Curves and Hood Ornaments

[Bruce Nunnally]

I love the curves on these classic Cadillacs.

Should Cadillac go back to the traditional hood ornament?

[Cadillac Jim]

That concours condition 1949 Cadillac shows the true art of automotive design, but those hood ornamnets aren't appropriate for new cars. My thinking is that there is no good way to make them safe to pedestrians and kids running into them playing touch football (there was at least one touch football death by impaling on a 1960 Cadillac tail fin, so I read once), and their aesthetics are integrated into the hood shape, which was dictated in the 1930's and 1940's by large engines and a lack of concern for driver view of the road immediately in front of the car. In the late 1950's and the 1960's some cars put small hood ornaments on each fender, but by the 1970's hood ornaments were rare. Now their heritage seems to be the crest in the center of the grille; see my avatar for a 1990's Touring Cadillac example.