The Mopar brand will celebrate its 75th anniversary in 2012.

Starting as the name of a single product — anti-freeze — the Mopar brand has grown over 75 years to include 500,000 different parts and accessories available in more than 120 countries.

It maintains 19 million square feet of warehouse space in 50 parts distribution centers

“The Mopar brand has a proud, 75-year heritage,” said Pietro Gorlier, president and CEO of Mopar. “The mission at Mopar today is to fully support all of our brands by providing every single one of our customers with an exceptional after-sales experience. We will do this by continuing to offer cutting-edge technology, innovative products, authentic, quality-tested parts, and high-quality customer service.”

The Mopar brand was officially trademarked in 1937 at a meeting of the Chrysler Parts Corporation’s Activities Council in Highland Park, Mich. The committee mulled over a list of names for Chrysler’s anti-freeze product and came up with “MoPar,” a contraction of the words MOtor and PARts.

Mopar became a brand name for most Chrysler Corporation parts, and gradually evolved into the name of the parts business itself. The moniker was officially attached to a Chrysler parts organization in the late 1960s, when Chrysler created an aftermarket business unit named the Mopar Division.