The small metal duck on the bonnet contrasts with the aggressive image of Mike's cars. Its visual kinship with Convoy introduces a road-movie reference into the decoration itself.
A metal duck, not a rubber toy
The expression “rubber duck” can create the wrong impression of the object that appears in Death Proof. It is a metal duck-shaped ornament fixed to the bonnet. The name Rubber Duck refers to the identity of the lorry driver played by Kris Kristofferson in Convoy, the film directed by Sam Peckinpah and released in 1978, and to the ornament associated with his lorry.
The visual resemblance makes the nod easy to recognise without turning it into a story about material provenance. It is not enough for two objects to share a design in order to claim that the production used exactly the same piece. A replica, a recreation and an original accessory are different things. Without documentation about the specific object, the description should remain at the level of the recognisable reference.
The ornament stands out because it introduces an almost comic figure on vehicles that the film presents as threatening. That mixture fits the way Mike combines occasional likeability, professional nostalgia and aggression. The detail does not necessarily soften his presence: it can make it stranger by interrupting a decoration that would otherwise be more uniformly sinister.
Road cinema turned into decoration
Convoy belongs to a tradition in which vehicles and the identity of their drivers are closely linked. A nickname, a radio or an ornament can function as a sign of belonging to a road world. Death Proof draws on that possibility of characterisation through an object that the character carries with him and that others may recognise.
The nod does not require Mike and Rubber Duck to be morally equivalent. Sharing a reference does not turn the killer in Death Proof into a continuation of Convoy's protagonist. Nor does it establish a literal connection between the stories. The film can appropriate an admired image and place it in a context where its meaning becomes uncomfortable or ironic.
The object's small size also matters. It does not dominate the action or force the story to stop in order to explain it. A viewer who knows Convoy can add that association; another may simply recognise a feature of the car. The basic workings of the chase do not depend on passing a test in film references.
A steady detail within movement
The decoration helps to identify Mike's vehicles as part of a single visual identity. During the final chase, the main interest lies in the relationship between the cars and the bodies. The ornament is subordinated to that action, although its presence preserves the link with a very specific automotive and cinematic taste.
There is no need to assign it a technical function in order to explain its place in the film. The duck does not prove that the car has special modifications, nor does it justify the driver's supposed invulnerability. It is an object of characterisation, while the danger depends on the use of the car and on the position of the people involved in the scene.
The most accurate reading keeps that scope in view. The detail connects Mike's decoration with a recognisable image from Convoy and with the culture of road cinema. The making of the accessory, the number of replicas or its fate after filming require specific sources. Adding them without documentation would turn a visible nod into an invented collector's story.
More context in the Death Proof guide.