February 24, 2025 • 28 mins
Explore the captivating world of automotive artistry with us as we uncover the hidden history of hood ornaments. Have you ever wondered why these once-ubiquitous symbols of luxury have largely faded from the road? From their ancient beginnings on King Tut's chariot to their iconic status on vehicles like the Rolls-Royce and Mercedes-Benz, we promise an enlightening journey through time that will deepen your appreciation for these stylish emblems. Listen as we share personal anecdotes, including learning to drive a 1990 Chrysler New Yorker 5th Avenue, and discuss how these ornaments transitioned from functional radiator caps to coveted car accessories.
Everett J.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
In my life there's really only been one car
to ever have this on it, and it was
actually the first vehicle I ever drove.
First vehicle I learned to drive in was a
1990 Chrysler New Yorker 5th Avenue.
Okay, so a big boat that was super comfy
and had one thing on the front it had a
hood ornament.
(00:21):
Every other car we've owned had symbols in
the grill or on the hood, but this is the
first vehicle we ever owned that had an
ornament on the hood.
Sure, it was just a tiny little plastic
Chrysler emblem, but it was there and it
looked cool.
I thought to myself I'd seen these on
Cadillacs and Rolls Royces before, but this
is the first vehicle that I actually got to
(00:42):
touch one in front of me, never being to an
auto show by the time.
We owned that vehicle, and I thought to
myself why does this car have it and not
every other luxury make?
Mercedes was famous for it, but not every
car company had them, and where did these
come from and why did they eventually
disappear?
Today, autolux is going to be taking a look
at hood ornaments or, as they were
(01:03):
originally called, radiator caps.
Welcome back to the Autolux Podcast.
I am your host, as always, the doctor to
the automotive industry, mr Everett Jay,
coming to you from our host website at
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(01:23):
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(01:45):
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So, like I said in the beginning, beginning
hood ornaments We've all seen them, we've
all come into contact with them at least
(02:07):
once in our life, because even today
there's still one car company that actually
has it.
Rolls-royce, in its spirit of ecstasy, is
the only existing hood ornament that you'll
still find.
There are a few other car companies in
existence today that still carry some sort
of hood ornament or emblem that sticks out
from the top of the vehicle.
Honky is another one of these that does
(02:28):
this with the red arrow badge, but not a
lot of them do it.
Hell, bentley has even shied away from its
flying bee.
But why is it?
Where did they come from?
Well, hood ornaments actually predate the
automobile by a few thousand years.
I'm serious about this.
It actually predates the automobile by a
few thousand years, with the very first
(02:51):
known hood ornament being a sun-crested
falcon on Egyptian pharaoh's, king Tut's
chariot.
Yes, the pharaoh, king Tut, one of the most
famous pharaohs of all time, is the first
known account of what we would call a hood
ornament.
He put it at the front of his chariot, the
sun-crested falcon.
He wanted something more than just a
(03:13):
standard gold-studded chariot to stand out,
and he put it there to make his own
statement.
This is very similar to how hood ornaments
eventually started taking over the
automotive world.
You see, in the early days of the
automobile, when the Model T was putting
the world on wheels, every vehicle had a
radiator in the front.
The radiator was made to cool the engine
(03:35):
because you didn't want it to overheat.
If it overheated it would blow.
So we had a radiator and on top of that we
had our cap, because eventually you will go
through your water and you need to cool the
vehicle.
At this time, radiators were fully exposed
on nearly every single vehicle in existence
and this was because we all had to fill it
up and in the early days, taking the cap
(03:56):
off and refilling it was part of owning an
automobile.
If you're like myself and you sat down and
watched the cars movies or even the cars
shows, you may recount the one episode of
mater's tall tales where mater and
lightning mcqueen go back in time and meet
stanley, the man who created radiator
springs.
He was a seller of all kinds of radiator
(04:18):
caps, because, you have to remember, you
had to take it off, put water in to refill
your vehicle.
Not everybody would remember where they put
it.
You'd drop it, you'd lose it, you'd leave
it behind.
So you had to replace them.
So somebody like Stanley from the Cars
series were around and they all had
different style radiator caps.
They made them for all kinds of different
vehicles, all different types of radiators.
(04:39):
And then someone had the amazing idea why
don't we start adding stuff to our radiator
caps.
We're going to start branding them.
We're going to put our own name on it.
Essentially, radiator caps are one of the
first aftermarket accessories for
automobiles, with you as the owner and the
(05:02):
driver of the vehicle having to replace
water within your radiator to keep your
engine cool constantly.
The likelihood of losing that cap, just
like your gas tank cap.
Possibilities were endless.
Now, if you're like myself and you've owned
a vehicle at some point in your time where
you actually had to take your gas cap off
and it wasn't connected, like most of them
are today, by a string or a plastic carrier,
you put it up on the trunk lid of your car.
And I don't.
I only did this once, but I drove away.
(05:24):
Luckily, my window was down because it was
summer and all I hear is on the ground.
I'm like oh crap, damn it, I forgot to put
the cap back on.
Well, this is the same context your
radiator cap, your radiator cap.
You take it off.
You put it on top of the hood because you
remember you didn't have to open the hood
to fill the radiator.
It was exposed.
All early vehicles did this and only one
(05:45):
car company does this today, and that's
Rolls-Royce.
Now there's no need for the radiator Now.
It's just a grill to allow air into the
engine bay to cool it off, so you don't
have to fill the water.
Today we have coolant, and coolant you
could fill up roughly every few years.
You should have it changed because it does
get dirty, does get sluggish and it starts
to deteriorate.
(06:06):
So it's one of those things that a lot of
people don't change.
Trust me, I've had cars like almost 300,000
kilometers that I never changed them on,
and then I had cars that were over 100,000
kilometers and I'm getting this gross
sludge inside of it.
That was my Chevy Malibu, the worst car I
ever owned.
That's a tale for a different time.
This weird sludge would slow it down.
It would get burned up and take away from
my fluid, so I'd have to top it up and top
(06:27):
it up.
I actually damaged the radiator inside.
My old Concord once Hit a rock and damaged
it.
I managed to get it connected back together,
but I had to replace the full radiator.
It was not working properly so I had to buy
distilled water and pour it in constantly
to make sure that my car wouldn't overheat.
I'll take the radiator cap off and again,
it's one of those things where you put up
on the engine bay and, just like refilling
(06:48):
your oil under the engine or even sometimes
putting washer fluid in, you forget to put
it back.
So someone like stanley, who founded
radiator springs in the car series, would
sell you a new radiator cap.
Then we got companies like louis lejeune
limited of england one of the only
surviving companies still making radiator
caps, because today we don't need tons of
(07:10):
them.
They're manufactured by aftermarket
companies for your vehicle and literally in
today's world you're lucky if you find one
out of a thousand people that would
actually pop open their radiator and top it
up.
Everyone else just gets car dealerships and
fluid refill stations and anyone else to do
it for them.
So we're less likely to lose them.
But there are companies that still make
(07:32):
them.
