General Motor Heritage Center: Hood Ornaments Gallery
Click on the photo for a high res gallery of aviation inspired hood ornaments
Once upon a time, car designers just drew up whatever looked good to their eye, and added all kinds of ornamentation. Thoughts of what might occur to a pedestrian who was unfortunate enough to find themselves in the path of a moving vehicle never entered their minds. One of the inevitable features of any car design was a hood ornament. Jaguars had leaping cats, Rolls-Royce had the "Spirit of Ecstasy" and there were many others.
The years following World War II ushered in what became known as the Jet-Age. The rear fenders of cars began to sprout fins modeled after aircraft rudders, while the leading edge of the hood often featured something that looked like it just popped out of a Flash Gordon serial. While perusing the collection at the General Motors Heritage Center the other day, I noticed that several adjacent cars were all adorned with futuristic looking aviation inspired trim. Enjoy a bygone era.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Avinash machado 11:08AM (3/13/2007)
The Good Old Days were really good. At least in the Automotive sense.
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michael.r.felkins 12:03PM (3/13/2007)
I recognize the Rocket from the Oldsmobile and the Caddy is very clear. What is the bat looking one? And the other rocket in a circle? Is that a Buick?
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Rob 12:03PM (3/13/2007)
Rudders? Come on. Stabilizers.
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Richard Warren 2:04PM (3/13/2007)
Rocket in circle, Buick. The "bat" one that I think you are speaking of is Pontiac, you can see the silver hood stripes next to it.
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chuck goolsbee 2:43PM (3/13/2007)
As for avaition-themed ornaments, this is a great one:
http://chuck.goolsbee.org/archives/310
From an earlier time of course, but c'mon... the propeller spins!
--chuck
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iQuack 3:44PM (3/13/2007)
Rolls Royce's hood ornament has a name:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_of_Ecstasy
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BOB 4:46PM (3/13/2007)
THIS WAS THE EARLY-MID 50s
BLUE CAR -- CADILLAC
RED CAR --- BUICK
GREY -- OLDSMOBILE
LT GREEN -- PONITIAC
-- The last 2 are jet planes or space rockets (who said bat?) -- the Cad is a streamline abstraction of a goddess, the Buick is a stand-up silhouette of a Buick badge made into something like a rocket.
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Mike G 11:38PM (3/13/2007)
Don't be stupid - if a car hits a person, the design of the hood ornament is not going to matter one bit, tool box.
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Todd J. 12:34AM (3/14/2007)
A lot of these hood ornaments have become very collectible unto themselves. Unique and desirable mascots and hood ornaments go for thousands on eBay on a routine basis.
http://www.classiccar.com/garage/blog/
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