A dog may seem like an odd adornment for a giant semi-truck, but there's a strong historical reason the bulldog is on Mack Truck hood ornaments.

As far back as the 1920s, certain models of car have had distinctive hood ornaments. In the olden days, hood ornaments were used to cover up the jutting point of a car's radiator cap with ...

Hood ornaments have mostly gone the way of the dodo bird. Part and parcel of a bygone age, they jutted proudly off an automobile's front and cut through the air like the carved figureheads on the ...

Sure, that hood ornament and the car's distinctive lines are part of what makes a Rolls-Royce a Rolls-Royce. But there's also ...

At first they had a purpose. These days, they are mainly for show. “Hood ornaments were originally designed for a purpose and then transformed into elaborate decorations or symbols,” said Kim ...