On top of losing it, unless it was made out
of full-scale brass some of them were made
out of lighter gauge steel aluminum they
would crack, freeze up in the winter and
snap, overheat and crack, so you'd have to
replace it as well.
And then there was also the automotive
theft People going by, stealing them and
selling them back to people.
You have to remember this is a time where
it was so easy to steal something like that
(07:53):
and get away with it, because it literally
was exposed on the outside of your vehicle
so you could steal it so easily, build up a
collection and turn around and start
selling them.
Hell, you could sell it back to the same
person you stole it from, making a profit
off of it.
People still do this today, but stealing a
radiator cap is not something that you
would think to do In the early days.
(08:14):
Like I said, these companies like Boyce
Motometer started adding figures to it.
Like I said, it's the aftermarket industry
and the aftermarket industry and the
aftermarket industry likes to personalize
things for people.
People started asking if they could get
something else on it.
They didn't just want their radiator cap,
they want a flat, boring, bland cap.
They wanted it rounded, they want to curve,
they want to almost look like a boob.
(08:34):
Trust me, some of them actually did, and a
lot of the early ones took inspiration from
either animals or sex symbols.
Yes, rolls royce, common since 1911, has
had the winged female on the front of their
vehicle, known as the spirit of ecstasy.
Oh, it's like uh, hitting, hitting that top
point while you're in bed.
Yeah, rising to the top and hitting that
(08:56):
ecstasy moment, that's what rolls royce did
and, like I said, some of them had animals
as well.
You wanted something powerful and consumers
were demanding this from their hood
ornaments.
These companies, like Boyce Motometer, set
up in 1912, was issued a patent for an
indicator for the car's coolant on the cap.
This was a game changer and during the
(09:16):
1920s Boyce Motometer became one of the
largest manufacturers of radiator caps in
the world, with over 1,800 employees across
the United States, england, canada,
australia, france and Germany, by having a
gauge on it to tell you where your coolant
level was.
Today we have that on our digital screens
(09:37):
popping up.
A lot of my older cars have a temperature
gauge.
Some of the older cars actually had a gauge,
for your coolant would tell you to fill it
like your washer fluid.
In 1912, the very first one came out and it
made it so people can actually check their
own coolant levels, so they knew when to do
it.
You have to remember you had to check your
(09:58):
coolant constantly.
Early vehicles didn't have a water pump
used for the circulation system.
Back then it was based off a thermosiphon
principle and with that there's a lot of
possibilities for loss of fluid.
Having the pump to bring it around, as in
today's society allows it to flow through
the entire radiator to cool it off and into
(10:19):
the system to keep your engine bay cold
Well, cold enough so that it doesn't blow
up.
Trust me, I've had a radiator go my little
five-speed go-kart in a garage.
Within the first couple months of owning it
I had my radiator blow.
And I know what happens when your coolant
is about to go and your radiator is
literally about to kick the bucket.
Coolant gives off a scent.
(10:41):
You know how they pump in, because natural
gas coming into your house is odorless.
They add the rotten egg smell to it, so you
know if it's leaking Coolant has that as
well, and I learned this the hard way.
It smells like cotton candy.
I'm literally sitting there, going from the
400 onto the 401 on the off ramp Luckily I
was over towards the side where the
(11:01):
emergency lane is and it was summertime so
there was no snowbank.
And I'm sitting there and my wife and I
well, girlfriend at the time on the off
ramp, and I'm sitting there not even
realizing that my temperature gauge is
going up and up and up and up Because the
fan had died behind my radiator so the fan
wasn't able to cool the radiator.
And when the radiator can't cool.
(11:21):
It gets hotter and hotter, and hotter and
hotter.
Right before it blows, it gives off the
scent of cotton candy.
I'm literally sitting there going oh, there
must be like a carnival or something nearby.
I smell cotton candy and seconds later I
just see white smoke billowing from
underneath my hood just coming out.
I pull off to the side, I pop the hood and
(11:43):
all I can see is blowing out.
I'm like shit, I just blew a rad.
I look down, my fan's not running.
I'm like no, I didn't blow a rad.
My fan went and my rad overheated.
What do I do?
Well, luckily, at the next exit, once I got
the car cold enough, I managed to cruise
along, get onto the 401 and managed to stay
at a decent rate of speed to keep myself
(12:04):
going, because as long as I kept moving,
the cold air rushing in would cool my
radiator to a point that it wouldn't blow.
The next exit there was a canadian tire.
I went in, got some rad stop.
Same thing I did with the rad that I dented
on my concord put some rad stop in, ran it
through, make sure that the system would
not blow again, filled it up with a ton of
coolant, brought some extra coolant and
managed to get back onto the highway after
(12:25):
my car had completely cooled down and I
decided to take roads that I knew would not
be covered in tons of traffic.
And since it was a weekend and a long
weekend, I was shit of luck for getting
this thing fixed.
So I literally had to drive all the way to
my in-laws like this and then I had to
drive all the way home that way.
(12:45):
As long as I was maintaining at least 50
kilometers an hour at a steady rate of
speed on the highway, I didn't have to
worry about my radiator blowing up again.
It was cooling itself through cold air.
Rushing in the fan was made to kick on when
you were in stop and go traffic.
To keep the radiator from blowing my family
cost me a fortune because Kia, they're
cheap cars, but when you have to replace
their parts they cost a ton of money.
So, yeah, luckily I didn't use my radiator
(13:06):
cap, but my radiator cap didn't have a logo
on it.
Had I have had the temperature gauge on it,
which I did because it was on my dash.
If I'd been paying attention, I wouldn't
have had that problem Now.
Hood ornaments.
Getting back to the original topic of this
podcast.
Hood ornaments were big business During the
early days of the Ford Model T, when it
came out.
In the teen years, the 20s, the 30s, the
40s and into the 50s, hood ornaments could
(13:29):
be found on tons of vehicles, especially
through the 20s and 30s, when radiators
were exposed on vehicles, everybody wanted
to personalize their vehicle.
It didn't matter if you're driving a crappy,
beat-up Ford Model T.
You wanted to put your own logo on the hood,
similar to how you can do this with
Rolls-Royce today, but we'll get into that
at a later point.
(13:50):
So all these car companies were rushing to
do this and even in the late 30s and into
the 40s, how they changed from an exposed
radiator to an integrated radiator with a
grill in front of it, they started moving
the radiator cap hood ornaments onto the
actual hood.
But why did we lose them?
Well, by the time the 60s came in, brand
new regulations were starting to come out
(14:11):
and they were starting to change the way we
dealt with hood ornaments.
New regulations came into play and started
changing the way we had hood ornaments.
In 1968, the US introduced a new regulation
on hood ornaments for pedestrian safety,
kind of like how in Europe now, the Tesla
Cybertruck can't be sold because its
angular design and the weight of the
(14:33):
vehicle is too dangerous for pedestrians.
In 1968, the Americans thought that hood
ornaments were dangerous for pedestrians
for pedestrians.
