I’m finally getting my 1953 Mercury Monterey on the road and just found out the hood that I had painted is actually for a 54’ not a 53’. The hinge bolts and fitment seems fine, but the latch and pin point is a WAYS off… I’ve got all the hood chrome for the 54’ hood and it looks like the only issue is the difference where the lower trim matches up to the fenders. Does anyone have experience with this? I’d hate to have to start over as I’m sure finding a good 53’ hood won’t be easy, but it looks like the front latch system / sheet metal between 53’ and 54’ changed quite a bit when the engine changed to OHV… thanks in advance!
Sorry to hear. I thought they were the same. I cut up the skin of one a few years back for a tool Mrtc scoop on my 51. A point for all builders is to fully fit everything before painting, Too late to be preaching, but it is a hard lesson.
Would think that if the 54 hood latch is different, possibly the one from your 53 might be interchangable or the radiator support from a 54 might fit and allow the hood to work. Where are you located?
Mercury, as Ford did, went to the ball joint suspension as well as OHV V8 in 54. The new design required the front end sheet metal to lengthen 1.5" as I understand it. The wheelbase got slightly longer, but the chassis stayed the same length, requiring shorter wings on the front bumper. The fenders changed some, and the radiator support changed a lot. If your fenders are 53, you will need a 52 or 53 hood. Nice one on evil bay currently, but pricey and pick up only. I ran into this while attempting to use some 54 stuff in the build of my 53 Ford.
I know the 54 Ford front fenders and front bumper are much different in '54 than they were in 52/53 because of the changeover to ball joint front suspension but the hood on the Ford was the same for all 3 years. I wonder if the inner panel from a 53 hood would fit in a '54 hood and get it to line up? Although that may require drilling out spot welds which would mess up your paint, and you'd still need a '53 inner piece, unless that section unbolts.
Thanks for all the info. Unfortunately it looks like way more work to make this hood fit than it’s worth… hopefully I can find a quality 53’ hood
@Squablow is correct, the outside sheet metal and the hinges are the same from 53/54. What changed is the front inner brace and all the front trim. If your hood is solid, you could install the 53 brace and trim if you could find even a decent hood.
Around 1977-78 I had a '54 mercury monterey. I ruined the hood but luckily found a'53 hood to replace it. As I remember it was a direct bolt on. Just changed the hood trim over. Possibly put the '54 hood part of the latch into the 53 hood , it's been a long time
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