1938 Dodge Ram Hood Ornament

by John Telfer

Title

1938 Dodge Ram Hood Ornament

Artist

John Telfer

Medium

Photograph - Photograph

Description

FAA WATERCOLOR MARK DOES NOT APPEAR ON FINAL SALES
While attending my first classic car show of 2013 at Belmont Race Track located on Long Island in New York, I wanted of course to capture as many of the vintage classic cars that I could, but I decided also there was so much art work with regard to the hood ornaments and gorgeous painted emblems on the sides and rear of the cars and trucks that I decided I needed to capture them also and therefore I created a separate gallery for just those areas. In this photo I captured the famous Dodge Ram hood ornament which was attached to a 1938 Dodge two door sedan.
Avard Fairbanks was influenced by the styles of the era in which he worked, most notably the Art Deco motifs popular during the 1920s and '30s. His work for the Chrysler Corporation was not over, however. As he recalled:
One evening I got an urgent call from the engineers at Dodge automobile company asking me to meet them in ten minutes. They explained that they had 10,000 cars that needed hood ornaments and that they wanted something as attractive as the ornament on a Rolls Royce, but for the cheapest car! I took along my clay and an animal book by my friend William Hornaday and spent the next several days at their headquarters. They brought in food and a couch and I went to work. I suggested a mountain lion, a tiger, a jaguar and other animals. Finally I started modeling a mountain sheep. When the engineers read that the ram was the "master of the trail and not afraid of even the wildest of animals" they became enthusiastic about the symbol. Walter P. Chrysler wasn't as convinced. But I explained that anyone seeing a ram, with its big horns, would think "dodge." He looked at me, looked at the model, scratched his head and said, "That's what I want - go ahead with it."
This is the story as it appeared in Southwest Art magazine. The Fairbanks family recalls it slightly differently:
"For two weeks father worked on all sorts of models from mythology creatures to various powerful animals. Finally, he called the designers and Mr. Chrysler in to see three models of a Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, a ram. He proposed the charging one. They asked, "why a ram?" Father responded, "It is sure-footed; it's the King of the Trail; it won't be challenged by anything." They nodded their heads. Then father, with a bit of corny humor, added, "And if you were on the trail and saw that ram charging down on you, what would you think?-DODGE!" To which Walter Chrysler excitedly replied "THAT'S IT! THE RAM GOES ON THE DODGE!"
Avard left his models at Dodge headquarters for a few months. When he returned he was surprised to see an assembly plant lot full of new Dodges with rams on their hoods. He immediately sought an audience with K. T. Keller (President of Dodge Division) who explained that in his absence, they had to move ahead so their own designer modified the ram ornament for production. They had tilted the head down a bit more and pulled the horns away from the head, a suggestion Avard had made but thought would be too costly for production. In fact, it was an expensive item but so beautiful that new Dodge owners were constantly troubled with thefts of their rams. Thousands had to be produced as replacements.
Avard reminded Mr. Keller that copyright laws do apply to sculpture and artistic designs and Mr. Keller very quickly offered to pay him with another new car. But with the big red Chrysler already at home, he asked instead for a royalty on the design. They finally settled on a check for the full retail price for a top-of-the line Dodge Eight: $1,400.
For that amount (rather paltry by today's standards), Dodge got one of the most enduring corporate symbols in American history.
A ram of one sort or another went on the hood of every Dodge car and truck from 1932 to 1954. It's on the badges of today's cars, too, and the Ram still symbolizes tough trucks for Dodge. Unlike the Plymouth "Little Mermaid" (for which Fairbanks received no public credit and which has sometimes erroneously been credited to Chrysler stylist Harry Henderson), Fairbanks was given full credit for the Ram design. In a four-page brochure entitled A Fitting Symbol For Dodge Dependability, page one features a closeup drawing of a ram's head against a mountain backdrop. Pages two and three explain the history of the mountain sheep. Page four finally gets around to giving credit where credit is due, reading:
To Mr. A. E. Fairbanks [in reality, his middle initial was T], sculptor of the art department at the University of Michigan, should be extended the credit of this personification of Dodge dependability and performance.
Deftly sculptured by Mr. Fairbanks' hands, the Bighorn literally dashes forth upon the radiator of the Dodge Six and Eight with swift and sagacious speed.
Original is at Avard T. Fairbanks, designer of the Dodge Ram symbol and the Plymouth Flying Lady hood ornaments.
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May 10th, 2013

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