Hood ornament or no?

[capnduane]

My hood has been shaved. That being said, I have a decent hood ornament coming from ebay. I just can't make up my mind..... Here's a pic of my truck, and another pic I got off the net of a similar truck with the ornament. I would have to redrill the holes, they've been welded closed, Help! What say you?

[mr48chev]

Personally I like it without. If the paint hasn't faded you could buy another hood, paint it to match and run the ornament and have it both ways.

[Sim6]

That looks better without.

[Dan in Pasadena]

I LIKE the originality of having the ornaments. EVERYBODY shaves them. Might have been special in the 70's 80's but now is waay too common.

[Henry50]

I guess I'm just different. I love the hood ornament, and would have no trouble at all re-drilling the holes and installing it.

[crossfire84]

What he said!^^^

[Speedbumpauto]

Never been a fan of that hood emblem.

[_Ogre]

imo... they're a little bulky
paint them on
i only have the side trim painted on, but i wish i had the guy do the hood too

[lv2tri2]

I wouldn't care what anyone else thought or did. What looks good to you?

[Hubscrub]

i like it with, area looks huge in the pic without it

[xaircav]

Just my humble opinion but I think the hood emblems on AD and TF trucks are a signature element of the period they are from.

[Rickysnickers]

My preference is with the ornament

[1958Warrior]

Thought you made up your mind when you pulled the trigger and ordered it.

I like the original look myself.

I like the option Ogre went with also , since the 58 side emblems are the only ones NOT reproduced

[59chev]

Personally I really like the hood emblem. I plan to keep the hood emblem and shave the side emblems on mine.

[Dan in Pasadena]

PS: On '55's I love that the original side emblems were no-compromise, one piece units with white background and mounted below the belt line.

'56's are nice too but they seem like a compromise since they made them in 2 pieces so they'd be multi purpose for the 3200 & 3600 models with black backgrounds to kinda "mask" that they're two pieces. Not as era correct to me.

[Lokin4AReason]

all these truck(s) have personality one way or another

its just depend(s) at what you want from it ..

[agnes the dog]

I like both trucks a lot, but for different reasons. I like the hood ornament on the lower truck because it has the black and chrome grill and the chrome window trim. I like yours without the hood ornament because it has a silver grill and no chrome trim on the windows. I think your truck works the way it is. I think the hood ornament would not look as good on yours as it does on the second truck due to the trim options. Just my opinion. I say leave it alone.

[AZ59apacheguy]

With, FOR SURE

[capnduane]

OK, I guess we have made up my mind! Thank you all for your thoughts, all were helpfull and used to come to a decision. 1958 Warrior pretty much nailed it when he said I had made my decision when I ordered the ornament..... It still was a tough choice to make. It came in the mail today, priority in 2 days, from a private seller on ebay. It is in very good condition, and the aged patina matches the rest of the chrome on my truck perfectly! I touched up the paint on the bow tie and cleared over with hi gloss enamel. I'm digging the look. Incidently, putting the hood ornament back on was a 3-1 choice from all the people I have asked, both here on this forum and friends of mine. In the end, its all good, I have had this truck two years and a little change is welcome.....

[OrrieG]

Install it.

[Ratpin]

You made the right choice! Emblems add depth to the truck by breaking up the surfaces.

Shaving is for street rods and these...

[oldcouple]

Your truck do it your way. Here is mine without before paint, and after painted with the trim. You can paint the background of the trim any color you choose. I painted the bowtie with a can of candy metallic I had sitting around, makes it pop better than the black. If you do paint it, use a razor blade to remove the paint from the areas you want chrome to show, better than trying to mask it or using thinner to remove. Mask the big areas.

[capnduane]

oldcouple, Nice lookin '56! I really like the dark grey, really makes the chrome pop... On my bowtie I used the same red as the truck color.

[oldcouple]

Thank you, that is the GMC color called Stealth Gray, from 2007, Chevy called it Granite Gray. It looks blue some times green depending on the weather. Thought it was fitting because the original color was Airforce gray from Nellis Airforce base.