A lot is written about the impending death of the V8 engine, but where are the articles about that moribund styling affectation, the classic hood ornament? Nevertheless, reports of their imminent demise should not be taken too seriously.
With fuel economy and emissions standards and rising fuel costs putting pressure on automakers and influencing consumer decision-making, the automotive media was often speculating during the 1980s that eight-cylinder engines wouldn’t survive past 1990. But those threats weren’t as severe as the threats facing the venerable hood ornament. The emphasis on aerodynamics in the 1980s changed car design, creating rounder cars less conducive to a beacon on the prow. Add to that European pedestrian safety regulations and a consumer preference towards cars that are sportier (if only in appearance) and you’d be forgiven for thinking the hood ornament is in its death throes. Well, it would probably be a cold day in hell before Rolls-Royce ditched the Spirit of Ecstasy – now spring-loaded for pedestrian safety – but there are still a handful of cars available with a hood ornament, including the Jaguar XJ, Mercedes S-Class and the featured Hyundai Equus. Despite the rounded sheetmetal, this Korean luxobarge wears its ornament quite convincingly.
Do you miss the hood ornament? Or are you glad it has gradually disappeared from automotive design?
My dad just bought a new Ford Flex and had a mid-eighties Ford LTD Crown ornament installed. Looks great! It works on the Flex because it is one of the few new cars with a “flat” hood. BTW…that thing rides like a Town Car, very smooth and quiet.
I liked the hood ornament that was on my Grandmother’s 1950 Buick. Hood ornaments kind of disappeared around 1960 or before. I don’t miss the plastic hood ornaments that reappeared in the 70’s. I think putting the ornament in the radiator grille is much better even though they are still plastic.
Hood ornaments were still very much present among US cars of the 1960’s. Besides the iconic Lincoln Continentals, 65-66 Ford LTDs had hood ornaments, as did many of the 60’s Imperials. Chrysler put hood ornaments on the 65-66 Plymouth Furies. These are a just a few that come to mind – I think they were others. The big safety change was from the fixed to the folding hood ornament.
The 1981 and 1982 Ford Granadas I owned had handsome metal hood ornaments. I don’t miss them – just another thing to clean or be subject to damage or vandalism.
Dad’s 1961 Mercedes 190Db had a stand-up, spring-loaded Mercedes silver star hood ornament. People kept stealing it. Dad came up with a harder-to-detach spring-loaded mount. It still was stolen. So I’m not too much of a fan of hood ornaments.
You would want to be careful of making it too hard to detach, I remember my uncle saying he asked if he could make the BMW badges on his car harder to steal only to be told “yes, but then you’ll end up with damage to the paint that costs a lot more than a badge”
Yes, I do miss hood ornaments. I used to have a 1988 Lincoln Town Car. When the spring broke on the factory ornament, I ordered a Lincoln greyhound reproduction from JC Whitney. Mounted it in the same hole and it looked great. Everyone would ask—
“Why did you put a Jaguar hood ornament on a Lincoln?”
“It’s not a Jag ornament it’s a greyhound.”
“Did it come off of a bus?”
“No, back in the 30’s Lincolns were known for being fast, so they chose the greyhound as their emblem.”
“That’s weird. It still looks like a Jag.”
“Have a nice day.”
Greyhound was on 34 Fords,
True, but Lincoln used the greyhound from ’27. It would sure look odd on a T!
My brother had a 66 Lincoln. The hood emblem looked like the recent ones, however, the cross bars continued outside of the retecangle part. It looked dangerous to me at the time. Just one more thing that the mfgs drop in order to increase the aerodynamics of the car (really saves them a few cents)
The current Lincoln logo with the cross bars that don’t continue outside the rectangular frame has never looked right to my eyes. Without the extensions, it looks the “star” look – and its distinctiveness.
I’m curious as to why there were two versions of the old logo in the ’60s through ’80s – a wide one for the Continental sedans and a narrow, tall version for the Mark series.
Either looked great as a hood ornament.
