I have the full-sized 2-page magazine ad scanned in, and I can zoom in close. They are definitely stickers, same font as the trunk lid/front fender decals. I can also see in the 69 Trans Am ad, the photo in the upper right corner where they are looking down the hood scoop, that the Ram Air is flat against the scoop, not raised at all. I tried to crop this photo....not sure the resolution is perfect, but I think we can see they are stickers, and they are not slanted forward.

Now these mysterious Ram Air emblems have a forward "slanted" font like the factory "400" hood emblems, and are definitely die cast.

I found that 1968 RAII Firebird article from HPP, it was several years old.

http://highperformancepontiac.automotive...stem/index.html

They specifically mention that the emblems on the hood of this car needed to be researched, and Jim Mattison believed they were aftermarket.