From 1933 to 1937, Chrysler Motor Parts featured a logo with the letters D, C, P, and D...for Dodge, Chrysler, Plymouth, and Desoto.   This led to the Mopar trademark becoming one of the most familiar trademarks in automotive history.   However, did you know that it evolved from a group of unlikely characters that included a genius, a camel and a robot?

The genius was Nelson L. Farley, Chrysler Division's sales promotional manager in the 1930s.  Farley had established a "think tank" called the Activities Council, whose purpose was to brainstorm new merchandising ideas and report back to him.

In the spring of 1937, this activities council was working on the creation of a product name to put on cans of Chrysler Motor Parts antifreeze that was being used in their cars.  The group, after many suggestions, came up with a simple name that would be easy to remember: a combination of the words motors and parts hence the word...MOPAR.

Now Chrysler needed a logo type for the trade name.  The first attempt, created by a man named Burke Bartlett, was a bright purple logo arranged in a vertical arrow.  Farley immediately rejected it because he didn't like the downward pointing arrow or the use of the color purple.

The next design became one of the most famous and distinctive trademarks of the century, the unique signpost of the Chrysler Parts Division.

The Activities Council then came up with a way to introduce the new acronym to the public. They created a character named "Mr. Mopar" who made his first debut in the form of a camel.

In 1937 the Shriners national convention came to Detroit, and Chrysler Corporation's Parts Division was creating a corporate float for the opening parade.  A camel seemed to fit right in.  The float was made up of piston rings, cylinders, push rods, oil pans, etc.  Of course, the camel needed someone to lead it.

A year or two earlier, a man named Vern Dupuis had made a small "mechanical man" fashioned out of parts.  The group found this mechanical man, named him "ACCY, " an abbreviation for accessory, and put him in front of the camel.  An employee in full Moslem dress sat atop the camel and the float was a big hit.

Eleven years later, when Dupuis was in the Merchandising and Development Department, he modified "ACCY" into a moving and speaking robot and renamed him "Mr. Mopar. "  A later version of this robot made television appearances from coast to coast.

So what 's in a name?  An entire history.  If the name is "Mopar, " it stands for "Motor" and "Parts" and quality engineering. The color of the name, like Chrysler, is always blue.

You know that the term Mopar came about by combining the words motor and parts, but what you may not know is that the development and growth of Mopar is quite a story.

1959-1963:  Prior to 1960, Chrysler had very little involvement in what has been termed "the aftermarket," which is the overproduction of parts for sale to the independent parts distributors.  Toward the end of the 1950s, Chrysler began to see the advantages of the aftermarket, and the opportunities it could provide.  The aftermarket had a great profit capability, as well as market stability.  Chrysler knew that during bad times, auto owners tended to spend more money to keep their older cars running, as opposed to buying new vehicles.

Along with penetrating the automotive aftermarket, in November of 1963, Chrysler announced plans for the elimination of all of its wholesalers.  At this time, the Mopar logo continued to display the Chrysler models available.

1964-1971:  The biggest problem at the time was that Chrysler dealers could not compete with the wholesalers because the wholesalers were beating their prices.  The solution for Chrysler was to go back to the depot system used in earlier years.  In July of 1964, a depot network was set up consisting of Area Depots, Regional Depots and National Depots, eighteen in all.  By 1965, Chrysler parts were being distributed by two separate systems.  The Dealer Parts Sales Group supplied Chrysler parts through Chrysler dealers and wholesalers, and the Independent Aftermarket Parts Sales Group distributed Mopar parts through franchised warehouse distributors, or WDs.  The Mopar logo no longer displayed the model designations, and took on the Omega M that we see today.

1972-1984:  Chrysler developed newer methods of distribution, inventory control and tracking systems, to name a few.  With the widespread advancements happening In technology, Chrysler was able to meet supply and demand at a greater rate than that in earlier years.  Wholesalers were out of the picture, and Chrysler only dealt with aftermarket parts through the dealer network.  At this time, the Mopar Logo began featuring the well-known pentastar In addition, the colors were updated to red, white and blue.

1985-1990:  Chrysler continued to flourish, with the addition of American Motors Corporation (AMC), and expanded their parts operations. Also, Chrysler sponsored events such as drag racing presented an ideal form of recognition for Mopar.  "Chrysler Corporation Genuine Parts" was incorporated into the Mopar logo, so as to differentiate genuine Chrysler parts from aftermarket and counterfeit parts.