On late 80’s Town Cars, they used the tall skinny emblem all over the car but they had the trunk lock under the wide one. These cars have to hold a record for the most emblems.
Front side marker lights 2
In between the headlights 2
Hood ornament 1
Wheel centers 4
Steering wheel hub 1
Thermometer on door. 1
Trunk lock 1
Embroidered seats 4
Plus they spell out Lincoln on the front, rear, and dash.
My Dad had a ’63 Lincoln and the hood ornament was the rigidly mounted “boxed cross . I loved that car and was waxing it one day.. I was rubbing away when I struck one of the projecting edges of the cross with my rt. forearm. Left a pretty deep nasty gash in my arm and a scar that is still visible.today. After bandaging up my wound and cleaning up the blood I finished waxing the car. I have a duplicate of that hood ornament mounted to a marble base which had been given to a Lincoln salesman at some time.Spring loaded stand up ornaments are obviously a better idea. My ’57 Cadillac had a double shark fin hood ornament, It was only sharp on the trailing edges but I would hate to be a pedestrian struck by this car. It would be like being bit by a great white shark.! I wonder how pedestrians fared if they ever encountered the “Dagmars” of the earlier models.
Hood ornaments belong in the history books, along with sidemounts, Continental kits and wraparound windshields.
I’m not a fan of the current generation of Mercedes styling, and I think their stodgy old hood ornament and grill are part of the problem.
Can you really still get a leaper hood ornament on the current generation XJ? I would hope not, since it would really be out of place on that bullet-shaped nose.
I have seen one, and it definitely looked out of place! Someone really couldn’t let go.
Think the stand-up Jag ornaments are only on North American export cars. UK/EU cars don’t get them, probably because of pedestrian safety regs but also public tastes.
I like hood ornaments a lot, but I’m glad they have been regulated to expensive luxury cars only in the past 10-15 years (Jaguar, Mercedes, this, etc). The whole point of an ornament is to be extra, special, distinctive, luxurious. Back when they were tacked on to the top trim level every mainstream sedan in the Brougham Era they were just, well, tacky. There is nothing exclusive or luxurious about an ’81 Malibu with crank windows and a vinyl seats. It devalued the styling feature a lot – I think they are finally starting to be seen as a true luxury touch once again.
I tend to agree. They have their place, but it’s not on every car. (And in the Malibu’s case, they should have left it what it was on the ’78-’79 cars–a Chevy medallion in the top of the grille shell. It went standalone for ’80.)
Creating one for the Equus that doesn’t look ridiculous on that rounded nose was quite an accomplishment!
The hood ornament explosion predated the Brougham era – by the late ’50s many cars were sporting two hood ornaments, one atop each front fender over and behind the headlights.
We liked having one on our 95 Voyager as you could not see the hood but could see the ornament and thus knew where the front of the vehicle was when parking.
Agree with you there! I saved the hood ornament from my 95 Voyager and am thinking of how to mount it to my 03 Caravan.
When my father bought his new 1950 Packard there was a choice of three different hood ornaments – a very small one with a stylized wheel, a slightly larger one that was reminiscent of a Greek warrior’s helmet, and finally the famed Packard cormorant. He chose the middle one, not realizing that it looked like a slightly larger variant of the 1950 Ford hood ornament. In later years I scrounged a cormorant for the car, since he had once backed into it with the dump truck and neatly removed the Ford-like piece from the hood.
At the Auburn gathering last year, former contributor and current reader (?) Richard Bennett, the Godfather of Brougham, was able to display to us the hood ornament he had installed on his 2012 Honda Civic.
I like them a lot… as relics. This photo shows why they don’t work well on today’s cars as part of a cohesive design. Without a central prow and outrigger fenders, there’s no place for them to perch comfortably. In the ’50s they split the responsibility with ever more sophisticated shields, crests and 3D logos. If you step back and remove yourself from the mid century mentality, they look anachronistic, their role diminished to that of a gun sight for the driver.
That said, if the modern owner wants to mount one, it makes a fine totem!
