Mascots
To view my photographs of mascots, select Mascots Gallery.
When the horse-drawn carriage was motorized, it became the horseless carriage. Something symbolically noble was lost. The passengers were no longer propelled by a noble steed but by a temperamental engine with an equally troublesome radiator. Out of practicality, the radiator’s cap, often too hot to touch and remove, required a metal flange to dissipate the heat in order to be gripped without burning one’s fingers. With much creative imagination, the nondescript flange evolved into an ornamental mascot.
The noble horse, lost with the horseless carriage, was reborn and imaginatively transformed into other fantastic figureheads that served to dignify the adventure of the travel and to metaphorically give a personal character to the machine. A swan may have served to give the impression of a graceful and effortless ride, while a greyhound in full stride was a symbol of agility and speed.
As automobile design advanced, the radiator disappeared beneath the engine’s cowl or hood. The mascot moved to the hood as an ornament. After WWII and the military triumphs of aviation, aircraft and rockets appeared. Some human and animal mascots became hybrids of airplanes and rockets.
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