Customs Ladies & Gentlemen... Latch Your Hoods!

No I doubt it but I was thinking of blasting up there for saturday but it's not that close.I really dig those fairgrounds though......very cool place for a great show.

 

that ****s..... glad it wasn't worse

 

Ouch ouch ouch!!

 

Happened to me years ago in a mid 50's Jeep M38A1, but as soon as it hit the windshield, it flipped into the air and landed on the road behind me. Luckily, nobody was behind me. I would have felt really bad if it hit another car or caused an accident. I was going about 50 (top speed with a tailwind...) and the hood barely had a scratch. Good to hear you are OK.

 

About 50 mph my F100 did that one day last year... I could see it coming up...Just before it blasted the rest of the way I was on the binders, then, Wham! It slammed shut.

I said a little prayer... Thanx...

 

NOOOOOOOO!
That blows. I got a li'l sick in my stomach seeing that. Glad you're ok. Can't wait to see it fixed up and buffed. You still have paint left from the last go 'round?

 

Happened to me once with an O/T van. Flew up,the hinges broke,smacked the windshield,and I watched it sail up and over the van. I'm pretty sure I got the van stopped before it hit the ground. The guy that was behind me said it went straight up,and it ended up way out in a field.
Nobody in the van said ****,but I think they all remembered that I'd checked the oil at the last stop.
Sorry about your car.Good luck finding a replacement.

 

wow that ****s a fat one.
good thing is your ok ar is fixable
really hate seeing things like this

 

Arf Huck ! Geez , I'm sorry to see that ... Glad your ok .

 

What a shame, such a pretty custom too. At least no one was hurt, not that it will take any of the sting out. But sheetmetal can be fixed.

It has happened to us twice. My Son had an O/T Fox Mustang and the hood flew back and smacked the roof. He had to straighten the cowl and the roof, but it sure did block his line of vision for a while till he got stopped.

Years ago I had a 53 Studebaker with a sbc in it and 4 hood pins so I could lift the hood off. Like a dummy I forgot to put the pins in one morning when leaving work and as I got up to about 60 mph the hood started to flutter like a leaf, then it took off like a kite and sailed up into the air. I was looking in my rearview mirror and I never thought a hood would sail that high. When it landed behind me on the highway it looked like it just sort of settled down nice and soft so I figured it wouldn't be too badly banged up, but then a trailer truck ran right over the top of it and that was that.

From the stories so far it looks like this happens more than one would think.

Don

 

Oh Man! I am sooo sorry for you!
Just glad you were able to come out of that situation okay.
Scary Stuff!
...

 

Mate that ****s sooooo bad! Sorry to hear.

I had the 'Bonnet' (Hood) on my 38 Standard Coupe open on me at about 140kmh going down the highway from Sydney to Melbourne one night. Scared the **** out of me!! Couldn't see a thing so I rolled the window down while watching the guard rail and hoping there was no one slower in front of me! Stuck my head out the window to see to stop.
It Killed the bonnet, windscreen surround and put two BIG dints in the roof and pushed the cowl in a good 2-3 inches, funny though both windscreens didn't shatter or crack.

Doc.

 

This is exactly what happened to me years ago in my Comet... It was at night to.. I had my hood up just minutes before, I got distracted and thought I shut it and latched it... Guess I didn't.

 

Sorry to see that, glad you didn't get hurt. Had the hood on my Dads pickup do that years ago, truck was in light gray primer and it opened while drivin in fog. I'll always remember that. Bob

 

I was helping a friend of my dads at his body shop in a 66 pro street nova. He asked if I wanted to drive it and I said yell yeah. Long story short fibergl*** cowl hood fresh hugger Orange upside down asphalt not a good combo. Could have been worse but I felt like an add he just laughed.

 

That happened to Watson in the early stages of his G****wine build, if i remember right, after he peaked the hood? or modyfied the grille, not sure, anyway, it had a cord keepin it in place.. I read it on his book.
Actually, because of the damage to the windshield he swapped it out w/ a Olds one piece unit.

 

Unfortunately the design of the hood latches on a lot of older cars were not very good.


