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Egyptian Chariots to Rolls Royce
Posted by D. V. Allwine on 10th Apr 2024
— Blog —
Picture a sun-crested falcon mounted on the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun’s chariot, and you will envision the first hood ornament. This design was chosen to bring good luck and give further testimony to the greatness of the chariot and the wealth of the young king. Six dismantled chariots were found in the anti-chamber of Tutankhamun’s tomb which are currently at the Grand Egyptian Museum just outside of Cairo in Giza.
Flash forward to today and the slowly diminishing hood ornament. To my knowledge, only the Rolls Royce still has its beautiful Spirit of Ecstasy, which can be raised and lowered automatically by the driver.
The hood ornament was originally designed to hide the radiator cap, which was located on the bonnet of the car. Hood ornaments became symbols of speed, quality, and individuality of the brand for such cars as Rolls Royce, Jaguar, Mercedes, Porsche, and Cadillac, to name a few. When the radiator was moved to under the hood, companies chose to keep the ornament for aesthetics (Evolution of American Car Mascots and Hood Ornaments).
In 1968, Federal safety regulations prohibited rigidly mounted pieces on cars because of safety issues. However, another huge problem for the auto industry was theft. If you search car hood ornaments on eBay, you can get a 1966 Ford Galaxie XL Ltd Emblem for $9,500.00 all the way to the least expensive, a Vintage Chrysler Cordoba starting bid of $10.00.
While the floor mat is a far cry from the beautiful Spirit of Ecstasy or a sun-crested falcon on a chariot, we consider CocoMats an opportunity for a car owner to put their own spin on the interior of their car. I seriously doubt that anyone will be breaking into your car to get your floor mats, but they might take a second look when parked next to you or ask you where you got your mats from, and you can answer or not, depending upon how original you truly want to be….
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