I have always liked hood ornaments and I miss them. I also miss vinyl roofs, opera windows, coach lights, roll-Royce style vertical grills and trunklid tire humps as well as two-tone paint schemes.
Yes, I do feel like a relic of the past.
I remember Lee Iacocca liked the idea, and he put it somewhere more permanent.
Personally I like hood ornaments but most of today’s vehicles would look silly with them. My Highlander would look foolish with a stand up Toyota “T”.
I did see a 2005-2009 Buick LaCrosse in the McDonald’s parking lot with a prominent chrome swan installed as a hood ornament (like you would get from the JC Whitney Catalog). It looked alright, especially given the red, white, and blue Buick shields that had been placed on the c-pillar on each side.
Jaguar hood ornaments are an American affectation – they’re not on any Jags sold in the UK.
[steps back and watches the fun commence]
That was one of the upgrades for a Humber 80 over my plain Jane Hillman Minx you got fancier hubcaps a little more foam on the seats and tits on the bonnet (Humbers flying lady hood ornament).
Now that FCA has rebranded Dodge Trucks as Rams, they should bring back the Ram hood ornament.
I remember when JC Whitney sold Ram ornaments with light-up eyes. They probably still do, I just haven’t looked through their catalogs in a few decades.
I miss them but I’m glad at least Mercedes still has them. I think it is silly to rub sports sedan/sports car/whatever stank all over every single car. What’s wrong with a little formality? I want my luxury to look lux and my sporty to look sporty-but not combined.
I have one of the crystal looking Pentastar hood ornaments of an old Town and Country van that I kind of want to put on my newer 300 but I just can’t bring myself to do it.
Some hood ornaments look more attractive than others. What i don’t like are the kind that look attractive, but can hurt someone if an accident occurs. I’ve seen hood ornaments that look like they could rip into the skin of someone un-lucky enough to be run into by a car.
I think if you get hit by a car, the hood ornament is going to be about the least of your worries-unless it was one of those stylized (and pointy) jets from 50’s cars. The more recent Cadillac, Buick, Lincoln, Chrysler, etc. ones look like they would have just busted off if they weren’t spring loaded. They are made out of pot metal, not weapons grade steel.
NOPE, don’t miss em at all. Worthless, tacky and stuck on doo dads that literally add nothing to the vehicle. But to be fair, I don’t get the whole gingerbread thing to start with. Granted an ornament on luxo type car is part of it…but that aint my thing to start with. Considering the vehicles that check my boxes, a hood ornament would stick out like a sore thumb. Those wonky ones on the broughammy Charger SE, for example. Why? But one of the worst offenders was the ridiculous ram’s head on 80s era Dodge trucks and Ramchargers. BARF.
I think hood ornaments had their place – certainly in classic times as an ornamental radiator cap. And they certainly added to the elegance of thirties cars. But the rationale for keeping them after that seems a bit shaky.
On ‘space-age’ cars, I can understand the desire for some kind of jet plane or rocket mascot. But lower-trim versions often look quite passable without them, and they were one of the first things a customizer got rid of. On the other hand, you used to see quite a few of the original Falcons with the ‘flying bird’ ornament sprawled on the hood bulge.
But stand-up ornaments in the sense of a vertical ‘totem-pole’ sticking up from the hood just struck me as a peculiar Americanism on later cars, one of those visual barbs our local Big Three designers insisted on putting on their upper echelon cars. They’re handy for tying ribbons around on wedding cars, but that’s about it.
And they sure don’t belong on aero designs, IMHO.
Dont miss them at all, I get to see one every time i jump into my Mercedes. Heres a custom job I spotted on a company vehicle when touring the New Belgium Brewery in Ft Collins CO.
