Lancia (IT)

Lancia & C. Fabbrica Automobili was founded 1906 in Turin, Italy by Fiat racing drivers, Vincenzo Lancia and his friend, Claudio Fogolin. The brand is known for its strong rallying heritage, and technical innovations such as the 1922 Lambda and the 1948 Ardea. Interestingly, these seem to be the only two models in Lancia’s history that have been seen with an official hood ornament!

Lancia Lambda Car Mascot (1927)

The revolutionary Lambda was the world’s first car to have a stress-bearing ‘monocoque’ body and the first to be powered by a V4 engine. Vincenzo Lancia even invented a shock absorber for the car and it had excellent four wheel brakes – qualities unmatched by anything in its class at its time.

As you can see from the photo above, it had an eagle head on its radiator grille, just like this:

The mascot is marked “depose par C. Passagnini, Milan” around the base and has an enamel emblem on its backside with the correct design for its age.

It remains unclear wether this mascot was especially made for the 1927 Paris Motor Show or wether it has been used more often on Lancia Lambda models. Only one other surviving example is known, which was (mistakenly?) associated as a commercial mascot for the Firestone Tires trademark (see book “Motoring Mascots of the World” by Williams plate 513), presumably because the Lancia emblem on the back was missing and/or had been replaced. If you have more information about this mascot, please let me know.

Lancia MotoMeter (1920s)

It can be said that it was common for Italian vehicles to use so-called MotoMeters with an integrated thermometer. And Lancia probably also had at least one model in the 1920s:

Lancia Ardea Hood Ornament (1939-1953)

Italy had switched from left-hand traffic to right-hand traffic between 1924 and 1926, but Lancia still produced the Ardea as a right-hand drive model for Italy. The Ardea was available in a total of four series. In 1948, the world’s first 5-speed gearbox was fitted to a production car (Series 3 Ardea).

The ornament followed the principle of “form & function” as it could be turned to open the hood. There were also hood ornaments with a lock integrated lock mechanism:

In 1969 Lancia became part of Fiat and is currently a subsidiary of the Stellantis division, a multinational automotive manufacturing company formed from the merger in 2021 of the Italian–American conglomerate Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and the French PSA Group.

Fun fact at the end: Despite not competing in the World Rally Championship since 1992, Lancia still holds more Manufacturers’ Championships than any other brand!

If you want to learn more about the fabulous world of impressive prewar hood ornaments, you should check out this book.