Bonnet Mascots & The Law

Simples I have a pilot mascot on my amazon just mount it with nylon fastener when nun/kitten/schoolchildren interface becomes imminent put your sunglasses on to protect your eyes (and look cool and gothlike) and pilot mascot will simply snap off and fly away
tiny photo of mascot below

Why not have a go at making one, big bit of ally and some files, hacksaw, some sanding disks/flap disks and bobs ya fannys uncle!!!

My missus got one custom made for me for christmas, its made of bits of steel welded together, shaped and then chromed, you don't have to cast/machine them out of ally.

This was Fitted to a Triumph Roadster at a show i went to recently, really made me smile! Sure as hell wouldnt see it gracing the Grill of a 30's Bugatti or Hispano Suiza!



and back OT i see loads of 90's, and 00's Jags with retro fitted mascots fitted, do they have to be type approved or something like that, ot do you just need a tame MOT tester?

I think if you need to make it thief proof your in trouble really, i quite often came back out the Merc and found the mascot crooked or bent backwards if i was visiting one of my mates, older Merc ones have hefty springs on them and are made of quite strong metal, the later ones are much easier to snap off and steal and you just have to put up with buying new ones every now and again depending on where you park.

I'm bolting the toaster on the front of my bonnet, if i get told off by plod i shall just take the bonnet off and stash it in the back of the van right in front of them and see what they say to that.

The bonnet I got when I was building my XJR had a solidly mounted `old skool` leaping cat on it which I removed, aside from looking wrong on most modern cars, it IS dangerous...

If, God forbid, I hit a child 6-10" taller than my grille centre on, a solidly mounted forward facing car WOULD stove the kids head in, something that wouldnt happen if there wasnt one there...

I did however put one on my (newer shape) S-Type, but that was a plastic sprung loaded one (which has been fitted to Jaguars in certain markets like the US since the mid 90`s). It would still do a pedestrian more damage than a smooth bonnet, but nowhere near as much.

My 1966 S-Type did have its original, rigidly fixed one, & I was always conscious of the potential damage it could do someone....

MOT testers usually ignore them, but police do pull people over down here in later mascotted motors & force them to take them off with a 7-day MOT type producer fairly regularly.

Luckily with the Jaguar S-Type, the mounting holes are in the same position as the original flat UK spec shield, so you can leave that on in normal use & stick the leaper back on for shows easily.

You also see older Jaguars (like XJ40`s) with XJS type badges plonked on the front of the bonnet, this is usually because they had a rigidly mounted leaper that they were forced to remove.

Could just not drive the car i guess.... Completely remove the problem.

Coming from me , someone whos been hit pretty damn badly by a car... (Sky blue mk3 escort if it matters ;D ) Realy! The least of your worries while being smacked by a car is a bonnet mascot. What you'll be worried about is your head bouncing off the A piller While your arms and legs go between smacking into said escort and the mg maestro parked next to it then Again go headfirst into the middle of the road.

Not The tiny mascot, Which will just pop off when you smack into it if its bolted on with some nylon number plate bolts.

dosn't seem to to bother liz windsor.

Oh right, cheers, its 15-20 years ago now so its a bit hazy ;D

I thought the ring was supposed to represent a spinning propeller though.