DIY hood ornament

i'm always seaching for ways to make my things unique. in a world of mass production, this becomes more and more difficult. thank the sweet Lord for instructables. here is how to make a really cheap and easy hood ornament for your car.

it may not make you cooler, but at least you'll be able to spot your car in a parking lot.
. . .presuming no one swipes it
. . .and you backed into the spot
. . .and an suv hasn't parked beside you
look, on second thought, yes! it will make you cooler!

Step 1 Find magnets

i am always on the look out for magnets. you can find them everywhere:
-hard drives
-motors
-speakers
-toys
-etc.
i've found magnets in the oddest places. they are so utilitarian they largely go unnoticed. either way, the stronger the magnet, the better. rare earth magnets are excellent. you can find small ones at radio snatch or check the web for other deals.

the magnet i'm using in this instructable is just about perfect. it is very strong, has a nice hole through the center and also is countersunk to allow a screwhead to nest in there nicely. better yet, it was free. score!

keep your eyes open. you never know what you'll find.

onward!

Comments

[Yerboogieman]

That would be funny to make a soda can hood ornament.

[andrew.kunk]

i glued a lego guy onto two magnets and stuck it on my moms hood.

[pdub77]

Right on!  Legos rule!

[GTIModGuy]

Nice work. I put Venom on my VW GTI last week, I saw your article featured on Lifehacker.

[Derin]

i love the new vws

[pdub77]

thanks for the heads up! i didn't realize my instructable was on lifehacker. i appreciate your kind words, and nice job on your own project.

[ewilhelm]

Nice!

Check out all these sweet hood ornaments that turned up in the shop a few weeks ago. (They're probably packrat saul's).

[pdub77]

really cool stuff, man! where did these come from?

[Ora]

These are old Mercury hood ornaments from the mid 50's-60's. Many are available on ebay.

[ewilhelm]

Probably http://www.auctionsbythebay.com/ , but I'm not sure.

[trebuchet03]

Very Vintage Cool :)

[reouch]

neat-o i will do this till i get my chrome flying pig ornament on the hood of my car. I dont want it getting stolen so im gonna try to get a hood release from a junk yard and set the thing up so i can pop the ornament off and throw it in the car. I want to go to a trophy store and get some dope figures for the hood of my 100 horsepower Scion XB!

[pdub77]

high strength magnets are great for this application. you can install and remove them without damage. you can change your hood ornament every day!

[CreativeChick8]

hahahaa! cool idea! Very retro! i want the spring loaded spikes!!!!! yayyy! pain!!! wooohooo!

[Stew2]

Just had my factory hood ornament stolen last week. Bummer! My idea was to make a tux the penguin hood ornament to replace my missing one. I would have to get the spring and stalk assembly from a wreckers and then graft tux onto that as my hood has a raised centre line. Might just give it a shot...

[pdub77]

sounds pretty cool. what kind of car is it?

[Stew2]

Just an old boat. 82 Parisienne. Low mileage and great shape though... reliable as can be :)

[pdub77]

send me a pic if you get something going.

[jeffreyf]

If you really don't want someone to steal it, just hook it up to the leads of your car battery!* *I am in no way encouraging anyone to do this. It would be bad, and possibly illegal.

[pdub77]

i've done the research and totally would if it were legal. alas, it is not.

[jeffreyf]

Damn. I guess the motion-activated spring-loaded spikes are probably out too then, huh?

[pdub77]

we'll keep our fingers crossed for the poison darts. they can't outlaw everything. right?

[trebuchet03]

My buddy was talking about adding a mirror in back of a custom hood ornament... You know, so you can see the things take flight off of your roof rack :P

[PetervG]

Then someone steals it :*(