Chevrolet Sports Dept. Information?

[camarojoe]

Thanks Phil.

[68l30]

From D Yenko....

BIG

[1967Z28]

Chevrolet is not in the patch making business. Chevrolet licenses others to produce patches and other apparel items. I don't believe these gold outlined logos with red letters, a white bowtie, and backward pattern checkerboard were put in Chevrolet literature or ads from the era but would like to see some examples if there were any.

Below is a sports department jacket with a red outline patch on it. The gold outline patches look nice and do seem to be from the era but also seem to be somewhat "off script" from what Chevrolet was using for promotion in its literature. This is why I feel if you're going to ask what logo was used when, don't go by the patch, go by what is in official Chevrolet advertising materials.

[camarojoe]

There were far more Sports Dept. jackets with gold edged patches than red. I thought the red edged ones were actually freebies that came in a model car kit from the day, and I'm not sure many were ever actually used on the jackets. Apparently a few jackets had the red edged ones, but gold edged ones are definitely legit, and from my experience are more often seen on the original jackets. I swear there is a black and white promo ad for the jackets somewhere.. I just have no idea where, and if it's a piece of literature I own, or something I saw posted somewhere. No idea where to even look. maybe in the back of a communication kit?

[68l30]

I’ve always felt the color difference was due to a sales award. More of a top seller. Remember a lot of these were given out as awards to salesmen. One of my childhood friends father was a salesman for Chevrolet. My first recollection of these jackets was because of him. He wore them day in and out to work. His demos were Camaros, he drove Corvettes. JMHO.... Here’s some more SD....

BIG

[72heavychevy]

Lots of great information here!

Does anyone have any sort of Sports Department merchandise catalog?
I'm sure there had to be one at some point. There's so many items (even shown in this thread) of hats, jackets, posters, patches, stickers, etc that I'm sure there is brochure advertising all of these. Probably something that came out in early 1970?

Originally Posted by 1967Z28

Chevrolet is not in the patch making business. Chevrolet licenses others to produce patches and other apparel items. I don't believe these gold outlined logos with red letters, a white bowtie, and backward pattern checkerboard were put in Chevrolet literature or ads from the era but would like to see some examples if there were any.

Below is a sports department jacket with a red outline patch on it. The gold outline patches look nice and do seem to be from the era but also seem to be somewhat "off script" from what Chevrolet was using for promotion in its literature. This is why I feel if you're going to ask what logo was used when, don't go by the patch, go by what is in official Chevrolet advertising materials.

That's a great point, patches don't seem like the most consistent as there are so many variants I've seen.

[70 copo]

I have the red trim patches, but I always thought those were over the counter sales as part of the ID "official emblem" series.

As far as I know the 1970 Sports dept coat of arms was offered as a decal with the promo, a patch as part of ID Official Emblem in a blister pack, a cheap iron on transfer for hats, a round patch variant, and a premium gold trim patch on the famous blue jacket.

Here is the guy from the 70 ad. I see red on the jacket stripe but no red trim at all on the patch.

[1967Z28]

I appreciate getting to know more about those gold outline patches as I have passed on a few that I have seen on ebay over the years. If anyone comes across an ad for the SD jackets it would be great to see it get posted here.

[70 copo]

Here is the better group picture. Looks very much like blue was touched in here on the border of the patch to match the jacket.

[70 copo]

Here is a good view of the thick red border on a real patch.