Antenna Doo-dads

June 7, 2009 8:06 PM

What should I put on my antenna?

My previous car didn't have a radio antenna -- but my new one does. I've seen cars with smiley faces and flags and whatnot attached to the antenna -- but what else is there?

posted by nayrb5 to travel & transportation (9 comments total)

I once drove a gray Saturn that was impossible to find in the parking lot, as it pretty much just looked like a big pothole. I made an antenna ball that looked like an alien's head. It was a styrofoam egg from the craft store that I painted green and to which I glued eyes and a mouth made from foam. It was a good thing that the styrofoam eggs came in a 6-pack, as people kept stealing them.

You can buy them, too, and 499 others.
posted by zinfandel at 8:12 PM on June 7

Go to the nearest Jack in the Box and get an antenna ornament. They pass em out for free.

Bask in your pimp glory.
posted by Gravitus at 8:13 PM on June 7

Because I am a horrible person your post led me to look for a version of TruckNutz but for antennas. That googling took me to this website for antenna balls, which may help.
posted by The Devil Tesla at 8:17 PM on June 7

Yeah, note that if you have anything cool on there (or anything at all really) people will steal them. I always just got jack ornaments and changed up the face with googly eyes and marker. I also had a green alien head as above that was also stolen.
posted by dead cousin ted at 8:19 PM on June 7

My wife had a little styrofoam cherry on her antenna for a while that I think she got at Target or Walmart or something. It never got stolen, just faded and janky, so she chucked it.

After looking around at zinfandel's fascinating link, I think these cherries are exactly what she had.
posted by Rock Steady at 12:53 AM on June 8

My sister gave me one of these, which I dutifully stuck on my Hyundai Accent. And promptly took off again after about a week when I noticed at highway speeds the trailing flames on it caused the entire antenna top to oscillate back and forth so severely that the locking nut holding the antenna in place was actually finger-loose and I had to break out the wrench to remedy it. So I would recommend that whatever goes on the end of an antenna should be aerodynamic lest you have a similar experience to mine.
posted by barc0001 at 1:45 AM on June 8

When I was a kid, this neighbor of mine with a shitbox of a car had a lemon on hers.

I always though it would be funny to have a fake squirrel clinging to the antennae, spread out horizontally so it looks like he's struggling to hang on in the wind. This effect really only works when you are in motion though.
posted by orme at 4:53 AM on June 8

I had a bendy skeleton that stayed on my antenna for several years. A friend gave it to me as a joke, and I was surprised that it stayed on.
posted by theora55 at 8:27 AM on June 8

Yeah, I think that in general this type of thing is a bad idea, as over time it will bend your antenna. This would be specially bad if you have a power antenna.
posted by reddot at 3:32 PM on June 9