Front and center: Revs Institute features luxe glass mascots of yesteryear in Naples

Glass Amazons and gleaming animals roam the display cases at the Revs Institute, a special, sparkling population in the world of car mascots. 

That term — car mascots — may be less known to Americans than the common name here: hood ornament. But there's a difference. In fact, quite a few things make this collection, a Revs exhibition titled "Jewels for the Road," different:

• Its figures are the work of sculptors rather than factory designers, with names like Lalique heavily in the mix. And none of them were made for specific auto models; they were purchased separately, and were known as "accessory mascots."

Those mass-produced for specific car brands or models are called "factory mascots."

• The ephemeral creatures in "Jewels for the Road" are among only around 100 models ever created in glass. Pontiac used Lucite  in the late 1940s to give details of its mascots a translucent glow, but glass was gone by then. They were a product of the 1920s and '30s. 
• Further, even if you're of a certain age in the U.S., you may never have seen them. Most glass car mascots were designed, made and sold in Europe. At least one glass factory in Corning, New York, Steuben, produced several, however.

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The Corning glass matriarch herself had a stunning 6½-pound glass Pegasus mounted on her Rolls-Royce, according to Jon Zoler, a Naples man whose collection of these rare mascots is at the Revs Institute until May 31.

Naples show is the first

This exhibition is the first, as far as Zoler knows, across a broad spectrum of glass mascots rather than from a singular manufacturer such as Lalique in France.

Zoler and his wife, Becky, became students of auto mascots after they purchased several for their glass sculpture collection and became intrigued with the genre. The Zolers eventually accumulated between 350 and 400 metal and glass mascots and enough education for Jon Zoler to produce two illustrated books. (They are available in the Institute's store.)

As the visitor will see, the fancies that dictated accessory mascots produced characters from shooting comets to a leaping trout. The most common glass mascots, however, were fleet creatures, such as dragonflies, racing dogs or horses, and nude women, portrayed as goddesses to soothe censors. 

These singular sculptures were not a staple on American car hoods, Zoler observed: "In the U.S., probably 95 percent of all mascots, maybe even higher, were factory mascots." 

People are familiar with the longest-running designs, such as the Native American chieftain on Pontiacs, the Dodge ram and the tri-point star on Mercedes-Benzes. Other companies, such as Packard, changed mascots according to model or year. 

Glass mascots knew no particular brand. They were meant to differentiate your car from all others, and the work put into their production made them recognizable. Maurice Sabino mascots were opalescent glass. Lalique produced clear, frosted and colored glass mascots, such as the "Coq Nain," a ruby glass rooster with an impressive tail span.

For those to whom the elegance of glass wasn't enough, there were even lighting options for these mascots. A light could be installed underneath and operated from within the car; a rolling cylinder could also be fitted on the hood to turn the glass various colors as it drove along along at night.

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Zoler considered the possibility as he eyed one of his Lalique collection, the fearsome "Victoire." It's an open-mouthed female head with arrows of Art Deco hair streaming behind her.

"I'm not sure I'd want to see that coming toward me at night," he said, laughing. 

Car safety tempered the trend

Glass mascots had disadvantages; they could chip from flying gravel, and they could inflict terrible injuries in accidents. In fact, metal ones could as well, Zoler said. So, in the early 1940s, British authorities began to regulate sizes and places on mascots.

"That was the beginning of the end," Zoler said. The few that still exist today, all metal, are accident-proofed; in a collision they submerge behind the hood. "They're much smaller."

But about that distinction between an car mascot and a hood ornament: The mascot is the figure, Zoler said. In the earliest years of cars, they were part of the radiator cap. When radiators were moved under the hood, mascots had become so traditional they were simply affixed above it, at the front of the hood.

"Then cars became sleeker and longer and more streamlined, and they added a strip of chrome, either with the mascot or the mascot was attached," Zoler explained.

The reference to hood ornaments came into use when the mascots were combined with the trim. The combination quite often stretched the length of the hood. 

"In some instances eventually it might have been 3 feet of chrome," he marveled. "They were building long cars back then."

Harriet Howard Heithaus covers arts and entertainment for the Naples Daily News/naplesnews.com. Reach her at 239-213-6091.

When: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesdays, Thursday and Saturdays through May 31; by reservation only — walkups cannot be accommodated.

Where: Revs Institute, 2500 Horseshoe Drive S., Naples

Tickets: $20, $15 for students, educators and the military, free for ages 11 and younger with adult. 

To buy: revsinstitute.org or call 239-687-7387

What to know: The docent-led tours are $10 more each, but well worth the money and kept personal with a 10-person limit.