The end of hood ornaments

[Alan Mendelson]

Does anyone else miss hood ornaments?

Starting in about 2008, Mercedes began eliminating hood ornaments on most of its models. Today, they're almost all gone except if you want to pay a lot of money for an upgrade to get one.

I remember as a kid my dad had a Lincoln and Lincoln would send him a paperweight with a hood ornament on a marble base. I thought it was cool and that's when I fell in love with hood ornaments.

I also thought that a Mercedes star hood ornament would make a neat "card protector" in a poker game.

I drive a 2003 Mercedes with the traditional star hood ornament. But the new Mercedes models have a big Mercedes 3-point star embedded on the grill. To be honest, it's the same styling just about every other car maker has: Honda, Lexus, Chevrolet... you name it seems they all have their ornaments in the grill.

I did a quick search on the web to find out why hood ornaments are disappearing.

There is the belief that a hood ornament cuts aero dynamic efficiency. But the big reason it seems is that hood ornaments caused injuries in pedestrian accidents.

Sorry to see them go, and I miss them.

[spojoey]

I drive a 2013 Mercedes with the traditional star hood ornament.

[Alan Mendelson]

I drive a 2013 Mercedes with the traditional star hood ornament.

Curious, which model?

[spojoey]

ES350 Premium 2 package....Not the sport model...It has the star in the grille.

[Alan Mendelson]

Spojoey I don't understand. First you said it's the traditional hood ornament, then you say it's the star in the grill. I think I may be confused by your use of ellipses. Which car has the hood ornament, and which has the star in the grill? Mercedes says on premium packages the hood ornament is still available.

[spojoey]

I meant the sport model has the star in the grille. Mine is not the sport model. Also its a E350 not ES350 which is a Lexus. which I previously owned.