The hood ornament was once a staple of design for cars of all classes. These days, however, only a few have survived the onslaught of aerodynamics, clean modern aesthetics, and pedestrian safety laws.

The right hood ornament on a car can produce a spirit of ecstasy in the viewer, creating in them the desire to immediately mount the car it's mounted on. With your help, we've identified these ten ...

Equal parts beautiful and dangerous, the hood ornament reputedly dates all the way back to the chariots of Egyptian Pharaohs. As far as we can tell, there are five basic types of ornamentation for the ...

In the early days of automobiles, hood ornaments were not merely decorative; they served a functional purpose that might surprise modern car enthusiasts. Originally designed to indicate the status of ...

The winged motometer on Grandpa's Model T. The chrome star on Mom's Mercedes. For decades, hood ornaments identified the beginning of a car and the height of an automaker's branding. But styles change ...

At the Arizona Concours d’Elegance, I was taken back and inspired by the rare and unique automobiles that were on display. The ambiance of these immaculate cars sprawled across the Arizona Biltmore ...

Many of us grew up watching hood ornaments bob somewhere near the horizon on the fronts of our parents’ cars. The winged motometer on my dad’s Model T and chrome star on my grandma’s Mercedes were two ...

Inside the Mercedes Benz dealership on New York's posh Park Avenue, cars shimmer, leather seats invite, and hubcaps gleam—just like you'd expect. But there's also something missing: the distinctive ...

Unruly teens have often found solace in ripping hood ornaments off their high-school principals’ sedans. Lucky for principals now, hood-mounted crosshairs, half-naked flying ladies and big, leaping ...

Once holding a place of honor as brand-defining symbols, awesome hood ornaments are now edging towards extinction. We've selected ten awesome ornaments which we're looking for you to name and answer ...