The hood popped open on my '49 Ford Custom this past Friday afternoon!! Needless to say, it is completely trashed and is not usable or repairable. The cowl area is pushed down enough to where the Windshield is about 1" lower in the center than it should be. If anyone has a recommendation for who to get ahold of that is WELL versed on body work on the Shoebox Fords in the Southern NH/Northern Mass areas PLEASE let me know. Thank you!! Jim
That must have been one scary ride stopping from 65 with the hood folded over the windshield. Glad you didn't get hurt. Good luck getting it fixed and back on the road.
I’d yank the dash and push that out from the inside. The other option is weld a pull plate on the cowl to pull that. With the dash gone you should be able to walk that out nicely.
your hood started out as flat sheet, then wham, now its bent to look like a hood. drive until it opens and now its bent a different way. its just metal. bend it some more until it looks like a hood again
Ouch!!! I’ve had a couple fly up on me before but nothing like that But with the chop I can see where it let the hood come a lot further back than a standard non chop top. Looks like you have your job cut out for you and that is a really nice shoebox!!
Whatever you do, don’t feel bad. I too have done this on an O/T truck. You’ll be surprised what is repairable once the dust settles.
Yea, I bet that was exciting. Thankfully you were able to get it shut down and there were no injuries or crashes involved. The cowl and even likely the hood can be fixed. Although, I would likely be looking for another hood to start with as well. I just scrapped a hood and wiper grille off my son's pickup that did the same thing a couple years ago now. For me, it was easier to find another hood and wiper grille than try to fix what ended up pretty mangled up when it flew open. Also, looks like a 51 hood might work better unless you want to weld in the center section where the bullet was on the original 49 hood?
Damn! My 50 hasn't had an actually hood latch since I've owned it (bought this summer) it just has the safety latch.. going to be changing that!
Happened to my (M-word) a few years back..... I had a secondary safety latch in my pile-of-stuff too !!!! (I installed it the next day) EVERY TIME I close my hood now I.....give it the old tug/tug! to make sure it doesn't pop up unexpectedly. I HATE the feeling when the hood flew up. I know you're sick but...you'll fix it. 6sally6
Hey Paladini962, Is the place you recommended Temples Verbe Auto Parts, 7303 Two Notch Road, Batesbury, SC (803) 359-9063 ?
I've never seen damage to the cowl like that from a hood popping up, usually damage to the top where it folds back and the windshield. I have to agree with "lostn51" that the chop on the top caused the extra damage since it hit the cowl before it hit the windshield and top.
49's were (and are) notorious for this particular weakness. One of the "50 New things for 1950!" was improved hood latching and stronger hinge springs. And improved AGAIN in 1951... I guess they never really beat the problem.
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