The Hood Designs On These Cars Made Them Instant Icons

Hood designs on cars today can make it easy for them to stand out. They’re so iconic that it doesn’t take a double-take for most drivers to recognize them. Back in the day, placing shaker hoods was all the rage to give high-performance muscle cars a little more oomph!

These days, gasoline-powered vehicles and internal combustion engines may be declining in popularity for their battery-electric vehicle counterparts. It’s possible that the same may be said for other automotive brands and the hood designs that make them stand out amongst the rest. Every now and then, an automaker needs to shake things up (no pun intended) and will change the look of its best-selling vehicles.

This usually affects the front fascia of the car, including the hood, grille, and headlights. The result is some killer iconic hood designs that help a new car model shine. Below are some of the most iconic hoods, such as the Dodge Shaker hood, the Air Ram hood, and the Plymouth Air Grabber, among a few others.

What is a shaker hood? Known as an air scoop, and sometimes called a “cold-air scoop,” the shaker hood is a staple of Dodge muscle cars. When it comes to internal combustion engines (ICE), the more air introduced into the combustion chamber, the higher the power output once the gas and air ignite. To bring in as much air as possible, the shaker hood has one main purpose — to introduce cooler, denser air quickly to the engine.

The colder the air, the better it is for your engine. In addition to the increase in horsepower and torque, a cold-air scoop is more efficient than standard factory-installed air cleaners. This air is usually hot, leading to a much smaller explosion. When it comes to Dodge muscle cars, we want the big explosion, because if there’s one thing Dodge is known for, it’s horsepower. They started a whole new craze with the shaker hood. Back when Dodge was releasing its “Last Call” limited edition Dodge Challenger models, the 2023 Dodge Challenger Shakedown was one of the last models to wear the shaker hood.

What better way to add style to a car than with a hood graphic? It’s not always the design of the hood that stands out but factory-installed graphics that give it an iconic look. Back in the 1970s, Pontiac was still living up the disco-era with flash colors and wild designs. In 1973, it introduced the “Screaming Chicken” graphic to the Trans Am, and its popularity took to the sky.

Interestingly enough, the decal was sketched on a napkin and was first featured on the 1969 Banshee II concept car. The original “Screaming Chicken” design was about 12 inches wide, made to wrap around the Trans Am’s reverse-facing hood scoop to create a seamless integration. Over the years, the “Screaming Chicken” has gone through some changes and has been made available with different aura colors — gold, blue, even orange on rare occasions. Regardless, it’s always a black bird, seemingly on fire.

Produced by Renzo Rivolta, Giotto Bizzarini, and Giorgetto Giugiaro, the Iso Grifo may not be a household name, and it’s clear why. In production for a little less than a decade, the Iso Grifo was one of those vehicles that had limited time to make it special. However, this model had a short lifespan, running from 1965 to 1974, it was able to make a truly lasting impression, starting with its hood design.

The Iso Grifo hood scoop was a little different than others in the market at the time with a simple raised cubic piece — it was called the “pagoda” or “penthouse” to set it apart from competitors. Designed for big-block engines, the Iso Grifo hood scoop may seem farfetched for a concept that’s found on modern vehicles, especially since it had a small-block Chevrolet V8 engine. However, the Iso Grifo’s hood was still too low for the engine, so the sleek design was created. The scoop on the Iso Grifo was first introduced for the Grifo 7-Litri model — or “7-Liter” in English.

Back in the ’60s, General Motors helped make hood scoops popular on muscle cars, a car style that Chevrolet is known for, most notably the Chevy Corvette. One of the most memorable models would be the Corvette Stingray, donning the cowl cold air induction system. Designed with a distinctive bulge in the middle of the hood, Chevy calls this hood the “sting” in stingray. At first, they were rearward-facing, and operated on the same principle as induction scoops today.

The idea for the cowl air induction scoop was to take advantage of the vehicle’s aerodynamics and the high-pressure zone in the front of the car, specifically the base of the windshield, where most of the air builds up. Designed with performance benefits in mind, it was the perfect choice of placement for a steady supply of air in a short amount of time as it’s cooled down through the cowl air induction hoodscoop.

Last on our list is the Plymouth Air Grabber hood scoop, which was an addition to the Plymouth Road Runner. However, you won’t find new versions of this vehicle available today due to production ending in 1980. Though about 20 years ago, the Air Grabber hood scoop was introduced for the 1969 model year. A fiberglass air duct was bolted to the hood and came with two rectangular upward-facing vents to let more air into the engine.

Like all high-performance muscle cars, the Plymouth Road Runner used the Air Grabber to introduce more air into the combustion chamber of the engine. And amusingly enough, the Road Runner model also came with a Wile E. Coyote decal with the words “Coyote Duster” printed on the air cleaner lid that fit into the hood when it was closed. The hood scoop was so popular that not long after Plymouth’s Air Grabber, Dodge refused to be left in the dust. It came out with the same setup for its cold air induction system, color and all, and called it the “Ram Charger.” Truly pure innovation from Dodge.