Car mascot prices take flight

By Classic Yorkshire contributor Tony Lofthouse

Do you remember the days of car mascots displayed on some of our finest cars?

Car mascots have been around since the very start of motoring, adorning marquees like Rolls-Royce, Jaguar, Citroen and Mercedes.

In those days radiator caps were fitted on top of front grilles and were used by car owners and manufacturers to fit striking statuettes.

One of the earliest mascots was the silver plated ‘Spirit of Ecstasy’, which took the form of a ‘winged’ lady. It was designed for Rolls-Royce in 1911 by the sculptor, Charles Sykes for the Silver Ghost model.

The small figure would go on to grace bonnets across the Rolls-Royce range.

Other famous car mascots include the ‘Leaping Jaguar’, Bugatti’s dancing elephant and the three-pointed star of Mercedes Benz.

Most were made from metal such as bronze and chrome. Interestingly, Rolls-Royce discontinued the silver plated ‘ecstasy’ mascot in 1914 and turned to using nickel. Today, most mascots are made from stainless-steel although silver and gold ones can still be ordered.

Some of the most sought after mascots come from two French glassmakers, Lalique and Sabino. The first Lalique car mascot – featuring five prancing horses – was commissioned by Citroen in 1925 for the company’s new 5CV model.

Lalique would go on to produce around 30 different mascot designs ranging from birds to shooting stars. In a coup for British motoring, in 2022 the National Motor Museum acquired a rare set of Lalique mascots thanks to national grants and a private donation. These form a key part of the many exhibits at Beaulieu.

Sometimes mascots would be made for individual buyers to show to the world the owner’s interest such as golfing figures and animal forms.

The late Queen Elizabeth II’s state cars sported a silver sculpture of St George slaying the Dragon, designed in 1952 by Edward Seago.

In the 70s new safety regulations put the brakes on fitting car mascots onto new cars, unless they were retractable or spring mounted. In some cases, designs moved onto front grilles.

Today, collecting mascots is a thriving business and mascot prices vary enormously from a few hundred pounds for metal designs to tens of thousands for Lalique pieces.