I spent all day in the garage revisiting the hood ornament. The more I studied it, the more I was disappointed it didn’t look “important” enough without a significant base underneath it. My initial research pertained to late 40’s – early 50’s genuine Buick gunsight ornaments. Each has a stylish and substantial mounting support, and is set at a specific angle for each series of hood. I was concerned that none would fit the exact curve of my hood.
So I started looking for alternatives, and found an aftermarket version, designed to fit on top of a 46 Ford OEM hood ornament:
This was manufactured by Dart Engineering, and was also offered with different bases and with plastic torpedoes that glowed in the dark for universal applications.
I removed the base adapter and installed the gunsight ornament by itself:
After sufficient study, I started thinking of what type base would look attractive and appropriate, and landed on the 56 Buick hood ornament base design. Then I got to wondering if I could slice down the big bulky adapter that came with the ornament. Here’s the result. It still needs a bit of final fitting, and will require replating after the Goodguys show next month.
If I get tired of it I’ll design a new version, but so far I think it’s a big improvement.