Meet: Lori Darlin’

This is Lori Darlin’.  She is the poster child for CrankMyCat.com.   Though Brandi Lee is the original CrankMyCat girl, Lori Darlin’ has been around from the very beginning.   Interestingly enough, her appearance was not even inspired by a real live model, but the engine in the background was!

The engine model was a Caterpillar, 3306B generator set.  I had overhauled that particular engine for a customer of mine.  I called a friend of mine David Fitz who is a sketch artist.  I told him what I was looking for in a logo.  He came out and looked at the 3306 and returned a few weeks later with this:

This is a copy of the original sketch art of Lori Darlin.  The actual original piece of art is hidden in a secret location about 2 miles below the surface of the earth.    Even more interesting is the fact that she did not even have a name until recently.

I introduced my wife to a TVseries called “Lonesome Dove”.  We watched it a few weeks ago.  Samantha had never seen it before.  “Gus”, “Woodrow”, and “Lori Darlin” are the main characters.  After it was over, Sam asked in a very sad tone, “…but what happened to Lori Darlin’”?  I just thought it was so damn cute, the way she asked about Lori Darlin’, I decided to name the nameless CMC mascot ‘Lori Darlin’.

Lori Darlin’ has become the number one most sought after hardhat sticker in the Permian Basin Oilfield.  She has even become more popular than the Monahans Nipple-Up girl, who has had that title for many years now (and I mention that with all due respect to the Monahans Nipple-Up people).

-caleb