In 68, the Americans thought that hood
ornaments were dangerous for pedestrians If
they got hit they'd found over the previous
decades.
People can get impaled on some of the ones
that they had.
The Cadillac Wreath was literally sitting
right up there with pointed edges.
Hell, even the Pontiac Ottawa Leader was a
pointed edge.
(14:53):
People can get hurt by them.
So this, along with any spinner wheel
protrusions, were getting banned in the
United States and they were doing this to
keep people safe Not the vehicles, not the
people in the vehicles, but pedestrians
when they got hit by vehicles.
Now we know, way back in the 1920s and 30s
you were able to buy a pedestrian catcher
(15:13):
for the front of your vehicle, so instead
of them getting impaled or run over, you
could just literally catch them and keep
driving.
This actually was a cool thing that was
available in early safety features.
It was an aftermarket thing.
This didn't stop every single person from
doing this.
We still actually had hood ornaments.
But what they did is a lot of car companies,
you know, after getting the wheel
(15:33):
protrusions taken off, because if you
remember James Bond and how he tore up the
tire of a Ford Mustang in Goldfinger by
using those little wheel protrusions they
have in the Aston Martins yeah, things like
that they got rid of.
But the hood ornaments we didn't get rid of.
We just changed them to a spring-loaded
hood ornament so if a pedestrian got hit
they could bend them over.
A lot of the car companies that had made
(15:55):
ones that were pointed and could damage
people like literally impale anybody even
by rubbing their hand over it.
A lot of car companies started moving away
from those and that's how we started moving
into getting personalized logos embedded in
the grills of automobiles.
Hood ornaments were there in the original
context to cover our radiator caps and by
the 40s they moved onto the hood of the
(16:15):
vehicle because we still needed to tell you
the difference between buying a Ford, a
Pontiac, a Rolls-Royce, a Cadillac.
Hell, not everybody can tell a vehicle
apart from something else.
So they needed to differentiate themselves
and that's how logos came into play.
The hood ornaments essentially became logos
for car companies, a lot of them moving
onto either the hood or into the front
(16:36):
grille of the vehicles, but, like we said,
to either the hood or into the front grille
of the vehicles.
But, like we said, we had some that were
spring-loaded the 1973 Thunderbird, the 74
AMC Ambassador and, hell, even the 86 Jeep
Wagon Ear.
They were all spring-loaded and that's
actually how Rolls-Royce does theirs today.
It's spring-loaded, but if you try and
touch it it's spring-loaded and will
disappear underneath the hood.
(16:56):
You can't tear them off, so will disappear
underneath the hood.
You can't tear them off.
So no matter what you do, you cannot steal
the spirit of ecstasy on a Rolls Royce.
It'll sit there begging you to come over
and take it, but the second you touch it it
disappears.
And Rolls Royce has done this to ensure
that people don't take them.
Unfortunately, companies like Mercedes were
not doing this.
And if you've watched the movie Mrs
Doubtfire with the great Robin Williams in
(17:17):
it, he literally rips the Mercedes logo off
Pierce Brosnan's character's car in the
movie he also kind of makes a sexual joke,
kind of thing.
You know, if you have to buy a fancy car
like that, you're kind of trying to
overcompensate for something else.
It was funny.
It went over my head when I first watched
it as a kid.
But you're a kid, you don't understand any
of that context, people that think, kids
(17:39):
that do.
They got bigger issues, but we're not
talking cars here.
By 1974, the European Union changed the
rules so that all new cars would have to
conform to the same rule as the Americans.
The Rolls-Royce Spirit of Ecstasy is now a
spring-loaded system.
Like we said, it retracts underneath the
hood.
Aftermarket ornaments had to have a
breakaway nylon fixings to comply with the
new EC Directive of 1974, or, as they call
(18:02):
it, the EC Directive 74-483 for the
European Union.
So any new hood ornament that you wanted on
your vehicle had to be a breakaway option
or, in the case of Rolls-Royce, had to be
spring-loaded and disappear so that it
would not harm any pedestrians.
Well, even though by 1968 is when they put
this into play, it was really going after
(18:23):
just luxury makes, because by the 1950s,
hood ornaments started disappearing and,
like we said, this was all due to what
happened during the 1930s.
As radiators became integrated into design,
we moved down from a hood to the grille and,
as that happened, we embedded the logo into
the front bumpers, the grilles, the.
That happened.
We embedded the logo into the front bumpers,
the grills, the hoods and all that.
These were essentially kept, with some
replacing them with flat mounted symbols in
(18:46):
their place, like Mercedes-Benz and BMW.
Today you don't find a hood ornament of a
Mercedes-Benz logo sticking out of the hood
like you did during the 1990s, like in Mrs
Doubtfire.
No, they have a logo, a giant one in the
front grill and then one right on the hood,
which is there to replace the old hood
ornament that used to stick out.
Rolls-royce and Bentley, even after all of
(19:07):
this, became the two companies that managed
to keep them going and even up until today,
rolls-royce is one of the last to have kept
them.
They did start making a comeback during the
1980s and like, kept them.
They did start making a comeback during the
1980s and, like we said with my 90 New
Yorker, it had to literally blow apart so
that nobody can hurt themselves on it.
Trust me, I went and touched it and it
would move back and forth.
(19:27):
I could not rip the thing out because the
one on the Chrysler one was a lot better
than Mercedes.
You literally couldn't rip it up because it
was actually attached by spring underneath.
It would flap back and forth but it would
not rip out.
It was great.
Chrysler actually put more thought into it
than Mercedes did.
Kind of funny.
So during the 80s and 90s, hood ornaments
(19:50):
were making a comeback and you'd see them
on companies' top products only.
So these are the products that insinuate
top luxury.
These were the premier or high-end brands
or from even the American counterparts,
their top tier of luxury, where you're
moving more into the bottom end of premier
or the top end of luxury, kind of like the
Lincoln Continental or Chrysler Imperials
of the past.
Like I said, it was my New Yorker that had
(20:10):
it.
You didn't find them on other Chrysler
products, you found it only on the top tier
product, a New Yorker Fifth Avenue, because
the standard New Yorker just had it right
in the front grill.
But by the early 2000s they were
disappearing and again it was due to
regulations and costs.
A lot of new car companies started doing
away with it because they were an extra
accessory and they found that by putting
(20:32):
just a logo on the front grill or on top of
the hood anyone could just figure out what
it is.
But it's also a time in the early 2000s
when a lot of car companies started
experimenting by designing their own
dedicated fronts, how BMW had their
kidney-style grille for decades beforehand,
new car companies and even existing ones
(20:52):
were starting to make a point for
themselves by creating grilles of their own
context.
They wanted to create their own dedicated
design, whereas you see, all audis today
all look like each other.
This is at the auto show in toronto and,
trust me, seeing an a3, an a4 or an a5
there's not much of a difference between
any of them and I got a few of them wrong.
