Does anyone have any pictures of some louvered hoods for 1955-1959 Chevy/GMC trucks on the forum? I have used the search ****on and could use google, but have some questions about functionality/price/if you are happy with them AND would like to see different designs. Thanks in advance!
55-56 hoods have a big flat expanse of metal. The 57 hood has two "rockets" that would mess with the louver pattern. The 58-59 hoods drop down in the center, also limiting what you can do. I have a 59 hood with a few louvers, but there in an off topic bump in the middle of the hood. So I can't show you.
I always liked the '57 hood the best of all the Task Force trucks. I wish I could find one local for my '55.
I saw that one guy on here had a 58/59 hood for sale that was louvered, but I didnt like the style of louvers used, but was still very cool. I am more interested in all louvered hood designs for the entire era of truck to get an idea if it looks decent enough (would like to see a few on a truck). I was considering it for mine because of the immense heat when it is running. Here are the pictures:
This is the only one I can put my hands on right this moment. I have done tons of them over the years, but I have tons of photos and sifting through them right now is not possible. I will add to this thread as I find more. This particular hood I did just recently, and the customer wanted it one way and one way only, so it's not the pattern I would have layed out. Not too bad though...
What is the pattern you would have layed out? Thanks for posting and keep on doing it because I am very interested.
Probably fairly close to the same, but I would have extended the rows forward by about five or six louvers apiece. The way it is now, it looks too back heavy for my tastes. It is EASY to go the other way too though. Moving the whole pattern forward would make the finished product nose heavy... it's a very fine balance to lay out some times. The other change I would have probably done would have been to tighten up the centerlines on the front of my rows by just a touch, there by making the pattern narrower at the front. It makes the pattern better mimic the tapering lines of the out side edges of the hood, and look a bit more like the pattern "grew" there. When I have done my job right, no matter how many holes are in your hood, you see the overall shape of the vehicle first - then notice it has louvers... I will dig a bit more and find some better stuff, promise.
That looks pretty good. Not sure how it would look on the 58-59 hood. I'd almost have to see it because it has a completely different shape. I like that fact that you have an odd number of rows. An even number of rows never looks right to me because it doesn't provide a real center point.
Photo-shop, image edit is a wonderful thing. You can cut and paste them louvers in a dozen ways before punching the first one. Roger and Uncle Johnny had a Louver machine up in Staunton IL.. Home of Bugly tools.
The Jalopy Journal
