Hood Ornaments AACA "The Rummage Box"

Hood Ornaments

Now they are all FLAT. I mean flat as the "Twiggy" fashion models parading the runways. Hoods, that is. The ornaments are GONE! I scanned a huge parking lot and there was simply a flat sea of sheet metal shimmering in the sun.

It wasn't always that way. Hood ornaments of yesteryear were classy works of art that made an elegant statement about the car. If you were tacky enough to mount your own-maybe a monkey or a risqué lady -it simply made a statement about YOU – not the car.

Early engines did not pressurize the radiator. The Model T simply siphoned the water instead of using a pump. To get the best combustion and preserve the coolant, the motor had to operate between 170-180 degrees F. This became difficult in higher elevations as the boiling point drops a degree for every 500 feet elevation. The Boyce Moto-Meter, patented in 1912, was a thermometer that read the temperature of the radiator's vapor. These were standard features throughout the first three decades of motoring. But auto makers wanted their name riding on the hood, so the Moto-Meters installed at the factory were incorporated into an ornament.

Shortly after WW I, George Stant designed a two-piece radiator cap that kept the ornament properly aligned as well as incorporating a Moto-Meter thermometer. Quickly the company began supplying classic designs to such marques as Ford, Lincoln, Packard, Pierce Arrow and Cadillac. When the internal thermostat became common, the Moto-Meters faded away.

But Stant is still around. Look at your present radiator cap - chances are it is made by them. As a sidebar, his son Kyle invented the locking gas cap. One of their relatively recent innovations (1962) includes the Lev-R-Vent ® safety cap.

I was surprised to learn that Plymouth didn't use the Mayflower sailing ship as an ornament until 1934. Previously it had appeared only as a medallion and bore the words, "Chrysler Plymouth." In the mid-fifties the ship took on a modern motif and closely resembled a jet plane.

Cadillac's first hood piece was a little guy decked out in a regal tunic bearing the Cadillac crest and blowing a horn to announce a magnificent new car. The official name was the Cadillac Herald but today is jokingly referred to as "the tooter!" In the early Thirties, a Heron graced the cars. Later a mermaid-like Goddess rode the hoods in various forms until the mid-Fifties. The early renditions even had glass wings. When you look at the sleek Goddess and the endowed, bosomy bumpers of the 1955, there is no doubt where the designer's minds were!

Some folks just want to be original. Austin Moore MD of Columbia, SC, an ingenious Orthopaedic surgeon in the 1940s, devised an artificial hip ball to replace fractured and arthritic joints. It is said he bolted one to the hood of his car!

Some ornaments have unique stories. Gottleib Daimler was a technical director of the Deutz engine factory and wrote his wife that someday a star would shine over his factory.

When his sons were looking for an emblem, they remembered their father's fascination with stars. In 1909 they registered trademarks for both a three and four point star. From 1910 to the present the three-point star has been their mark. It is said to symbolize Daimler's universal theme of mobility, on land, on water and in the air.

The Mercedes Star has been a frequent target of thieves. After having three stolen, one owner quipped his next move would be to place several in a pail beside the car and attach a sign reading, "Please take one from here!"

Staid and stuffy Rolls-Royce became incensed their owners were adding personalized decorations to their cars. They commissioned London artist Charles Sykes to design a graceful piece for their motor cars. Sykes was a step ahead. He had already presented to the father of the present Baron a flowing sculpture called The Whisperer. According to the Rolls-Royce website's account, this had been in the likeness of Eleanor Thornton, the secretary to his Lordship, and only to be whispered… his mistress as well. This relationship was concealed for many years. Sykes made a few modifications and presented Rolls with a similar rendition named The Spirit of Ecstasy. Since 1911 she has been the Flying Lady that crowns Rolls Royce hoods. Interestingly, no two of the early Rolls-Royce Flying Ladies were exactly alike. They were cast by a 'lost wax" method and this destroyed the mold each time.

And the rest of the story…Eleanor Thornton would never know of her fame and place in Rolls-Royce history. When the SS Persia sunk at sea in 1915 blake2she was lost.

See you next month!

Bob

Reprinted with permission from Dr. Robert Blake and the Antique Automobile Club of America