Goddess of Speed hood ornament on Packards returns to Warren

WARREN — Large replicas of the Goddess of Speed, the famed hood ornament that was part of many Packard cars, will be displayed beginning Tuesdayat the Warren Amphitheatre.

But this community art project of the Fine Arts Council of Trumbull County is a little larger than those that adorned the Packards first manufactured in Warren.

Rather, the fiberglass statutes depicting the “winged lady” are about 6-feet high and weigh 150 pounds each.

“We always thought about public art, said Bobbie Brown, FACT director.

Brown explained that she took the idea of the goddess to Trumbull 100, a group that supports community projects. It decided to support it with a $40,000 contribution as seed money.

“I proposed the goddess. The goddess just stood out,” she said, noting that the 1937 hood ornament was selected from mong the rest.

Brown explained that the initial goal was to have 30 of the goddesses manufactured, decorated by local artists with differing themes, and auctioned off to raise money for charities.

As it turned out, local businesses opened their wallets to the idea and paid $3,000 each to sponsor what turned out to be 35 of them.

Read the complete story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com