(21:13):
Even myself, the guy who sees these all the
time, got a few of them wrong because of
making their vehicles a dedicated design,
and people were actually able to see the
vehicles by the grill from far away, so
there was no need for a hood ornament to
stand out and showcase the prowess of the
vehicle to anyone else.
Mercedes did away with their hood ornament,
(21:33):
chrysler had gotten away from it by the
mid-90s, cadillac had moved in onto the
grill and even Jaguar had moved to its own
tiny emblem.
The leaping Jaguar was gone.
A great time in the 80s and 90s when we had
the Cadillac Crest, the Lincoln Pointed
Star, the Mercedes Star, even the Chrysler
Pentagon on our hoods was now gone, with
Rolls-Royce being the only product sold in
(21:53):
North America that had a hood ornament.
We had a lot in the past.
The Woolsey from Great Britain was one of
the first car companies ever to create an
illuminated logo on the front of their
vehicle, because they wanted to make sure
you could see their vehicle from miles away.
And over the years we've had some great
ones the Pierce Arrow, archer, pontiac,
ottawa Leader, the Cadillac Crest Wreath,
(22:14):
the Bentley Flying Bee, the Horch Ball with
Wings.
The Bentley Flying Bee, the Horch Ball with
Wings, jaguar's Leaping Cat, peugeot, the
Lion Rampart, amc, the Jumping Marlin.
Oswald Beale had the Rocket.
That was a good one.
One of my favorites, and the one I remember
most from being a kid, was the Dodge Ram
Head.
In the 1980s any new Dodge Ram had
literally a Ram Head sticking out of the
(22:35):
hood, similar to Mack Trucks and their
Bulldog Rolls-Royce with the Spirit of
Ecstasy, the Hispano Sousa Storch, mercedes
three-pointed star, the Buick Tri-Shields
they were all there.
Some models even had dedicated ones, like
the Buick Regal, the Chevrolet Impala, jeep
Grand Wagoneer, chrysler Cordoba and the
Ford Thunderbird.
All had their own dedicated hood ornaments.
(22:56):
But today they don don't.
They have their own dedicated logos because
hood ornaments are gone.
New safety rules keep people from making
them.
Throughout the years they've been made with
different materials brass, zinc, bronze,
hell, it'd be.
Chrome plated, silver, nickel plated, was
substituted sometimes for chrome, even made
out of glass, even made from diamond,
(23:16):
quartz, plexiglass, plastic.
My ch Chrysler one was plastic, 1950, the
Ford Custom Deluxe was one of the first
ones ever made in plexiglass and from 55,
the old Pontiac Ottawa Leader or the Native
American head that they had in the front of
Pontiacs, lit up.
Lit up Diamonds were very appealing to some
of these car companies but as theft
(23:37):
continued, a lot of them later switched to
either plastic or quartz to ensure that
people wouldn't be stealing them because
they're not as valuable.
One of the most valuable ones throughout
history was the Nash Petty Hood Ornament.
It is the most sought after one for
reproduction or original Flying Lady ones,
commanding thousands of dollars for
original ones.
Hell, they're hundreds of dollars even for
(23:58):
reproduction ones.
And this is from Nash, a little car company
from America that never really made it big
Nash.
Remember Nash the Metropolitan, that first
microcar built from the North American
marketplace.
Yeah, their hood ornament, the Flying Lady,
is the most sought after one and trust me,
when you see it you'll understand why.
It was a great piece of art and during the
(24:20):
Art Deco period we saw some amazing designs
and some great things come out of the
automotive industry.
The aftermarket industry was alive.
Personalization with our own logos, having
them made for your own vehicle, having a
bear on the front to show that you're big
and mean, you can have a sexy lady Hell, it
might even be your wife on the front, or
just somebody you literally love like a
(24:40):
superstar.
It was one of the earliest forms of
aftermarket modification for vehicles and
it was one of the cheapest and easiest ones
for anyone to do.
From the early days of putting a heat meter
on the radiator cap to adding our own logos
and sculptures, the hood ornament has gone
through a massive amount of time and has
changed, and even today, hardly any car
(25:00):
company still makes them.
We could still expect Rolls-Royce to keep
pushing out the spirit of ecstasy, and the
greatest thing with Rolls-Royce is their
personalization effects for their vehicles.
Allow you to make your own Rolls-Royce does
this.
Drake actually has his company's owl as a
replacement for the spirit of ecstasy on
his own Rolls-Royce.
(25:21):
He had it changed Because Rolls-Royce knows
everybody knows the appeal of their vehicle
and that massive radiator style grill is
synonymous with Rolls-Royce.
Drake's own personal logo is something that
they're willing to do, and why?
Because he's willing to pay for it.
The sculpture of his owl cost thousands of
dollars Because it's real crystal.
(25:42):
Why do you think you don't see him rolling
around in his rolls a lot?
Because how expensive it is.
The hood ornament it came because there was
a use for it and because we wanted to
personalize our vehicles from everyone else.
It went because of new regulations for
pedestrian safety and, even though today
you could still make them and put them on
vehicles, car companies shy away from it
because it's an extra expense at a point in
(26:04):
time where it costs too much to do anything
to build a vehicle.
You could still buy them today as a
personalization effect for your own vehicle,
but most people are opting for those cheap
plastic air vents or stupid stickers
instead of a personalization hood ornament.
I really like old plastic Chrysler logo on
the front of my New Yorker.
(26:24):
I thought it made the car look even more
luxurious than anything else.
A hood ornament stands out and tells you
that it's true luxury.
Unfortunately, in today's market, that's
something that's lost.
So any of the automotive companies out
there listening to my podcast right now,
maybe, maybe you guys should invest some
money and create some new hood ornaments
Because, trust me, there are consumers out
(26:45):
there that would like it as an option.
So what do you think of the hood ornament?
Do you like it?
Do you think we should have it?
Do you think they should bring it back, or
do you think it really is something that
was just part of a fad and ran its course
through the automotive time periods?
Well, whatever you think, send us an email,
send us a comment and remember to like,
share or comment about this podcast and any
of the major social feeds or streaming
(27:07):
sites that you found the autolux podcast on.
Send us an email over at email at
autoluxnet and tell us what you think about
the automotive hood ornaments and how maybe
some of these car companies in existence
should bring them back.
I get it cadillacs trying to change the
times, but putting even their, the new
center of their old wreath, which, which is
kind of funny, because it looks like a.
If you've ever seen m grand from geely, it
(27:28):
looks exactly like their logo.
So, and tell us about it.
Do you think they should come back?
And after that, stop by the website, read
some of the reviews, check out some of the
ratings, go to the corporate links website
page.
Big or small.
We have them all on the autoluxnet
corporate links website page at autoluxnet.
The autolux podcast is brought to you by
ecom entertainment group and distributed by
podbeamcom.
If you'd like to get in touch with us, send
(27:49):
us an email over an email at autoluxnet.
So, for myself and for jay, the whole
Autolux team here and Ecom Entertainment
Group, strap yourself in for this one fun
wild ride that the automotive world's going
to take us on.
