POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

Packard 'Goddess of Speed' car bonnet mascot

Object No. 2011/17/3

This bonnet mascot or hood decoration, named 'Goddess of Speed', was fitted to some models made by the American car company, Packard, between 1939 and 1942. Individual company bonnet mascots were added to cars to make the vehicles easier to recognise as well as for decoration and were in popular use from the 1910s to the 1950s. This Packard mascot features a kneeling woman in chrome with a glass wing and arms outstretched holding a car wheel. It is colloquially known in America as the 'donut chaser.' The streamlined sculpture is Art Deco in style. The woman has wind-blown hair and clothes evoking an impression of speed and elegance. It was designed for Packard by John D. Wilson, of Grosse Pointe, Michigan, in 1938. The idea for a bonnet mascot began in the late 1890s when early cars had external radiator caps on which a thermometer was mounted so that drivers could easily see if their engines were overheating. These were called motormeters and were soon decorated with wings and figures. By the 1920s temperature gauges were relocated to the dashboard but decorating the radiator continued often as small elaborate sculptures created by artists for individual car companies, though some drivers had their own personalised bonnet mascots designed and made for them. In the late 1930s automobile manufactures began to place radiator caps under the bonnet so that the radiator mascot became purely decorative placed on the car bonnet. Except for luxurious cars like Rolls-Royce's famous 'Spirit of Ecstasy', by the 1950s mascots were largely out of fashion, because of the disappearance of the external radiators, theft and some were deemed a crash safety hazard. By the 1920s the Packard firm was making most of the prestigious automobiles in the USA and in Australia held a large share of the luxury car market. The Sydney motor body building firm Diskon & Molyneux Ltd was making hand-made Packard car bodies for imported Packard chassis in the Sydney suburb of Bexley from 1932 until about 1941. This Packard bonnet mascot comes from the family of one of the company founders, William Diskon. Baldwin, Nick et al, 'The World Guide to Automobiles: The Makers and Their Marques', Macdonald & Co. Ltd, Sydney, 1987. Davis, Pedr, 'The Australian Dictionary of Motoring', Pedr Davi Pty Ltd, South Hurstville, NSW, 2001. . Information provided by Mary Tugnett. Simpson, Margaret, 'On the Move: A history of transport in Australia', Powerhouse Publishing, Sydney, 2005, pp.74-75. 'The Sydney Morning Herald' various issues, 1932-1947. Margaret Simpson Curator, Science, Technology & Industry December 2010