Hood Ornament Highlight: 1931 Franklin Series 15

Welcome to the first edition of a new weekly series, Hood Ornament Highlight, where I feature a beautiful, quirky, or intriguing hood ornament from a bygone era, before these decorative mascots disappeared due to stricter pedestrian safety standards. Kicking things off is this small airplane hood ornament found on a 1931 Franklin Series 15 Deluxe 5-Passenger Sedan. Franklin, an American marque founded in 1902, exclusively used air-cooled engines in its vehicles until its demise in 1934. This propellor plane design tied a link between Franklin’s air-cooled engines and the air-cooled motor used in the record-setting Spirit of St. Louis, which Charles Lindbergh flew non-stop across the Atlantic. You can learn more about Franklin and its connection with Charles Lindbergh in my article about the Northeast Classic Car Museum, where this 1931 Franklin resides. This style of hood ornament appears to have only appeared on select models in the early 1930s.