It seems unthinkable today. But in 1955, it said something.
I've written about hood ornaments before. You should have seen the hood ornament on the Nash my father bought in the 1950s. Ah! Here it is:
May 14, 2007
The hood ornament.
It seems unthinkable today. But in 1955, it said something.
I've written about hood ornaments before. You should have seen the hood ornament on the Nash my father bought in the 1950s. Ah! Here it is:
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9 comments:
Beautiful. I'm looking forward to the big Memorial Day celebration in Boalsburg. There's always a huge classic car show.
I think when hood ornaments were deemed dangerous they moved those emblems to the grills on the front of the car instead. But it just took away from the cool factor which just isn't there anymore.
Talk about sexy curves!
When the British built the first roads in Saudi Arabia, they were two lane roads, and they put the stripe down the center of the highway (as we do here). Some of the Saudi sheikhs who bought cars back then didn't understand what a hood ornament was for and thought it must be functional, and they tried to drive by lining it up with the stripe down the center of the road.
The best memory I have of the utility of a hood ornament is in the movie, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. On one occasion he commandeers the truck carrying the ark and tosses out the Nazis in the front seat. But there is a German officer who has a bit more mettle than his comrades, and he swings in, kicks Indiana Jones in the head, beats him up in the drivers seat and throws him out the window onto the hood. Indy only saves himself by seizing the hood ornament, which breaks off but allows him to get under the truck. A bit later he works his way back to the front and does to the German officer exactly the same thing (blow by blow the same thing) as the officer did to him, and throws him out onto the hood. But the hood ornament is no longer there, so the officer falls off the front of the truck and gets run over.
I had a friend who made and attached his own hood ornament, it's a wicked looking dragon. Well, if you have the skill to do it...
But in 1955, it said something.
Yes. It said, "look out for me"!
It might come as some small consolation to the pedestrian impaled on that hood ornament to look through the windshield to see the driver’s bloody fingers all broken off in the steering wheel.
Those chrome beauties also inspired the Texas Longhorn hood ornament, most commonly found on the hood of an El Dorado. It made a great movie prop.
Ornaments are now used by hoods instead of on hoods.
Hood Ornaments are cool-I think I just sounded like Beavis.
I have to say it is amazing the amount of output you put on this site everyday. Don't you ever get tired? I do admire your consistency and being so faithful to getting so much stuff on here.
I agree with the comment on hood ornaments. When I first arrived in Boston I drove a Honda Accord; the "H" on the grill wasn't really an ornament but just a "H". Of course it was ripped off and I replaced it twice. I thought it might be a jilted lover until I observed some kids wearing different symbols from cars on their hats. I was clueless and had no idea that kids would want to steal these-I was young and dumb and new to the big city.
I now drive a BMW (hope that doesn't sound pretentious) and the BMW circle on my grill has been stolen three times and they cost 500.00 to replace. I guess I can understand the staus with the thieves with the BMW but the Honda?
The only thing that
George Bush's previous assistant (who lives in my building) and I have ever spoken about is our loss of our car emblems. He parks right next to me.
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