PETER, PAUL, & MARY wanted to know “where have all the flowers gone?” My question is: what happened to all those wonderful car hood ornaments? Today, most cars look so alike, it takes a car fanatic to distinguish one brand from another. At least you can find one in any color that you want, unlike when Henry Ford started making his eponymous brand. “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants,” said Ford, “so long as it is black.” In those early days, the iconic hood ornament started out as a topper for the radiator cap which, in the beginning, was on the outside at the front of the hood. Even after that was moved under the hood, however, the fancy hood ornament had become a staple that identified the brand. As it gained prestige, however, it became a focus of thieves and collectors. In addition, safety concerns came into play as pedestrians, when struck, might suffer worse injury if the car sported a dangerous hood ornament (really, that was the argument). So they passed into history, along with the Edsel. Here's a photo of just one of the most notable hood ornaments: Mercury's “Winged God of Speed.”
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