Above: Hood ornament from a 1953 Pontiac Chieftain near Redmond, Wash. (Mitchell Haindfield)
“For decades, American Indian tribal names have helped to propel automobiles out of showrooms. Return with us now to the era when Pontiac’s sales brochures carried illustrations comparing its 6-cylinder engines to six red-painted, feathered cartoon Indian braves rowing a canoe.
“Or review Pontiac’s marketing copy, which proclaimed that “among the names of able Indian warriors known to the white race in America, that of Pontiac, chief of the Ottawas and accepted leader of the Algonquin family of tribes, stands pre-eminent.” Of course, the visage of the chief was appropriated as a hood ornament.” – Glenn Collins, When Cars Assume Ethnic Identities
“Pontiac’s ornaments are among the most striking from the flamboyant era of the American automobile. In the early 1930s they were shaped in the form of a Native American head adorned with feathered headdress, but by the 1950s they had morphed into the memorable configuration of jet plane with the head of Chief Pontiac at the helm. These beautiful and iconic designs caught the public imagination then and now, but, when contextualized to their own day, their significance expands. They can be understood as ciphers of industrial strength in the face of the complex and troubled situation for the Native American in postwar America.” – Mona Hadler, Pontiac Hood Ornaments: Chief of the Sixes