Customs anyone have an aftermarket "Bull Nose" on their car??

I bought my 49 Chevy in 1976 and in all that time never saw one with a bull nose for the hood. never saw one for sale, never even heard of one. then there was a guy on ebay a few years back that must have raided an old auto parts store because he had one for almost every car made. I got one new in the box, the newest car on the side of the box was 1956, so I figure that is the year it was made, the company was Gem Manufacturing in Chicago.

funny thing, about a week after I got my first one, I found another at a swap meet. here it is mounted on the hood.

 

here's the box... if you have one and don't know what it fits all the numbers are on the box and what they fit.

 

guess I am the only one who has one of these... what about the Saturday crowd?

 

It kind'a looks like it's almost a hood ornament but not quite. It's interesting, I guess, because it has a little bit of character and a little bit of automotive aftermarket history.

 

Looks cool and gotta be worth a coupla mile per hour in less wind resistance over the stock hood ornament, right?!

 

Intended for removing a hood ornament without having to fill the holes on the hood for a smoother look.

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Cool! I only wish I had one for my 54 chevy 210. It looks like stainless is it?

 

I have a new old stock one for a '46 - '48 Plymouth I bought but never used. I hand made one from aluminum and polished it instead. They were very common back in the '50s and could be bought at most auto parts stores like Western Auto, etc. as well as by mail order. Ads for them were in all the little books of the day. Neat-o!

 

I wish it was stainless, I'd say they are cast potmetal.

 

before I found this I had been taking a grinder to an original one to make it a little smoother... not sure ow that was going to turn out.

 

I have the full aluminum bullnose strip on mine. I'm not crazy about the looks of it, it needs to be wider. One of those in stainless would be perfect. Thanks!

 

I have one on my '51 Plymouth Savoy. Made from cast pot metal. Seems like I always get asked if it had a ship ornament due to the old paint outline. Just not a big fan of ships and airplanes on my hood.

 

There you go, Proartguy's bullnose and hoodshow exactly what I was saying about the original intended purpose. In the 50's the hood wouldn't have 60 years of paint fade though.

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Had one on a shubox ford once.

 

I got one from rocco and cheaters speed shop for my 56 chebbie. And its in my garage somewhere and i can't find it..........................

 

I found one in a junkyard recently on a '47 Plymouth coupe which also had a nailhead swapped into it, they welded something onto the back of the Buick stick trans to run open driveshaft, kinda cobbly looking but apparently it worked.

The bullnose works really well on cars that have a center chrome hood divider strip, which would make shaving the hood ornament off really difficult without it. On my girlfriend's '51 Chevy we just welded in an extra chunk of hood center strip to fill in the gap before it was painted, making the hood strip all one piece, although with a car that already has paint that wouldn't be an option.

 

The bullnose accessories made for '49-50 Fords were available in 2 widths: the wider one copied the footprint of the stock Ford ornament; the narrower one extended the width of the stainless center strip to a relatively sharp point. The wide ones outsold the narrow ones 100:1 or more.
I'm looking for one of the narrow ones. Anybody have one to sell?

 

My Nomad had a "Bull Nose", replacement ornament on it.

 

Found this Bull Nose for my 52 Plymouth on epay about 8 years ago.

 

The bullnose strip was on my '47 Plymouth when I bought it 50 years ago and the only time it was off was when I got the hood louvered.

 

Way back in the '70s I spent 3 days going through the warehouses behind "Cheaper Charlie's" in Longmont, Colorado. There was a huge Cal Custom box that had held 100 '49 - '52 Chev full length strips. About 60 remained, but someone had thrown a weighty object into the box, ruining all but 3. I have 2 left, 1 is going on the '51 ...

 

About 15 years ago I had an NOS bullnose piece for the shoebox Ford. It took me a few years to finally sell it for $ 20.00. If I still had it today, I would just hang it on the wall to remember how things used to be.

 

I think mine is a factory Advance Design ornament. ornament.

 

I wonder what happened to all the ones they sold over the years. you hardly ever see them. probably all corroded and pitted, I don't think they were the highest quality.

 

They hold up ok.... not great. The one on the Grandpa Car has been there since FOREVER. It's a little pitted, but still looks alright. The center strip is on the shelf in the garage, waiting...