1951 Frazer hood ornament

[Gordie]

Hi, does anyone make new reproductions of the plastic nose piece on a 1951 Frazer hood ornament?  Only the early cars used plastic and then they went to a plated die cast nose piece.  They look similar to the ones used on the 1951 Kaiser.  Could they be the same? Thanks

[Fid]

Good question Gordie. I thought only the '51 Frazer Manhattans had plastic hood ornament tips but I don't know for sure. The '51 Frazer parts book only list one part number for the hood ornament nose 207272 which could indicate it was a running change and was replaced with another number as some parts were. There was one for sale on ebay a while ago and the plastic tip did not look at all like the one used on the '51 Kaiser. It looked just like the metal tip used on the '51 Frazer only it was plastic.  I don't know if it was original. It sure looked like it and the seller mentioned it as a selling point. That was the only one I've ever seen.

[Gordie]

Thanks,  I heard that they were changed mid year because of breakage when closing the hood  with your hand on the ornament but the Kaiser would have had the same problem and they never offered a metal tip for them.. I have a NOS 51 Frazer ornament with the metal tip and an extra NOS tip that I would trade for a good plastic one.  There is presently a well worn hood ornament on eBay with a starting bid of $99.00.  Ouch!

[wnyfrzr]

When my dad bought a 51 Frazer standard parts car many years back, it had the plastic nose.  After some research, there was a Service Bulletin sent out at one time to dealers to replace the plastic noses with the chrome steel nose.  All cars in factory were changed out.  The nose piece is different from that of a Kaiser.  The design of the steel nose is the same as the plastic, just different material.  I do not know of which service bulletin it is and maybe in the pile of literature "to be gone thru later".

It would not be too difficult to re manufacture the plastic noses and I have thought of it myself.  But as an owner, I know how easy it is to grab the nose as an attachment point for shutting the hood and making sure it latches.  I know I would still stay with the stronger steel nose myself. 

[Gordie]

That is the same one that was offered a few months ago with a starting bid of $200.00.  I was lucky and found a new one for half of that but it has the metal tip.  This one would be good for a pattern.  I looked thru the Advance Information Bulletins, the Confidential Bulletins and the Service Bulletins and General Letters but could not find any information on the hood ornament tips.  It would be interesting to see what the factory had to say about them but possibly it was just a running change and not worth mentioning.  I probably don't have all of the General Letters issued.  I don't know if a complete list of them was ever made.

[wnyfrzr]

I could be mistaking about the Service Bulletin.  It was my dad that did the research and he and I talked much about the Hobby - - of course too this was early to mid-90's.  We all know we should not go by our memory!  Especially mine!

Glad we dodged the big storm and only got 6 inches here in the Southern Tier of WNY but I bet Jack and Barb got dumped on big time!-

[Gordie]

Wow!  We are really lucky in Los Angeles.  It is supposed to get up to ninety this weekend.