Hood Ornaments/Mascots Buying at Hershey Inquiry

[Guest BJM]

Hello All

I have rounded out my collection of prjects for the next several years so that end of the hobby will be busy.

I want to extend my reach and arm over the next several years by purchasing and restoring the neat old hood ornaments, mascots, buying toy cars and advertisements.

Does Hershey have vendors that have boxes of old hood ornaments from the "golden age" of these items, say the 20's through the 50's?

[keiser31]

Hello All

I have rounded out my collection of prjects for the next several years so that end of the hobby will be busy.

I want to extend my reach and arm over the next several years by purchasing and restoring the neat old hood ornaments, mascots, buying toy cars and advertisements.

Does Hershey have vendors that have boxes of old hood ornaments from the "golden age" of these items, say the 20's through the 50's?

Most swap meets have a vendor or three who sell mascots and ornaments. Some are high priced...some not. I always go for the "dollar boxes".

[hddennis]

Bryan, since it seems like you have the ability to restore these, could you give me some idea of the feasibility and cost to bring this old warrior back to life?

Thanks,

Howard Dennis

Edited June 27, 2010 by hddennis (see edit history)

[Peter J.Heizmann]

Bryan,

Just looked through the 2009 Hershey Fall Meet booklet and it lists "11 Vendors" in the Hood Ornament/Mascot listing. As keiser mentioned there are many miscellaneous vendors throughout that have some or many hood ornaments

Regards,

Peter.

[Shop Rat]

Howard, the vintage Pontiac ruler is a nice touch in your photos.

[hddennis]

Thanks, I started using it to give scale on my eBay auctions and it seems the ruler ends up getting more attention than what I'm trying to sell! Maybe somebody should reproduce them.

Howard Dennis

[Guest BJM]

Howard,

I would say I do not have expertise in knowing the cost to restore that mascot/hood ornament. I can say that one is highly detailed moreso then most I have seen.

Rather, I ws going to include the collecting of these mascots / hood ornaments as a 'new; reason to attend Hershey and as a side lien for what will be a long time restoring 4 Buicks.

So at this time I do not have the expertise or knowledge.

It can get expensive. If I follow the line of photos of your mascot, it appears you have done the restoration already but maybe the 3rd photo is different from the one you have.

Initially I would like to purchase, say, 5-6 a year and have maybe 1 that needs rechroming. That one that needs rechroming could cost as much as $300 to have done correctly, depending on detail. The other 4 or 5 I would buy only needing buffing to be presentable.

While having a collection of freshly chromed Mascots might be nicer, in my opinion, that would not necessarily add to the appeal of a particular Mascot.

The post war Pontiac Indian hood ornament is a good example. I would like to have a couple, but they would be "neat" whether restored or not.

[earl e rizer]

Here's my favorite mascot. Covered from the 1st snow of the season, shot by a friend of mine before putting it in storage