In my life there's really only been one car
to ever have this on it, and it was
actually the first vehicle I ever drove.
First vehicle I learned to drive in was a
1990 Chrysler New Yorker 5th Avenue.
Okay, so a big boat that was super comfy
and had one thing on the front it had a
hood ornament.
(00:21):
Every other car we've owned had symbols in
the grill or on the hood, but this is the
first vehicle we ever owned that had an
ornament on the hood.
Sure, it was just a tiny little plastic
Chrysler emblem, but it was there and it
looked cool.
I thought to myself I'd seen these on
Cadillacs and Rolls Royces before, but this
is the first vehicle that I actually got to
(00:42):
touch one in front of me, never being to an
auto show by the time.
We owned that vehicle, and I thought to
myself why does this car have it and not
every other luxury make?
Mercedes was famous for it, but not every
car company had them, and where did these
come from and why did they eventually
disappear?
Today, autolux is going to be taking a look
at hood ornaments or, as they were
(01:03):
originally called, radiator caps.
Welcome back to the Autolux Podcast.
I am your host, as always, the doctor to
the automotive industry, mr Everett Jay,
coming to you from our host website at
autoluxnet.
If you haven't been there, stop by, check
(01:23):
it out.
Read some of the reviews, check out some of
the ratings.
Go to the Corporate Links website page.
Big or small, we have them all Corporate
links to every major automotive company's
website from around the globe.
We're talking these tiny little car
companies you never even heard of, from
countries you don't even think have cars
from them.
We have links on the autoluxnet website and
while they're, stopped by, read some of the
reviews and check out our ratings for the
(01:45):
all of the end of the year.
See how well your vehicle stacks up against
the competition on the autoluxnet
automotive design ratings.
The autolux podcast is brought to you by
ecom entertainment group or distributed by
podbeamcom.
If you'd like to get in touch with us, send
us an email over at email at autoluxnet.
So, like I said in the beginning, beginning
hood ornaments We've all seen them, we've
all come into contact with them at least
(02:07):
once in our life, because even today
there's still one car company that actually
has it.
Rolls-royce, in its spirit of ecstasy, is
the only existing hood ornament that you'll
still find.
There are a few other car companies in
existence today that still carry some sort
of hood ornament or emblem that sticks out
from the top of the vehicle.
Honky is another one of these that does
(02:28):
this with the red arrow badge, but not a
lot of them do it.
Hell, bentley has even shied away from its
flying bee.
But why is it?
Where did they come from?
Well, hood ornaments actually predate the
automobile by a few thousand years.
I'm serious about this.
It actually predates the automobile by a
few thousand years, with the very first
(02:51):
known hood ornament being a sun-crested
falcon on Egyptian pharaoh's, king Tut's
chariot.
Yes, the pharaoh, king Tut, one of the most
famous pharaohs of all time, is the first
known account of what we would call a hood
ornament.
He put it at the front of his chariot, the
sun-crested falcon.
He wanted something more than just a
(03:13):
standard gold-studded chariot to stand out,
and he put it there to make his own
statement.
This is very similar to how hood ornaments
eventually started taking over the
automotive world.
You see, in the early days of the
automobile, when the Model T was putting
the world on wheels, every vehicle had a
radiator in the front.
The radiator was made to cool the engine
(03:35):
because you didn't want it to overheat.
If it overheated it would blow.
So we had a radiator and on top of that we
had our cap, because eventually you will go
through your water and you need to cool the
vehicle.
At this time, radiators were fully exposed
on nearly every single vehicle in existence
and this was because we all had to fill it
up and in the early days, taking the cap
(03:56):
off and refilling it was part of owning an
automobile.
If you're like myself and you sat down and
watched the cars movies or even the cars
shows, you may recount the one episode of
mater's tall tales where mater and
lightning mcqueen go back in time and meet
stanley, the man who created radiator
springs.
He was a seller of all kinds of radiator
(04:18):
caps, because, you have to remember, you
had to take it off, put water in to refill
your vehicle.
Not everybody would remember where they put
it.
You'd drop it, you'd lose it, you'd leave
it behind.
So you had to replace them.
So somebody like Stanley from the Cars
series were around and they all had
different style radiator caps.
They made them for all kinds of different
vehicles, all different types of radiators.
(04:39):
And then someone had the amazing idea why
don't we start adding stuff to our radiator
caps.
We're going to start branding them.
We're going to put our own name on it.
Essentially, radiator caps are one of the
first aftermarket accessories for
automobiles, with you as the owner and the
(05:02):
driver of the vehicle having to replace
water within your radiator to keep your
engine cool constantly.
The likelihood of losing that cap, just
like your gas tank cap.
Possibilities were endless.
Now, if you're like myself and you've owned
a vehicle at some point in your time where
you actually had to take your gas cap off
and it wasn't connected, like most of them
are today, by a string or a plastic carrier,
you put it up on the trunk lid of your car.
And I don't.
I only did this once, but I drove away.
(05:24):
Luckily, my window was down because it was
summer and all I hear is on the ground.
I'm like oh crap, damn it, I forgot to put
the cap back on.
Well, this is the same context your
radiator cap, your radiator cap.
You take it off.
You put it on top of the hood because you
remember you didn't have to open the hood
to fill the radiator.
It was exposed.
All early vehicles did this and only one
(05:45):
car company does this today, and that's
Rolls-Royce.
Now there's no need for the radiator Now.
It's just a grill to allow air into the
engine bay to cool it off, so you don't
have to fill the water.
Today we have coolant, and coolant you
could fill up roughly every few years.
You should have it changed because it does
get dirty, does get sluggish and it starts
to deteriorate.
(06:06):
So it's one of those things that a lot of
people don't change.
Trust me, I've had cars like almost 300,000
kilometers that I never changed them on,
and then I had cars that were over 100,000
kilometers and I'm getting this gross
sludge inside of it.
That was my Chevy Malibu, the worst car I
ever owned.
That's a tale for a different time.
This weird sludge would slow it down.
It would get burned up and take away from
my fluid, so I'd have to top it up and top
(06:27):
it up.
I actually damaged the radiator inside.
My old Concord once Hit a rock and damaged
it.
I managed to get it connected back together,
but I had to replace the full radiator.
It was not working properly so I had to buy
distilled water and pour it in constantly
to make sure that my car wouldn't overheat.
I'll take the radiator cap off and again,
it's one of those things where you put up
on the engine bay and, just like refilling
(06:48):
your oil under the engine or even sometimes
putting washer fluid in, you forget to put
it back.
So someone like stanley, who founded
radiator springs in the car series, would
sell you a new radiator cap.
Then we got companies like louis lejeune
limited of england one of the only
surviving companies still making radiator
caps, because today we don't need tons of
(07:10):
them.
They're manufactured by aftermarket
companies for your vehicle and literally in
today's world you're lucky if you find one
out of a thousand people that would
actually pop open their radiator and top it
up.
Everyone else just gets car dealerships and
fluid refill stations and anyone else to do
it for them.
So we're less likely to lose them.
