Friday, March 27, 2009

Friday Fun Thread: Figureheads*

This week's Top Ten list is going to be another departure from the usual. This week's list contains a vanishing icon: The hood ornament... This list will be done with pictures, like the tailfins list a while back. So here goes!


1. Rolls Royce. The Spirit of Ecstasy is probably one of the most copied, parodied, and prestigious emblem out there.


2. Cadillac crest & wreath. What Guido would be caught dead in Brooklyn without a shiny new wreath on the front of his DeVille? The ducks got lost sometime in the 1990s.


3. Mercedes. For a period in the 1980s, no one with a Mercedes was safe from folks stealing the hood ornament for their proto-rap bling. Why? We have no idea...


4. Mack Bulldog. What differentiates a Mack from a Kenworth? Well, besides the obvious engine, transmission, frame, etc.


5. Dodge Ram. Sadly, my truck doesn't have an actual Ram ornament (they phased them out in the 1980s), but the first Ram I owned did...


6. Jaguar. Even though Ford didn't acquire Jaguar until the 1980s, the Jaguar emblem bears more than a passing resemblance to the Ford Greyhound of the 1940s.


7. Oldsmobile Rocket. The Rocket was a theme for Oldsmobile - the Rocket engines were among the fastest of their class, and were a feature to look for in "your father's Oldsmobile"...



8. Ford Greyhound. For a long time, the Greyhound was the symbol for Ford and Lincoln's top-of-the-line models.



9. Packard. Who's going to argue with an amethyst-tone Indian on the front of your car?


10. Chrysler Imperial. It looks like some sort of falcon. If the object of having a hood ornament is to make your car look faster, mission accomplished.


Thus concludes another Top Ten automotive list. If there is a hood ornament that you like, please leave it in comments - with pics, natch!

That is all.

*Thanks to Scotaku for the correction. Boy, is my face red! I think I concatenated "Figurehead" and "Masthead" there. Oopsie.

9 comments:

scotaku said...

Jay, you might want to check the post title. "Maidenhead" is an old term for "hymen." "Figurehead" is what you're showing pictures of, thankfully.

Jay G said...

[ob Homer] D'OH!!!

BobG said...

You forgot the Pontiac; I remember these from when I was a kid.

Anonymous said...

Sorry, cant find a pic right now, but in the 80s-90s higher end Chryslers had a crystal pentastar hood ornament. For a while, they even came with ignition keys that had a crystal pentastar insert.

SpeakerTweaker said...

BobG beat me to it. Being a Pontiac guy, that was the first thing I thought of.

I once could have acquired a 1948 Pontiac Chieftan with one of those backlit Indians on it.

Oooohhh, I feel a post coming on...



tweaker

Eric said...

I gave my wife a Mack Bulldog paperweight for her desk. It's the same bulldog that goes on every Mack truck. Everyone who sees it always has a favorable comment!

Peripatetic Engineer said...

The Pontiac Indian head!

Brad_in_MA said...

Jay,

Harking back to a prior time . . . the "archer" from the Pierce Arrow.

chris said...

you forgot the bentley

http://www.paulbaukephotos.com/carsBentley58SilverCloud51808-048.JPG

course it looks the best on say a 1932 stretch convertible... whitewalls with white paint and a red leather interior...