What's Your Favorite Hood Ornament?
Thinking up a new question every day is actually pretty tough, considering we've been doing Question of the Day for years now. But somehow, we've never inquired from the brain trust about your favorite hood ornaments. That oversight ends today. I freaking love two things: automotive fonts and hood ornaments. I hope you love these things too, otherwise this is going to be a pretty dull Answer of the Day in a few days. But you guys never let me down until you do.
We generally have two complaints about cars these days: they're less usable and less beautiful. So let's celebrate the pointless beauty of the hood ornament. There's a whole world of incredible mini metal sculptures gracing the hoods of cars from all eras, so which is your favorite? Let me know down below and if I like the cut of your gib, it'll end up in Answer of the Day later this week.
Packard had some of the best
This year at Pebble Beach there was a small section focused on Americana in honor of the 100th anniversary of the famous cross-country Route 66. You better believe I was in heaven around so much American steel. This Packard Super Eight with its Cormorant hood ornament immediately caught my eye.
Packard built luxury automobiles until the brand fizzled out in 1958. Packards were so fancy, in fact, that you could order yours with a choice of one of three hood ornaments; the Cormorant, the "Goddess of Speed" which was a very fast looking woman holding a car wheel out in front of her (someone isn't skipping core day at the gym), and the Adonis, which gave car buyers the rare opportunity to have a naked dude on the hood.
The Cormorant (also know as the Pelican...whatever, it's a big bird) was even useful at times. In the 1940s, Packard turned the Cormorant into a special radio antenna in later models. So cool. Packard has some negative connotations in the Detroit mind, due to the Packard Plant mouldering on the city's east side serving as a constant reminder of how far the Motor City had fallen. Now that the plant is gone I can go back to enjoying some of the most ostentatious American-made hood ornaments guilt-free.