But there are companies that still make
(07:32):
them.
On top of losing it, unless it was made out
of full-scale brass some of them were made
out of lighter gauge steel aluminum they
would crack, freeze up in the winter and
snap, overheat and crack, so you'd have to
replace it as well.
And then there was also the automotive
theft People going by, stealing them and
selling them back to people.
You have to remember this is a time where
it was so easy to steal something like that
(07:53):
and get away with it, because it literally
was exposed on the outside of your vehicle
so you could steal it so easily, build up a
collection and turn around and start
selling them.
Hell, you could sell it back to the same
person you stole it from, making a profit
off of it.
People still do this today, but stealing a
radiator cap is not something that you
would think to do In the early days.
(08:14):
Like I said, these companies like Boyce
Motometer started adding figures to it.
Like I said, it's the aftermarket industry
and the aftermarket industry and the
aftermarket industry likes to personalize
things for people.
People started asking if they could get
something else on it.
They didn't just want their radiator cap,
they want a flat, boring, bland cap.
They wanted it rounded, they want to curve,
they want to almost look like a boob.
(08:34):
Trust me, some of them actually did, and a
lot of the early ones took inspiration from
either animals or sex symbols.
Yes, rolls royce, common since 1911, has
had the winged female on the front of their
vehicle, known as the spirit of ecstasy.
Oh, it's like uh, hitting, hitting that top
point while you're in bed.
Yeah, rising to the top and hitting that
(08:56):
ecstasy moment, that's what rolls royce did
and, like I said, some of them had animals
as well.
You wanted something powerful and consumers
were demanding this from their hood
ornaments.
These companies, like Boyce Motometer, set
up in 1912, was issued a patent for an
indicator for the car's coolant on the cap.
This was a game changer and during the
(09:16):
1920s Boyce Motometer became one of the
largest manufacturers of radiator caps in
the world, with over 1,800 employees across
the United States, england, canada,
australia, france and Germany, by having a
gauge on it to tell you where your coolant
level was.
Today we have that on our digital screens
(09:37):
popping up.
A lot of my older cars have a temperature
gauge.
Some of the older cars actually had a gauge,
for your coolant would tell you to fill it
like your washer fluid.
In 1912, the very first one came out and it
made it so people can actually check their
own coolant levels, so they knew when to do
it.
You have to remember you had to check your
(09:58):
coolant constantly.
Early vehicles didn't have a water pump
used for the circulation system.
Back then it was based off a thermosiphon
principle and with that there's a lot of
possibilities for loss of fluid.
Having the pump to bring it around, as in
today's society allows it to flow through
the entire radiator to cool it off and into
(10:19):
the system to keep your engine bay cold
Well, cold enough so that it doesn't blow
up.
Trust me, I've had a radiator go my little
five-speed go-kart in a garage.
Within the first couple months of owning it
I had my radiator blow.
And I know what happens when your coolant
is about to go and your radiator is
literally about to kick the bucket.
Coolant gives off a scent.
(10:41):
You know how they pump in, because natural
gas coming into your house is odorless.
They add the rotten egg smell to it, so you
know if it's leaking Coolant has that as
well, and I learned this the hard way.
It smells like cotton candy.
I'm literally sitting there, going from the
400 onto the 401 on the off ramp Luckily I
was over towards the side where the
(11:01):
emergency lane is and it was summertime so
there was no snowbank.
And I'm sitting there and my wife and I
well, girlfriend at the time on the off
ramp, and I'm sitting there not even
realizing that my temperature gauge is
going up and up and up and up Because the
fan had died behind my radiator so the fan
wasn't able to cool the radiator.
And when the radiator can't cool.
(11:21):
It gets hotter and hotter, and hotter and
hotter.
Right before it blows, it gives off the
scent of cotton candy.
I'm literally sitting there going oh, there
must be like a carnival or something nearby.
I smell cotton candy and seconds later I
just see white smoke billowing from
underneath my hood just coming out.
I pull off to the side, I pop the hood and
(11:43):
all I can see is blowing out.
I'm like shit, I just blew a rad.
I look down, my fan's not running.
I'm like no, I didn't blow a rad.
My fan went and my rad overheated.
What do I do?
Well, luckily, at the next exit, once I got
the car cold enough, I managed to cruise
along, get onto the 401 and managed to stay
at a decent rate of speed to keep myself
(12:04):
going, because as long as I kept moving,
the cold air rushing in would cool my
radiator to a point that it wouldn't blow.
The next exit there was a canadian tire.
I went in, got some rad stop.
Same thing I did with the rad that I dented
on my concord put some rad stop in, ran it
through, make sure that the system would
not blow again, filled it up with a ton of
coolant, brought some extra coolant and
managed to get back onto the highway after
(12:25):
my car had completely cooled down and I
decided to take roads that I knew would not
be covered in tons of traffic.
And since it was a weekend and a long
weekend, I was shit of luck for getting
this thing fixed.
So I literally had to drive all the way to
my in-laws like this and then I had to
drive all the way home that way.
(12:45):
As long as I was maintaining at least 50
kilometers an hour at a steady rate of
speed on the highway, I didn't have to
worry about my radiator blowing up again.
It was cooling itself through cold air.
Rushing in the fan was made to kick on when
you were in stop and go traffic.
To keep the radiator from blowing my family
cost me a fortune because Kia, they're
cheap cars, but when you have to replace
their parts they cost a ton of money.
So, yeah, luckily I didn't use my radiator
(13:06):
cap, but my radiator cap didn't have a logo
on it.
Had I have had the temperature gauge on it,
which I did because it was on my dash.
If I'd been paying attention, I wouldn't
have had that problem Now.
Hood ornaments.
Getting back to the original topic of this
podcast.
Hood ornaments were big business During the
early days of the Ford Model T, when it
came out.
In the teen years, the 20s, the 30s, the
40s and into the 50s, hood ornaments could
(13:29):
be found on tons of vehicles, especially
through the 20s and 30s, when radiators
were exposed on vehicles, everybody wanted
to personalize their vehicle.
It didn't matter if you're driving a crappy,
beat-up Ford Model T.
You wanted to put your own logo on the hood,
similar to how you can do this with
Rolls-Royce today, but we'll get into that
at a later point.
(13:50):
So all these car companies were rushing to
do this and even in the late 30s and into
the 40s, how they changed from an exposed
radiator to an integrated radiator with a
grill in front of it, they started moving
the radiator cap hood ornaments onto the
actual hood.
But why did we lose them?
Well, by the time the 60s came in, brand
new regulations were starting to come out
(14:11):
and they were starting to change the way we
dealt with hood ornaments.
New regulations came into play and started
changing the way we had hood ornaments.
In 1968, the US introduced a new regulation
on hood ornaments for pedestrian safety,
kind of like how in Europe now, the Tesla
Cybertruck can't be sold because its
angular design and the weight of the
(14:33):
vehicle is too dangerous for pedestrians.
In 1968, the Americans thought that hood
ornaments were dangerous for pedestrians
for pedestrians.
