There was a time when car and coach building was more of an artform. Auto manufacturers weren’t worried as much about shaping a car to get the best gas mileage, or to fit the most amount of gimmicky junk in it as they could. These were the days when cars had a lot of chrome, brass, gold, and flowing bodywork. You can study a car from the 30’s through the 50’s for hours if you take the time to think about how much work went into building these cars in an era before computerized, robotic thinga-majiggies built 90% of a vehicle.
One of my favorite things to observe at shows are the hood emblems from those cars. Each one in itself, is artwork. Many stood as a symbol for the “theme” of the model, or even the car manufacturer. Some of these emblems are still used today in a less elegant form (the Dodge Ram for instance).
Here are a few of my favorites from a recent show I went to. Even after hitting so many car events over the years, I still find new hood emblems I’ve never seen before! What are some of your favorites?
