Car Week brings the opportunity to see eye-catching designs from the past that no longer exist. Not Auburns, Pierce-Arrows, Cords or Packards, mind you, but the gleaming statuary riding on the hoods of vintage vehicles.
Hood ornaments provided a way for auto manufacturers to dress the radiator caps of their machines. They became emblems of a marque—goddesses, herons in flight, leaping greyhounds. Some were whimsical, others symbolic, but they created a focal point while keeping the dull but functional radiator cap out of sight.
But things change. Over time, radiators were tucked under hoods, which themselves became more streamlined and clean. Chrome began to disappear as weight and aerodynamics took greater precedence in design. Manufacturers phased out the flashy ornaments.
We present a brief reminder of the past in gallery form, as seen during Car Week 2025.