Re: Help Id this hood ornament

Posted by Don Shields On 2015/8/27 23:03:12

Hi Scott,
Sorry to report that I've never seen a pelican (or cormorant for that matter) like yours on any Packard ever. According to the Kimes Packard History (pp. 764, 765) the pelican was introduced in 1932 on the Ninth Series Packard Super Eights and Twelves and continued on in one form or another on senior Packards right up through cessation of production in 1958.

The Kimes book has more than a dozen photos of both prototype and production bird hood ornaments but none of them look like the one in your photo. So I suspect you have an aftermarket ornament that could have been mounted on any vehicle. Stylistically your ornament resembles the Ninth Series or 1932 narrow tail ornament, so perhaps yours dates from that period. The Packard ornaments were chromed brass at that time. Most likely the aftermarket knock-offs were made of less-expensive materials.