Here at ViaRETRO we’ve run features on various aspects of car design in the past, such as front and rear light assemblies, our International Editor’s obsession with retina-scarring Pascha upholstery, the extravagant fins of the 1950’s and the mercifully brief popularity of the mod top.
But we’ve never discussed one of the smaller, yet nevertheless significant, aspects of a classic – not of moderns, since they’re pretty much not allowed to have them – and that is the bonnet or radiator ornament or mascot.
Almost certainly the most famous motoring ornament in the world is the Spirit of Ecstasy that sits proudly atop every radiator grill of every Rolls Royce built since 1911. Even today in these safety-obsessed times, when all other such mascots have been removed or incorporated more integrally into a car’s design, the Silver Lady is still there, allowed to be by virtue of the fact that the modern-day version is spring-loaded and can retract within an instant of being struck from any direction, primarily to prevent injury to pedestrians.
The model for the Silver Lady was a real person, Eleanor Velasco Thornton, who had also been the model for the Spirit of Ecstasy’s precursor, a figurine that became known as The Whisper that had been designed by Charles Robinson Sykes for the Baron Montagu of Beaulieu, founder of the world-renowned National Motor Museum in Beaulieu and home of the Bluebird of Donald Campbell and Golden Arrow of Sir Henry Seagrave among much, much more…but I digress…
It was meant for his 1909 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost as a symbol of their secret relationship, though driving around with a representation of your lover’s likeness on the front of your car doesn’t strike me as being all that secretive…
Within a year, many other Rolls Royce owners had taken to adorning their cars with what were deemed by the company to be “inappropriate” ornaments (nope, no idea), so Claude Johnson, then the MD of Rolls Royce, turned to Sykes to create a figurine that would become the symbol for all cars bearing the Rolls Royce name, and Sykes again turned to Eleanor Thornton for his inspiration.
By 1911 the Spirit of Ecstasy – meant to represent “the spirit of the Rolls-Royce, namely, speed with silence, absence of vibration, the mysterious harnessing of great energy and a beautiful living organism of superb grace” – was fitted to the majority of the cars from the Crewe factory, and became a standard fitting during the early 1920’s. Initially made of silver plate, from 1914 onwards the little statue was made of nickel or chrome alloy, mainly to prevent theft. Between now and then, there have been a number of variations of the Silver Lady, including kneeling as well as standing figures.
So all this is by way of a preamble about bonnet and radiator ornaments and mascots in general, and the fact they have all but disappeared nowadays in a welter of health and safety regulations over recent decades, with the Rolls Royce being just about the only car built today that still features such an ornament as standard.
Up to the early 1970’s, however, many manufacturers put a mascot or symbol of some kind on their cars. Among the best known is of course Jaguar’s leaping cat – a very direct link to the brand – and the three-pointed star of Mercedes-Benz – I confess to enjoying a quiet sense of satisfaction when I look along the bonnet of my 280CE. However, since then, with a few exceptions, bonnet or radiator ornaments have largely vanished, principally for the protection of errant pedestrians, very likely these days to be engrossed with their phone rather than where they’re going.
The majority of cars with such decoration were built in the 1920’s through to the 1960’s, some as part of manufacturers’ branding, others as expressions of individuality on the part of owners. Whatever the reason, there is a huge variety of such ornaments, some purely decorative, some with a dual purpose eg with a built-in temperature gauge such as found on the Ford Model T, produced by Boyce Motormeter – the gallery below shows just some of the types of Boyce Motormeter radiator ornaments.
I think they’re fascinating, some are modest, others are wildly extravagant; some reflect the values of the car maker, others, particularly those chosen by individual owners, are there for no other reason than personal whimsy – and why not? It’s their car.
Some of my personal favourites include the Bugatti dancing elephant, the Pontiac Chief of the Sixes, the Armstrong Siddeley Sphinx, the winged Packard figurine, the Avions Voisin art deco bird made, allegedly, from scrap metal, as opposed to an ornament made of Lalique, for instance, and the extravagant sculpture of a stork atop the grill of the equally extravagant Hispano Suiza, one of the world’s most spectacular motor-cars of the ‘20’s and ‘30’s.
But there are so many more and I thought it would be fun to show just a few – well, quite a few, actually – that attract attention for one reason or another – take a look, and let us know your own favourites!
