General Motors In Process Of Acquiring Trademark For “Boot”
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GM Authority has learned that General Motors is in the process of obtaining a trademark for the word “Boot”. Originally filed on April 29, 2011 with the United States Patent and Trademark Office in the automobiles category of Goods and Services, the application carries serial number 85307988 and was published for opposition on February 21, 2012.
As of September 26, 2012, the application has a status of 730, or “First Extension – Granted”. The first extension is one of six available, each lasting six months, that allow an applicant to prolong the time the trademark it has to file a Statement of Use, an official document promising that the trademark will be used in a real-world product or service. Requesting an extension to file such a document usually implies that GM is not ready to show the USPTO (or the general public) a product carrying a name for which it is applying for, likely signifying the product is in development.
Earlier this week, GM Authority exclusively reported that General Motors requested an extension for its “CrossVolt” trademark application.
The GM Authority Take
If we were to speculate, our first guess would be that this trademark is for a hatchback or wagon-type body style, since the word “boot” is often interchangeable for “trunk” in some English-speaking countries (such as the United Kingdom). But even then, the trademark could be for anything in GM’s lineup. At the least, we know that the mark is intended for Automobiles (rather than toys and other paraphernalia).
What do you think GM will do with the Boot trademark? Sound off in the comments!
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It will be a new minisub built by Opel. It will be called DAS BOOT.
The only thing I can come up with is that it would be a small GMC commercial vehicle. Remember when the GMC commercial trucks had military themed names? General, Brigadier, Top Kick. There was even a ‘Sarge’ pickup truck at one time. That’s a real long shot, but all I can come up with.
This just can’t end well.
Bbray is closer than he thinks.
How about boot to the head; actualy I would think some kind of info tainment system…
BOOT (There it is)…
Does anyone remember the “Baja Boot” off-road racers of the late sixties? There were two. They were done by Vic Hickey, working for Ed Cole. As an engineer at Goodyear/Motor Wheel, I met Vic on this project, as we at Motor Wheel designed and built the special wheels; Goodyear-Akron did the tires. The wheels utilized the center “disc” section of the then-new Oldsmobile “Toronado” wheel, which we produced in Lansing, Michigan. The outer “rim” portions of the wheels came from Goodyear Metal Products Div., Akron, Ohio.
There were two Baja Boots built, using modifications of the new Toronado transaxle. Initially, one “Boot” was Oldsmobile V-8 powered, the other Chevrolet small block powered. Whether that architecture was retained into their competition lives, I don,t know. James Garner, he of TV’s “Rockford Files”, was one of the drivers.
Vic Hickey had designed and built a dune buggy type concept vehicle for Chevrolet that he called the “Trail Blazer”, Corvair powered. This was the source of the name “Blazer” for the first Chevrolet SUV, 1967, as well as for the much more recent use of the “Trailblazer” name by Chevrolet. Hence, the name “Boot” for a special version of a Chevrolet truck or SUV would seem logical,in view of the popularity of “retro” things.
When doing wheel design work for Chevrolet and GMC vehicle applications in the early 1970′s, I was told that the original idea to shorten the Chevrolet pickup and make an SUV, which became the original “Blazer”, came from Vic Hickey. Vic had left GM by that time, forming his own company, Hickey Enterprises, one of the earliest purveyors of off-road accessories. Not a bad legacy for a Southern Claifornia boy!
Joseph,
Interesting, thanks for sharring…
Glad you liked it, even if I did mistype “California”.
Sometimes little anecdotes like this give an interesting and personal look at history. I wish I had kept a diary from when I started in the auto industry 40+ years ago. I have met and worked with so many interesting people, and been involved in so many interesting activities and events, that I’d have a book about two feet thick!
I just found some of my 1967 notes on the wheels for the “Baja Boot”. They are pretty sketchy, but the important thing is that they refer to Steve McQueen, not James Garner, as the driver, which, with that refresher, rings true to me. I think Garner drove a later Hickey-built racer, Oldsmobile Cutlass based. Having never seen the Boot in person, or assembly layout drawings, I don’t know just how the power train was laid out. Vic referred to using Toronado Hydramatic parts, so I ASSUME he meant the FWD configuration itself, not just internal components. True or not?
Does anyone know where to find technical references, magazine articles, or cutaway drawings that show just how the vehicles were built? I wonder if that info was ever published in any magazine, or if either or both of the vehicles still exist. I would like to see just how the drive trains were set up, as I was only involved with making the wheels, personally.
Joseph — that really is interesting, indeed…
Was the Baja Boot a custom project, as in a one-off (or two-off?) program developed by hand? If so, I wouldn’t even know where to start to get info on that kind of stuff.
Alex
The “Baja Boot” program was an Ed Cole program. Remember, the GM top brass had totally forbidden any divisional racing activities around the very end of 1963. Cole had always been interested in racing and high performance vehicles, so the “Boot” was just one way to stay active in the performance arena without running afoul of corporate policy. Hurst was a supplier to GM, as were Goodyear and Motor Wheel. Activities of suppliers were beyond the reach of GM corporate edicts and not subject to GM review. What GM financial involvement Chevrolet committed to such a program could be easily buried by writing purchase orders for experimental or development work, so would not be seen as improper by GM auditors.
The car divisions were quite independent, so they became adept at getting around some of the rules. The fact that a Chevrolet employee, Vic Hickey, was running the project tells you that it was internally sanctioned, albeit against policy if it involved support of racing. After all, would not off-road performance not have had national security impact, being that the Vietnam war was on? In any event, things did get accomplished that weren’t strictly in accordance with top management desires!
Wow I was not the only one who tought of the Baja Boot.
My dad worked for Goodyear back then and I fully remember these . My first thought was of a small jeep like SUV for GMC or Chevy? GM has toyed with the idea and I suspect they could do something on the Gamma platform.
Goodyear, GM and Hurst were all major players i the Boot.
As for the Boot Mc Queen drove the Boot . Jim drove it but he did drive the Banshee Cutlass and the Grabber Baja. It only had a cut down Cutlass body on it the rest was all off road vehicle.
The Hickey Cutlass was just restored not long ago and is in great condition today. It is a neat little car. It has a very short wheel base and looks more like a AMX in profile.
There were 3 Cutlass and one was mid engined. Also the bodys were fiberglass and shortened 14 inches. So they were not your fathers Oldsmobile. There may have been some boot in the Cutlass too.
The info is out there as Hot Rod magazine did a lot of stories on them. THere is a lot of info out there but it is just one of those things you just don’ t find unless you are looking for it.
http://www.conceptcarz.com/z19959/Chevrolet-Baja-Boot.aspx
http://www.hotrod.com/featuredvehicles/hrdp_1103_grabber_oldsmobile_442/viewall.html
http://www.dragtimes.com/video-viewer.php?v=BFrNbifXrLI&feature
Note too Garner and Mc Queen were neighbors and rivals. THey could be buddies but Steve would always like to out do Jim. It killed him the he turned down the movie Grand Prix and it turned out so well.
http://www.hemmings.com/mus/stories/2009/09/01/hmn_feature12.html
Here is the Goodyear Grabber
Garner wanted to race Formula 5 and Prototypes but the studio would not let him. THe Baja race was where he could sneak off and get in some racing with out them knowing much. Garner owned AIR racing and finished second to Penske at the 24 at Daytona. He really was a good driver and jus never got the change.