I just had to get the hood open on a 51 Pontiac that I have for parts and the the cable was frozen up. All I did to get it open was stick a prybar under the center of the hood in the front and after two good tugs it popped right open!

 

Ouchh !! Glad you are ok !

 

Back in the day my neighbor was on his way to the junk yard in the "55 chevy convert he was working on. He hadn't put a top on it yet and the hood flew up and over the windshield, bent and hit him in the head. Damn near knocked him out, and he looked like he'd been in fist fight and lost.

 

I was circle tracking my OT(69) chevelle and the hood flew up on the back straight just going into 3,not only was I winning but my pit man told me later that he reached in his pocket and found the hood pins. He said he thought about walking south till his hat floated,but you know I could see them from in the car too! That was a heat race and I won the feature tha day. Gary

 

Man, that was a lot of steel to try and see through...

 

Sorry to see this. Glad you weren't hurt. This solution works on my Healey, but probably wouldn't look quite as good on your Poncho. Hope you get it fixed better than new:

 

****!

 

****!!! So sorry man!!!!

 

Had that happen back in '60 while riding shotgun in a '50 Jeep station wagon. Scared the **** out of us, but because the hood was so light compared to your Pontiac's it didn't do much damage at all.

It looks like you had the speedo buried.

Glad you weren't hurt.

 

I had a 1957 Ford, 390/335- 4 spd about 40 years ago. Got up to about 90 mph and the hood raised up about two feet! The hood lifted from the rear and I believe there was a low pressure area at the cowl which caused it to lift. I guess the bicycle pant leg cuff clips did not have the needed tension to keep the hood closed. Live and learn.

 

Thanks for all the concern guys. I tihnk i've located a hood, now i just need to man up and pay 350 bucks for a windshield

 

I had my ponti bonnet pop up at 60mph, lucky it caught on the second catch! Tied the ****er down for the rest of the trip! put a later model catch on it now. Talk to Jeff walker about the hood, I think he has one on a parts car

 

Glad you are OK! Surely ya can find a new hood.
I had that happen one time in a friends car - he was driving. Scared the hell outa both of us and almost ran off the highway.....

 

Man! So sorry to see these photos. I feel your pain!!

Here is something that might help in the future. Not sure if it will work on your latch (The following instructions are 55 Chev specific), but it will work very easily on many different cars and maybe could be adapted to yours.

This was discussed some time back and resulted in several available aftermarket latches being suggested. I still may go that route in the future, but in the meantime I have come up with an extremely simple surefire way to keep an original hood latch from letting go.

I was not overly concerned about this until an extremely hard second gear shift popped mine open (Thank God the safety caught it from coming up all the way.

Anyway, the fix for my 55 was very simple. Simply do the following:

1. Shine a light up through the grill with the hood in the down and latched position.

2. You should be able to see the first catch sticking through the receiver and off to the left (The safety catch is on the right side).

3. Take a fine line marker and mark a line on the catch itself as close as possible to the center hood latch post (the permanent protruding center part on your hood latch).

4. Take the latch off of the hood to your workbench.

5. Center punch a mark right on the magic marker line, dead center on this left side catch (top to bottom). The idea is to create a hole that can be pinned so that the catch cannot recede back into the latch mechanism (behind the center post of the latch).

6. Drill a 5/32 or 3/16 hole in this area. The latch is hardened. A little heat will greatly ***ist the drilling. Just let it cool back down slowly to retain some hardness.

7. Put the latch back in the car.

8. Shut the hood and look back through the grill. You will be able to see the hole just appearing on the catch and will be able to see that a pin through this hole will keep the catch from retreating.

9. Go to your local tractor supply and spend $1.59 on a hair pin clip (5/32" x 3"). This looks somewhat like a regular hood pin clip but is designed for tractor pins that are 5/8" to 1" in diameter.

10. Add a small 1/2" long piece of vacuum line on the wavy part of the pin to avoid any rattling and then slip the pin through the hole from the front of the grill.

You can just barely see the pin if you are looking for it. A little black paint would make it invisible. If you pull the latch to open the hood, you will find that the latch will not pull at all and the hood will refuse to open.

It takes a little dexterity to slip the pin in and pull it out, but it is snug and works well.

No more worries. Worked for me!!!