I argue here that this style
provided the basis for the two great Victa logos that would follow. But this
was evolutionary.



The thing is that Victa did not stay with this slant style for the next
few years. When colour illustrated advertisements appear in 1955,
the wide-and-upright font prevailed



The next stage arguably the first logo appeared in 1957, when
the upright font appears combined with cross-stripes This style
prevailed for the rest of the1950s.



The final iteration of this great logo appeared in late 1960
the "new age" when Victa combined its wide-and-slanted
font of 1954 with the cross-striping of 1957. Brilliant!



So, the first Victa logo - the 'cross-stripe' appears in 1957,
but it evolved into its final version in 1960.

I like this final version of Victa's first logo.
The stylised slanted and wide font, combined with the
cross-stripes seems to have mimicked Victa's view of itself:-

Can you imagine a lawnmower traversing those cross-stripes?

A very clever first Victa logo.

TO BE CONTINUED

PART TWO - The "Correct" Cross-stripe Logo
This is an interesting document from 1962.
It is from my collection and in good condition.

It's pretty clear that by the early 1960s Victa well understood the need
for a correctly reproduced logo. Note that one of the "incorrect" ones
was used by Victa itself in the late 1950s.

The first Victa logo - in summary - evolved out of changes made
in 1954 (wide and slant font), cross-stripe (1957) and cross-stripe
and slant font (1960).