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Wed Jan 17, 2007 9:59 am

Does anyone have any information on when and who made the flying VW wing hood ornament with the rocket on it?

Wed Jan 17, 2007 10:08 am

Here you go

Wed Jan 17, 2007 10:14 am

aircooled wrote: Does anyone have any information on when and who made these?[img]
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/319581.jpg[/img]

They are Australian I believe................Most repros are a brass alloy. It is not easy to tell the originals from the repros once they have been chromed. That one looks good because it has good detail, but you would have to compare it to a known original and possibly weigh them to decide which one was the original.......Most originals have chrome that shows pitting and age and most repros, because they are brass, look great chromed. :wink:

Wed Jan 17, 2007 10:36 am

The one pictured above appears to be made from aluminum. Is that mounted on the French car?. They were never made of aluminum. They were all made of pot metal, except one version (without the wings on the side), which was made of brass. There are 5 original versions that I know of.
There are so many repros on the market now.

I will post some pics later today.

Wed Jan 17, 2007 11:48 am

Yes, it is a very nice french oval in the gallery which has some other nice items on it. So when do you think these flying hood ornaments with the wing were made? Are there any markings to tell an orginal from a reproduction?

Wed Jan 17, 2007 12:03 pm

aircooled wrote: Yes, it is a very nice french oval in the gallery which has some other nice items on it. So when do you think these flying hood ornaments with the wing were made? Are there any markings to tell an orginal from a reproduction?

They were a real accessory. I actually owned one over twenty years ago. I have heard that a certain vendor with the first name of Chris......re-poped them a few years back. These are the ones that are made of brass.........as I said, the brass ones are quite heavy and the original ones are not.

Wed Jan 17, 2007 1:50 pm

They were available from the mid to late 1950's. Exact dates are unknown as there is very little literature on these.

All the originals are heavy, so it is difficult to tell the difference between an original and a repro. Nearly all originals are pitted and the chrome is bubbling. If you find one that is pitted and bubbling, you can fairly certain it is an original.
As mentioned earlier, they were never made of aluminum. There was one version made of brass.

Someone in the USA also reproed the brass version on a CNC machine. They were a billet aluminum..

Wed Jan 17, 2007 2:10 pm

Here is 3 versions:

Pic of all 3
Pic of original brass version
Pic of repro billet version
Pic of real ugly original version

I will post another pic later when I get to my car.

Wed Jan 17, 2007 2:38 pm

it's interesting how we all have different tastes. i think the one labeled the real ugly version is the best hood ornament that i have seen (still not pretty but no where near as ugly as all of the others)

as an aside there may be a new cast copy coming out soon, though i think the person comisioning it would mark it as such. (no not me)

Wed Jan 17, 2007 2:54 pm

So is the one at the beginning of this thread an orginal? None of the other examples have the wing and the actual shape of a rocket above the VW , so to speak.

Wed Jan 17, 2007 3:18 pm

The one at the beginning of this thread is not an original. They were never made of aluminum.
There are 2 original versions of these. One had a slot cut into it as can be seen in the link below. The other was solid. The solid version was reproed approx 10 years ago.
Compare the detail on the smaller trailing wings on the French and the original. The French one has lost alot of the detail.

Pic of an original

Henry Roberts - if you saw the "ugly" one in real life, I doubt you would put it on a car. This version uses 4 bolts to hold it in place. 2 either side of the bonnet trim. All the other versions have 2 bolt holes through the bonnet trim. So if you want to remove it later you will have 4 holes in the middle of your bonnet.

Wed Jan 17, 2007 3:36 pm

Funny this came up today. One was sold on EBay yesterday for $406.00. It looked like it was original, even had the 2 bolts/studs on the bottom. Don't know if it was considered over bid or if the winner paid to much for it.

Wed Jan 17, 2007 4:12 pm

This might help spot the differences:

Original, heavy cast

French repro, aluminium

Wed Jan 17, 2007 10:27 pm

IN2VWS wrote: This might help spot the differences:

Original, heavy cast

French repro, aluminium

Both I'm interested.... so if you have extra..... PM to me.... :D

Thu Jan 18, 2007 5:31 am

The one that sold on Ebay looked like the French repo. $406 is a lot for a repo?

Thu Jan 18, 2007 9:35 am

That is SWEET!

Fri Jan 19, 2007 12:58 am

It looks like there are a lot of differences if you look. The fake ones first wing? under the rocket bends up which might be a mold issue. Also, the real one has a split in it that separates at the bottom where it meets the molding on the car where the repop does not. Are there any more repop versions besides this one? I always wanted one of those.

Fri Jan 19, 2007 1:31 am

Yes there a few repops.
The original in the pics has the split in it, but there is also another original version without this split.
You will see differences in the casting details on the wings under the bullet. The repops are not as detailed.
I'll try to get some more info and pics in the coming weeks showing the differences.

The other brass versions are also repopped here and in the USA. The repops that Chris sells has detail added to it, that isn't on the originals.

Mon Jan 22, 2007 2:26 pm

Any Info about These one? Repro? but looked old!
http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/1074/c061022133025tx2.jpg
http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/7606/c061010101142my9.jpg
http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/5913/c061010101150nd1.jpg

Glas!?! clear Plastic with a red clear Prastic wing!
got some cracks in it and looked old! found it on a "Garage sale!"
8)
I polished it because it was very Dirty and scratchy!

Mon Jan 22, 2007 6:01 pm

Very interesting. I like it, but it is a repro. They were never made with plastic or glass.