In 68, the Americans thought that hood
ornaments were dangerous for pedestrians If
they got hit they'd found over the previous
decades.
People can get impaled on some of the ones
that they had.
The Cadillac Wreath was literally sitting
right up there with pointed edges.
Hell, even the Pontiac Ottawa Leader was a
pointed edge.
(14:53):
People can get hurt by them.
So this, along with any spinner wheel
protrusions, were getting banned in the
United States and they were doing this to
keep people safe Not the vehicles, not the
people in the vehicles, but pedestrians
when they got hit by vehicles.
Now we know, way back in the 1920s and 30s
you were able to buy a pedestrian catcher
(15:13):
for the front of your vehicle, so instead
of them getting impaled or run over, you
could just literally catch them and keep
driving.
This actually was a cool thing that was
available in early safety features.
It was an aftermarket thing.
This didn't stop every single person from
doing this.
We still actually had hood ornaments.
But what they did is a lot of car companies,
you know, after getting the wheel
(15:33):
protrusions taken off, because if you
remember James Bond and how he tore up the
tire of a Ford Mustang in Goldfinger by
using those little wheel protrusions they
have in the Aston Martins yeah, things like
that they got rid of.
But the hood ornaments we didn't get rid of.
We just changed them to a spring-loaded
hood ornament so if a pedestrian got hit
they could bend them over.
A lot of the car companies that had made
(15:55):
ones that were pointed and could damage
people like literally impale anybody even
by rubbing their hand over it.
A lot of car companies started moving away
from those and that's how we started moving
into getting personalized logos embedded in
the grills of automobiles.
Hood ornaments were there in the original
context to cover our radiator caps and by
the 40s they moved onto the hood of the
(16:15):
vehicle because we still needed to tell you
the difference between buying a Ford, a
Pontiac, a Rolls-Royce, a Cadillac.
Hell, not everybody can tell a vehicle
apart from something else.
So they needed to differentiate themselves
and that's how logos came into play.
The hood ornaments essentially became logos
for car companies, a lot of them moving
onto either the hood or into the front
(16:36):
grille of the vehicles, but, like we said,
to either the hood or into the front grille
of the vehicles.
But, like we said, we had some that were
spring-loaded the 1973 Thunderbird, the 74
AMC Ambassador and, hell, even the 86 Jeep
Wagon Ear.
They were all spring-loaded and that's
actually how Rolls-Royce does theirs today.
It's spring-loaded, but if you try and
touch it it's spring-loaded and will
disappear underneath the hood.
(16:56):
You can't tear them off, so will disappear
underneath the hood.
You can't tear them off.
So no matter what you do, you cannot steal
the spirit of ecstasy on a Rolls Royce.
It'll sit there begging you to come over
and take it, but the second you touch it it
disappears.
And Rolls Royce has done this to ensure
that people don't take them.
Unfortunately, companies like Mercedes were
not doing this.
And if you've watched the movie Mrs
Doubtfire with the great Robin Williams in
(17:17):
it, he literally rips the Mercedes logo off
Pierce Brosnan's character's car in the
movie he also kind of makes a sexual joke,
kind of thing.
You know, if you have to buy a fancy car
like that, you're kind of trying to
overcompensate for something else.
It was funny.
It went over my head when I first watched
it as a kid.
But you're a kid, you don't understand any
of that context, people that think, kids
(17:39):
that do.
They got bigger issues, but we're not
talking cars here.
By 1974, the European Union changed the
rules so that all new cars would have to
conform to the same rule as the Americans.
The Rolls-Royce Spirit of Ecstasy is now a
spring-loaded system.
Like we said, it retracts underneath the
hood.
Aftermarket ornaments had to have a
breakaway nylon fixings to comply with the
new EC Directive of 1974, or, as they call
(18:02):
it, the EC Directive 74-483 for the
European Union.
So any new hood ornament that you wanted on
your vehicle had to be a breakaway option
or, in the case of Rolls-Royce, had to be
spring-loaded and disappear so that it
would not harm any pedestrians.
Well, even though by 1968 is when they put
this into play, it was really going after
(18:23):
just luxury makes, because by the 1950s,
hood ornaments started disappearing and,
like we said, this was all due to what
happened during the 1930s.
As radiators became integrated into design,
we moved down from a hood to the grille and,
as that happened, we embedded the logo into
the front bumpers, the grilles, the.
That happened.
We embedded the logo into the front bumpers,
the grills, the hoods and all that.
These were essentially kept, with some
replacing them with flat mounted symbols in
(18:46):
their place, like Mercedes-Benz and BMW.
Today you don't find a hood ornament of a
Mercedes-Benz logo sticking out of the hood
like you did during the 1990s, like in Mrs
Doubtfire.
No, they have a logo, a giant one in the
front grill and then one right on the hood,
which is there to replace the old hood
ornament that used to stick out.
Rolls-royce and Bentley, even after all of
(19:07):
this, became the two companies that managed
to keep them going and even up until today,
rolls-royce is one of the last to have kept
them.
They did start making a comeback during the
1980s and like, kept them.
They did start making a comeback during the
1980s and, like we said with my 90 New
Yorker, it had to literally blow apart so
that nobody can hurt themselves on it.
Trust me, I went and touched it and it
would move back and forth.
(19:27):
I could not rip the thing out because the
one on the Chrysler one was a lot better
than Mercedes.
You literally couldn't rip it up because it
was actually attached by spring underneath.
It would flap back and forth but it would
not rip out.
It was great.
Chrysler actually put more thought into it
than Mercedes did.
Kind of funny.
So during the 80s and 90s, hood ornaments
(19:50):
were making a comeback and you'd see them
on companies' top products only.
So these are the products that insinuate
top luxury.
These were the premier or high-end brands
or from even the American counterparts,
their top tier of luxury, where you're
moving more into the bottom end of premier
or the top end of luxury, kind of like the
Lincoln Continental or Chrysler Imperials
of the past.
Like I said, it was my New Yorker that had
(20:10):
it.
You didn't find them on other Chrysler
products, you found it only on the top tier
product, a New Yorker Fifth Avenue, because
the standard New Yorker just had it right
in the front grill.
But by the early 2000s they were
disappearing and again it was due to
regulations and costs.
A lot of new car companies started doing
away with it because they were an extra
accessory and they found that by putting
(20:32):
just a logo on the front grill or on top of
the hood anyone could just figure out what
it is.
But it's also a time in the early 2000s
when a lot of car companies started
experimenting by designing their own
dedicated fronts, how BMW had their
kidney-style grille for decades beforehand,
new car companies and even existing ones
(20:52):
were starting to make a point for
themselves by creating grilles of their own
context.
They wanted to create their own dedicated
design, whereas you see, all audis today
all look like each other.
This is at the auto show in toronto and,
trust me, seeing an a3, an a4 or an a5
there's not much of a difference between
any of them and I got a few of them wrong.
