Hood ornament

[2] According to the author of A History of Cars written for youth, the first "hood ornament" was a sun-crested falcon (to bring good luck) mounted on the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun's chariot.

[2] This became useful gauge for the driver because many early engines did not have water pumps, but a circulation system based on the "thermo-syphon" principle as in the Ford Model T. The "exposed radiator cap became a focal point for automobile personalization.

[5] During the 1920s, advertisements for Mercedes-Benz emphasized their "star" hood ornament as representing the "world-famous product of the oldest automobile works in the world" and as the ultimate symbol of luxury.

Hood ornaments were viewed as "objets d'art" according to Richard Teague, who served as styling vice president at American Motors Corporation (AMC).

[9] After World War II, Nash Motors commissioned George Petty to design hood ornaments featuring female figures without clothing for their cars.

[10][11] Petty used his daughter to make the "Flying Lady" hood ornament which became a marketing coup for Nash and the 1950 "Airflyte" models in the Ambassador and Statesman cars.

"[8] Others in the auto industry, such as Dick Macadam, a chief stylist at Chrysler hold the view that hood ornaments provide an aiming point for centering, "possibly making for easier and safer car handling.

Regulations introduced in the United States for the 1968 model year vehicles meant the disappearance of fixed stand-up hood ornaments, as well as spinner wheel protrusions.

[15] Later versions featured flexibly mounted (spring-loaded) stand-up hood ornaments designed to fold without breaking on impact, such as on the 1973 Ford Thunderbird, 1974 AMC Ambassador, and on the 1986 Jeep Wagoneer (SJ).

[19] Rolls-Royce's mascot is now mounted on a spring-loaded mechanism designed to retract instantly into the radiator shell if struck with a force greater than 98 newtons (22 pounds-force).

[2] The company had over 300 such customers at one time during the mid-1920s, for car, truck, tractor, boat, airplane, and motorcycle manufacturers, and in 1927, had 1,800 employees in six countries: U.S., England, Canada, Australia, France, and Germany.

"[43] As a result, the radiator cap was changed into an art form and became a way of individualizing the car, "representing a company's vision of the automobile", or "speaking volumes about the owner" of the vehicle.