Ford employees recreate the company’s iconic logo in 2012 to celebrate getting the blue oval out of loan restrictions. A 20ft version of that logo blew off of the company’s world headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan, Wednesday.
Dearborn, Michigan – Strong winds ripped Ford Motor Co.’s coveted blue oval logo off its world headquarters late Wednesday as storms hammered the Midwest.
Ford takes its logo very seriously. In 2006, when Alan Mulally became Ford’s CEO, he took out a $23.5 billion loan by pledging virtually every asset the company owned as collateral. Rights to that blue oval were high up on that list of assets.
The company met financial targets, despite the collapse of industry sales in 2008 and 2009, and in 2012 won back full rights to the cursive-scripted image.
At the Glass House, southeast Michigan slang for Ford World Headquarters, 20ft oval logos are on the north and south sides of the building.
A Ford spokesperson told The Detroit News that winds close to 50mph ripped the south logo from the building’s façade and dropped it on the roof of the building. The sign has been recovered, and building crews are assessing the area for damage before deciding how to reattach the logo.
Source: Ford Motor Co., Detroit News