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Hood ornaments started as a disguise for homely radiator caps more than a century ago. Once upon a time, radiator caps were featured on the outside of the car so drivers could keep an eye on the coolant water vapor temperature. Those caps weren’t particularly fetching as a design feature, so automakers started getting creative by adding “car mascots.”
Early cars were not equipped with coolant temperature gauges. One enterprising company created the Moto-Meter, a temperature gauge mounted on the radiator. As manufacturers began to incorporate coolant temperature gauges, the Moto-Meter disappeared, but the hood ornament remained for some brands.
Today, only a few high-end manufacturers still offer these gorgeous hood jewelry, like Rolls-Royce and Bentley. What happened to these mobile works of art?
Pushed out for safety and design
According to the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automotive Museum in Auburn, Indiana, safety experts began to scrutinize hood ornaments as a potential hazard in collisions during the 1960s. Hood ornaments were omitted in subsequent designs during the same era; think Mustang, Corvette, Camaro, or a streamlined Plymouth Superbird. As cars got faster, automakers could see that anything that increased the coefficient of drag and affected its fuel efficiency was a liability. Hood ornaments like the whimsical Bugatti bear or Rolls-Royce’s Spirit of Ecstasy, sadly, can certainly affect a car’s aerodynamics.
In Europe, car regulations pushed out hood ornaments because of the risk they pose to pedestrians who get hit by cars. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says pedestrian fatalities increased 57 percent from 4,779 to 7,522 between 2013 and 2022. In September of 2024, the organization proposed a new rule that “would establish test procedures simulating a head-to-hood impact and performance requirements to minimize the risk of head injury.” Protruding sculptures like “Leaper,” Jaguar’s mascot, could ostensibly act as a spear in a collision with a pedestrian, I suppose, although finding statistics on actual injuries by hood ornament have been elusive.
Not all car companies erased the mascots from their front ends back in the ‘60s, however. Cadillac kept its crest on the hood on some models even into the early 2000s, following a law that required the piece to bend on impact. Unfortunately, Cadillac and Mercedes-Benz hood ornaments were stolen fairly often, and one prominent rapper wore them as neck ornaments instead (I’m looking at you, Rick Ross). Rolls-Royce and Bentley have all but eliminated the vandalism and safety hazard issues with a cool trick: their mascots electronically disappear into a special compartment in front of the hood opening.
Hood ornaments of the past, into the future
One of my favorite hood ornaments of the past is Chrysler’s winged mascot, which looks quite a bit like a golden snitch from Harry Potter’s quidditch games. I have a 1956 Buick Roadmaster hood ornament on my desk, a ridiculously heavy chrome jet. Pierce-Arrow’s Archer adorned the bonnets of its pre-war cars, and it’s a sculpture worthy of an art museum.
You might remember Cadillac’s three-dimensional crest, however, the American brand also created two distinctive hood ornaments with the iconic flying Goddess and a heron in the 1930s. The Goddess returns in the GM luxury brand’s Celestiq as a glass-encased piece inside the cabin and the front fender, and it will be good to see her back. Perhaps more automakers will find ways to bring back their ornaments of the past as an emblem on the side of the car or integrated into the cabin.
Fifty years ago, car bling was also presented as a useful tool before in-car cameras came into play. In the December 5, 1972 issue of the New York Times, writer Jerry M. Flint said that automaker executives in Detroit “believe [hood] ornaments give the driver an aiming point toward the center of the road, possibly making for easier and safer car handling.” Dick Macadam, a chief stylist at the Chrysler Corporation, called the hood ornament a “driving tool.”
William Mitchell, vice president for styling at GM, defended the use of car mascots as a style differentiator.
“I can’t stand a hood that looks like a turkey roaster or a bedpan,” Mitchell said. I can only imagine what Mr. Mitchell would say about some of the lozenge-shaped cars on the market today. The next time you’re wandering along the rows of classic vehicles at a museum or car show, take note of the ornaments throughout history. And join me to mourn their decline.
This story is part of Popular Science’s Ask Us Anything series, where we answer your most outlandish, mind-burning questions, from the ordinary to the off-the-wall. Have something you’ve always wanted to know? Ask us.
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