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I cannot get logged on to the old gas forum for some technical reason ( I’m stoopid). (.if anyone here can, feel free to post these pics there) But know there are some knowledgeable petrolania collectors here. I recently picked up this unusual gargoyle ornament. The story that came with it, it was used by Mobil salesman back in the day on their cars. It’s perfect for the era late 1920s, early 30s. It does have the shape of the iconic Mobil gargoyle, it is real, it’s heavy and shows the right wear. It’s original chrome plated, so I’m thinking about 1930ish, and betting pretty uncommon, but am coming up empty looking for any info on it. Any help out there?

It looks like it is intended to fit with a Motometer, so I would speculate late 1920s coupled with the chrome versus nickel plating. A neat piece!

Since it goes on a car with an exterior radiator instead of a car with a hood, it must be circa 1920’s or early ‘30’s. It looks to me more like a mythical winged griffin than a gargoyle. The Mobil Oil logo was Pegasus, a winged horse. I did a search on griffin radiator ornaments and found one similar. Jim Patrick

I'm thinking that it might not be a hood ornament (although someone may have obtained it for that purpose). Did a google search and almost all bird-in-flight ornaments have the wings spread out to some degree. The hole in the base may be forcing a conclusion that its for a Motometer device but the flange around the base doesn't look like it might adapt to a radiator cap. Lastly the "gumdrop" on the belly doesn't make sense. A close up of the head might help determine if its an eagle, raven, dragon. A close up of the the "gumdrop" too

Tim,
Above is a photo from the interweb illustrating the early Mobiloil mascot. It clearly shows the same figure as the one depicted in your mystery radiator mascot, including the "nub" at the lower center of the figure.

The "Gargoyle" was SOCONY's early mascot and was replaced with the Pegasus. The Pegasus is still used today however, the Mobil Corporation still uses the name "Gargoyle" in the labeling on some of their bulk industrial lubricants. I do not believe the Gargoyle logo is being used any longer.

It's obvious, as stated above, that it was attached to an outside radiator cap by being sandwiched between the cap and a Motometer-like device.

Hope this helped.

Mike Spaziano.

I had Googled combinations of bird, eagle, dragon and even gargoyle - with "hood ornament" and didn't get a hit. Positively, Mike got it, Now searches with MOBIL Gargoyle show

Too fuzzy for me to make out, but could see it on a sales rig like this. Bonus points awarded for a better pic.

Dropacent wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 28, 2021 1:31 pm

Too fuzzy for me to make out, but could see it on a sales rig like this. Bonus points awarded for a better pic. AECFA2DF-EEB8-471B-BA9B-57BDE5386326.jpeg9C45B034-7CAF-4897-B4F3-2330E02DF6A0.jpegD577BD1E-31BF-4CF9-945F-33A9EAD2B355.jpeg

Can you add the kinks to the original images for the above photos. Also the ornament on the truck looks like it has the Pegasus wings

I would think that it is an ornament off a mobile oil tanker truck of that era.

Thanks Ed, that’s a good search area for me. Looking a bit today, they picked up the flying Pegasus as their logo in 1931, so the window of this gargoyle use would be very small, indeed. Maybe 1928-30ish The gargoyle itself was used by Socony since the 1880s. The story ( which I didn’t pay for) this was given to the seller by an old friend. The old friend said it was used on cars by Mobil salesman. It would be right at home on this rig, IMHO