I love vintage automotive accessories, and this “Beauty-flash” is one I hadn’t seen before. It is a light-weight aftermarket hood ornament and it is very long, over 23 inches in length. The box indicates it was made by a company called Knight-Morley.
I hadn’t heard of Knight-Morley, either, and I guess that is because they weren’t around very long. In 1953, the company fired some employees that walked off the job in a dispute over safety conditions, namely heat and dust. Other employees went on strike to protest the firings, and they were let go, too. The company was accused of unfair labor practices and eventually had to pay the employees back-pay of approximately $66,000. In the meantime, however, the business was sold to C.M. Hall Lamp Co., and that business moved operations from Detroit to North Carolina.
I found this advertisement for the Beauty-flash in a 1949 newspaper:
Other items advertised alongside the Beauty-flash in this same ad include an auto desk, a man’s size ash tray and a DIY body-fender tool kit. All things you don’t see anymore!
