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I just shipped a '49 "Egyptian" hood ornament to a fellow in Switzerland. He says he needs it to replace his Cormorant because they are illegal in the Swiss state..."as they present a danger and could cause injury to a pedestrian". Wow, imagine that, a country that regulates classic car hood oraments! I sure hope our current "regulation happy" politicians stay away fom our babies!!!

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No question some of the older ones could really impale a poor unsuspecting pedestrian. Those rounded earlier ones used in that era didn't seem too bad but I think the 55 and 56 design -- particularly the seniors -- would make a good spear tip.

Isn't that one of the many things Nader railed against and NTSB forced the car companies to stop making--so I guess we have some regulation. Believe cars using other features such as the protruding crest like used in the middle of the V8 steering wheels was also a casualty of that period.

If you think about it, pretty much everything on the pre-60s cars was dangerous.

No crush zone.
Dagmars to impale a pedestrian.
No collapsing steering wheels.
Dashes that would impale you.
Etc., etc.

On the other hand, judging by Paul's 56 Exec T-boneing a late Caprice 300ft at 35mph: $25,000 damage to Paul's Exec, the Caprice was totaled,but nobody hurt, judge for yourself.

Craig

I well understand the need to improve safety on new cars, but to go back in time and rip hood ornaments off Packards, now that's just criminal!

Was it the upright wings or the protruding "donut" he had problems with and did he say what the options were had that hood ornament you sent not been available.

i'm sorry but if you get hit hard enough by one of these old heavy behemouth cars to impale you and you don't get impaled...well you still have to worry about the fact that you got plowed over by a big heavy behemouth car. hood ornament or not...its gonna hurt. seems silly to regulate that.

Agreed!

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If it is for legal reasons, how can it be criminal?

It's sort of like getting caught in a storm and getting hit in the head with a banana....the banana was harmless until the wind of the storm pick it up and smashed it against your head. What gets the blame for your injury...damn banana!

My Dutch father-in-law used to say that Swiss people were as narrow minded as the valleys they lived in so this doesn't surprise me. Coming from a country as flat as Holland he may have been biased.
On a similar note a police officer at a local cruise night came up to the owner of a 1949 Mercury and told the owner that the small blue dots on the taillight lenses of the car were illegal because in Ontario the only vehicles permitted to display a blue light are snowplows! The Swiss by comparison would be considered Libertarians.