From GM's Chevrolet centenary site comes this story of an alternate version about the origins of Chevrolet's 'bowtie' logo. I found the image elsewhere, which seems to validate this story:
Was it borrowed from a newspaper ad?
More than half a century later, another bowtie origin story was recounted in a 1986 issue of Chevrolet Pro Management Magazine, based on a 13-year-old interview with Durant’s widow, Catherine. She recalled how she and her husband were on holiday in Hot Springs, Virginia, in 1912. While reading a newspaper in their hotel room, Durant spotted a design and exclaimed, “I think this would be a very good emblem for the Chevrolet.” Unfortunately, at the time, Mrs. Durant didn’t clarify what the motif was or how it was used.
That nugget of information inspired Ken Kaufmann, historian and editor of The Chevrolet Review, to search out its validity. In a November 12, 1911, edition of The Constitution newspaper, published in Atlanta, the Southern Compressed Coal Company placed an ad for “Coalettes,” a refined fuel product for fires. The Coalettes logo, as published in the ad, had a slanted bowtie form, very similar to the shape that would soon become the Chevrolet icon. Did Durant and his wife see the same ad or one that was similar–the following year a few states to the north? The newspaper edition was dated just nine days after the incorporation of the Chevrolet Motor Company.
