34 Terraplane hood ornament color

dholck

Who remembers the new 34 Terraplane?  ...Walt?  When I got my 34 Terraplane K coupe 41 years ago it was 39 years old and the color around the "Terraplane" logo was brown/bronze color, as is this one pictured on EBay recently.  I also got a couple of the reproduction 34T hood ornaments when they were available and they were painted a white/cream color around the logo ...as I recall, the explanation was that they were originally a white color and turned brown over time.  Looking at this EBay example, the coloration around the logo appears to be metallic and not 'painted' at all.  Anybody know what color they were new?
FYI; chrome plating guy says once they buffed it out to prepare for
plating, that brown metallic area shined up and looks to them to be a
brass plate inserted in there somehow.  Were they shiny brass (gold)
when new? Unfortunately, the platers say they don't see any way to plate
it without chrome plating over the whole area.  In the past, I had a
graphics/sign place make me vinyl masks to go around the hood ornament
lettering (as well as hubcap lettering) ...maybe I need to change them
from white to brown/brass.

dholck

lostmind

It must be a brass insert. There are no pits on it. Probably someone on here has found a way to remove them.

StillOutThere

The Terraplane plate is a stamped brass insert which is only a press fit into the bird casting hex area.  They can be removed by taking a small drill bit and drilling up through the base of the ornament into the cavity behind the two inserts.  You MUST try to hit the center as best you can.  Sometimes the brass plate will pop off from the drill.  Sometimes air will pop one loose.

Regarding color, there were two colors applied.  Cream white and a medium chocolate brown that is really not metallic, but possibly has a little opalescence in it.   What determined which cars got which color?   Over all the years I've been involved with Terraplanes, I still have no idea.  They may have come from two different manufacturers.  They may have been intended to differentiate models but because one Allen screw holds them on and they were often broken, they have been switched many times on surviving cars so that models are no longer represented.  And export cars seem to have gotten both colors also.

I bought the NOS hood bird that was on ebay last year.  It has the brown.   Piece is not perfect but really nice.

RL Chilton

"Cream White and a medium chocolate brown . . ."

 . . . and apparently a black, as well!

StillOutThere

"Cream White and a medium chocolate brown . . ."

 . . . and apparently a black, as well!

Russell, If you are referring to my photo, that isn't black or I would have added black as a third color.  The seller's photo from the auction is under-exposed and the paint needed cleaning.   It is posted to show the darker of the two colors;  it is chocolate brown.

dholck

TKS.  I didn't really remember the finish on my original from 40 years ago -
but since I got this one, and looking at this one, it looked to me that
it wasn't painted at all but was just the finish of the metal.

This one had a broken wing - plating guy thinks he can fix it and put a new wingtip on - in any case, I was most interested in the base, since the base on mine was broken when I got it and has been noticeably repaired.  All the pitting I am presuming is in the old chrome and that once it is removed, the pot metal will replate nicely. 
Remember a few years back when there were 34T parts available and every WTN seemed to show a 34 coupe at every meet?  Where did they all go?  The theory from some at the National in San Mateo (where I had my 34T) is that old guys have them who do not get out anymore and that there will be a resurgence when their widows sell them to the next generation.  :-)

dterry-2011

The wingless one that was on my 35 and the new one I found on ebay for a kings ransom.