I love hood ornaments – depending on the car though. A hood ornament wouldn’t work on a Lamborghini Murcielago, for example, due to the low swoopy lines, the persona of the car. Yet all of my Nissan Laurels have had a lovely stylised ‘L’ hood ornament (solid metal and spring-loaded for pedestrian unimpalement natch), and they suit the JDM luxo-barge style perfectly. My only regret with my current C35 Laurel’s one is that I can’t see it from the driver’s seat due to the curvature of the bonnet – the early C33 Laurel had a flatter bonnet, so one could easily see the ornament and use it as a guiding device! Sadly, I shall be hood ornamentless soon, as I’m selling the Glorious Laurel, and neither the Peugeot 307 or the Ford Sierra suit a hood ornament 🙁 Here’s my current Laurel’s one:
I don’t miss hood ornaments and I’m also glad that spoilers seem to be disappearing from distinctly non-sporty sedans, like Malibus and Camrys.
You can say that again!
My old Falcon had a rear spoiler. It looked nice until it faded, and at a much more rapid pace than the rest of the paint. I thought hey, I’ll take it off, spoilers are dumb! You know what’s worse? Weird paint welts where the spoiler once mounted, and stupid little holes that you have to fill with protruding little grommets that look like warts. I wasn’t going to buy a whole new trunklid so I just put the damn spoiler back on, faded and all.
Spoilers are awful. I can’t really think of one sedan that has looked better with one. Believe it or not, the Americanized Pontiac G8 actually was more SUBTLE than our performance Commodore. A little lip spoiler, while our SS and SS-V models had a big bloody spoiler on the back. Which looks better? The G8.
Amen. I hate spoilers with a passion, especially when they are on decidely non-sporty cars! In the States, the worst offenders I see are the 2006+ Chevy Impalas. They are nice enough looking cars, but certainly not sporty. Many of them around here have this big spoiler slapped on the trunk, and it just looks ridiculous. Even the SS model would have just looked better as a dedicated sleeper.
Then, I see a Deville or DTS that some fool put a spoiler on and the Chevy’s look positively fetching in comparison.
my dad always used them as drivers training aids when he taught people how to drive.
“keep that ornament in the centre of your lane at all times!”
I do miss them and I am thinking of how to mount the hood ornament from my 95 Voyager onto my current vehicle.
I just spent 2 weeks in South Korea and I noticed that the hood ornament is quite popular. Maybe it’s because I saw so many Equus (Equuses? Equussi?) on the roads over there.
I have a soft spot for ornaments, but only as a styling relic from a bygone era. When they served a purpose during the classic, they made sense, and in some cases were really beautiful. As a “retro” styling touch in the 1970s, they just added entertaining kitsch on cars. They don’t work with aero designs at all. On today’s cars, Rolls Royce and Mercedes-Benz are really the only makes that have the gravitas to pull it off.
I think the hood ornament on the Hyundai looks absolutely ridiculous and reminds me of something that the children’s book author Richard Scarry would have drawn on one of his cars in Busytown, perhaps driven by Papa Pig.
I love hood ornaments, but I agree that they were cheapened in the 70s when they appeared on everything. When a Mustang II sports a hood ornament, it’s time to reevaluate.
I wish my 300 had a hood ornament. I think an updated version of the ’67 300 ornament would do nicely.
I miss them but as has been noted, even a Jaguar leaper doesn’t look right now. I think their time has passed, really.
FWIW, the new Mercedes C Class is not available in the UK with a 3 pointed star on the bonnet
I like the hood ornament. It gives the car a bit of presence. I like the one on my 95 Deville.
Some cars actually used the hood ornament as the lever to open the hood in the 1940’s and 1950’s
But have to admit the by the 1980’s it was getting a bit pretentious with being placed on entry level cars.
However even the most pretentious ones were not as bad as the aughts and car makers putting a trunk spoiler on every car. (I am sorry but having a spoiler on a 2000 Malibu LS was not going to turn it into a “sporty sedan”
In the early 70s, a friend had a `64 Riviera and he mounted a swan hood ornament on it with transparent wings that lit up in yellow.When he sold me the car, the first thing I did was to remove that ugly thing . I gave it to a neighbor and he kept it in his basement, but never wired it to light up.I guess these things were the equivalent to the figureheads on the old sailing ships.