Sunday, May 16th, 2010 at
10:08 am
A hood/bonnet ornament or car mascot is a specially crafted model of something which symbolizes a car company like a badge, located on the front center portion of the hood.
Examples of hood ornaments include:
* Archer on Pierce-Arrow cars
* Crest and Wreath on Cadillac cars
* Leaping jaguar on Jaguar cars
* Lion rampant on Peugeot cars
* Ram's head on Dodge cars and trucks
* Rocket on Oldsmobile cars
* Spirit of Ecstasy on Rolls-Royce Motors cars
* Three shields on Buick cars
* Three-pointed star surrounded by a circle on Mercedes-Benz cars and trucks
In the early years automobiles had their radiator caps outside of the hood and on top of the grille. The hood ornament was born as a way of decorating the cap. Hood ornaments (or car mascots as they are known in the UK) were popular in the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s with many automakers fitting them to their vehicles. Moreover, a healthy business was created in the supply of accessory mascots available to anyone who wanted to add a hood ornament or car mascot to their automobile.
Most companies like Desmo and Smiths are now out of business with only Louis Lejeune in England surviving.
Hood ornaments are usually cast in brass, zinc, or bronze and finished in a chrome plated finish. In the years when chrome plate was unavailable, they were plated in either silver or nickel. Some also incorporated other materials, such as plastic, while others incorporated a light bulb for illumination at night.
There is now a strong collectors market for hood ornaments and car mascots. Sculptors such as Bazin, Paillet, Sykes, Renevey, and Lejeune all created finely detailed sculptures in miniature.
The best-known glass mascots were made by René Lalique in France, but other sellers or producers of glass mascots include Sabino in France, Red Ashay in England, and Persons Majestic in the U.S. The latter two had their products made in Czechoslovakia. The Lalique company, like Louis Lejeune, is one of the few survivors from this era of motoring.
Few current vehicles have hood ornaments, partly because they have fallen out of style and partly because they pose a risk for injuries in collisions with pedestrians (although this hazard has been largely mitigated by mounting modern hood ornaments to springs so that they will fold down if struck by a pedestrian).
Hood ornaments still remain quite common on many models of luxury cars and are a target for vandals and thieves.
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