(21:13):
Even myself, the guy who sees these all the
time, got a few of them wrong because of
making their vehicles a dedicated design,
and people were actually able to see the
vehicles by the grill from far away, so
there was no need for a hood ornament to
stand out and showcase the prowess of the
vehicle to anyone else.
Mercedes did away with their hood ornament,
(21:33):
chrysler had gotten away from it by the
mid-90s, cadillac had moved in onto the
grill and even Jaguar had moved to its own
tiny emblem.
The leaping Jaguar was gone.
A great time in the 80s and 90s when we had
the Cadillac Crest, the Lincoln Pointed
Star, the Mercedes Star, even the Chrysler
Pentagon on our hoods was now gone, with
Rolls-Royce being the only product sold in
(21:53):
North America that had a hood ornament.
We had a lot in the past.
The Woolsey from Great Britain was one of
the first car companies ever to create an
illuminated logo on the front of their
vehicle, because they wanted to make sure
you could see their vehicle from miles away.
And over the years we've had some great
ones the Pierce Arrow, archer, pontiac,
ottawa Leader, the Cadillac Crest Wreath,
(22:14):
the Bentley Flying Bee, the Horch Ball with
Wings.
The Bentley Flying Bee, the Horch Ball with
Wings, jaguar's Leaping Cat, peugeot, the
Lion Rampart, amc, the Jumping Marlin.
Oswald Beale had the Rocket.
That was a good one.
One of my favorites, and the one I remember
most from being a kid, was the Dodge Ram
Head.
In the 1980s any new Dodge Ram had
literally a Ram Head sticking out of the
(22:35):
hood, similar to Mack Trucks and their
Bulldog Rolls-Royce with the Spirit of
Ecstasy, the Hispano Sousa Storch, mercedes
three-pointed star, the Buick Tri-Shields
they were all there.
Some models even had dedicated ones, like
the Buick Regal, the Chevrolet Impala, jeep
Grand Wagoneer, chrysler Cordoba and the
Ford Thunderbird.
All had their own dedicated hood ornaments.
(22:56):
But today they don don't.
They have their own dedicated logos because
hood ornaments are gone.
New safety rules keep people from making
them.
Throughout the years they've been made with
different materials brass, zinc, bronze,
hell, it'd be.
Chrome plated, silver, nickel plated, was
substituted sometimes for chrome, even made
out of glass, even made from diamond,
(23:16):
quartz, plexiglass, plastic.
My ch Chrysler one was plastic, 1950, the
Ford Custom Deluxe was one of the first
ones ever made in plexiglass and from 55,
the old Pontiac Ottawa Leader or the Native
American head that they had in the front of
Pontiacs, lit up.
Lit up Diamonds were very appealing to some
of these car companies but as theft
(23:37):
continued, a lot of them later switched to
either plastic or quartz to ensure that
people wouldn't be stealing them because
they're not as valuable.
One of the most valuable ones throughout
history was the Nash Petty Hood Ornament.
It is the most sought after one for
reproduction or original Flying Lady ones,
commanding thousands of dollars for
original ones.
Hell, they're hundreds of dollars even for
(23:58):
reproduction ones.
And this is from Nash, a little car company
from America that never really made it big
Nash.
Remember Nash the Metropolitan, that first
microcar built from the North American
marketplace.
Yeah, their hood ornament, the Flying Lady,
is the most sought after one and trust me,
when you see it you'll understand why.
It was a great piece of art and during the
(24:20):
Art Deco period we saw some amazing designs
and some great things come out of the
automotive industry.
The aftermarket industry was alive.
Personalization with our own logos, having
them made for your own vehicle, having a
bear on the front to show that you're big
and mean, you can have a sexy lady Hell, it
might even be your wife on the front, or
just somebody you literally love like a
(24:40):
superstar.
It was one of the earliest forms of
aftermarket modification for vehicles and
it was one of the cheapest and easiest ones
for anyone to do.
From the early days of putting a heat meter
on the radiator cap to adding our own logos
and sculptures, the hood ornament has gone
through a massive amount of time and has
changed, and even today, hardly any car
(25:00):
company still makes them.
We could still expect Rolls-Royce to keep
pushing out the spirit of ecstasy, and the
greatest thing with Rolls-Royce is their
personalization effects for their vehicles.
Allow you to make your own Rolls-Royce does
this.
Drake actually has his company's owl as a
replacement for the spirit of ecstasy on
his own Rolls-Royce.
(25:21):
He had it changed Because Rolls-Royce knows
everybody knows the appeal of their vehicle
and that massive radiator style grill is
synonymous with Rolls-Royce.
Drake's own personal logo is something that
they're willing to do, and why?
Because he's willing to pay for it.
The sculpture of his owl cost thousands of
dollars Because it's real crystal.
(25:42):
Why do you think you don't see him rolling
around in his rolls a lot?
Because how expensive it is.
The hood ornament it came because there was
a use for it and because we wanted to
personalize our vehicles from everyone else.
It went because of new regulations for
pedestrian safety and, even though today
you could still make them and put them on
vehicles, car companies shy away from it
because it's an extra expense at a point in
(26:04):
time where it costs too much to do anything
to build a vehicle.
You could still buy them today as a
personalization effect for your own vehicle,
but most people are opting for those cheap
plastic air vents or stupid stickers
instead of a personalization hood ornament.
I really like old plastic Chrysler logo on
the front of my New Yorker.
(26:24):
I thought it made the car look even more
luxurious than anything else.
A hood ornament stands out and tells you
that it's true luxury.
Unfortunately, in today's market, that's
something that's lost.
So any of the automotive companies out
there listening to my podcast right now,
maybe, maybe you guys should invest some
money and create some new hood ornaments
Because, trust me, there are consumers out
(26:45):
there that would like it as an option.
So what do you think of the hood ornament?
Do you like it?
Do you think we should have it?
Do you think they should bring it back, or
do you think it really is something that
was just part of a fad and ran its course
through the automotive time periods?
Well, whatever you think, send us an email,
send us a comment and remember to like,
share or comment about this podcast and any
of the major social feeds or streaming
(27:07):
sites that you found the autolux podcast on.
Send us an email over at email at
autoluxnet and tell us what you think about
the automotive hood ornaments and how maybe
some of these car companies in existence
should bring them back.
I get it cadillacs trying to change the
times, but putting even their, the new
center of their old wreath, which, which is
kind of funny, because it looks like a.
If you've ever seen m grand from geely, it
(27:28):
looks exactly like their logo.
So, and tell us about it.
Do you think they should come back?
And after that, stop by the website, read
some of the reviews, check out some of the
ratings, go to the corporate links website
page.
Big or small.
We have them all on the autoluxnet
corporate links website page at autoluxnet.
The autolux podcast is brought to you by
ecom entertainment group and distributed by
podbeamcom.
If you'd like to get in touch with us, send
(27:49):
us an email over an email at autoluxnet.
So, for myself and for jay, the whole
Autolux team here and Ecom Entertainment
Group, strap yourself in for this one fun
wild ride that the automotive world's going
to take us on.
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