Hot Rods Cars without a hood.

Hood off for looks, eh ?? I always thought the hood was left off depending on the engine - leave it off if you're running a Ford, since you'll be tinkering with it a lot to make it run right. Chevy ?? - just leave the hood on....

 

The earlier cars with the squared-off, 90-degree firewalls, do it best. It looks like it was always an option to run either way.
The older cars with hoods that overlapped the cowl can and do look okay and it is nice to see the eye candy from all angles. But they don't have the same "Hey! It's meant to go either way" credentials. It's more like a "Hey! *It's a hot rod, not a custom. I have the hood hanging on the wall back at the garage" statement. I love all these examples so no offense intended. I want all of 'em when you're done with 'em.

*This is not a scientifically recognized definition. It's a miscellaneous rambling of a single cell in the body at large.

 

My 32 Roadster from Sweden.

 

My pics from Swedens west coast car meeting over the years.

 

No hood was the style in the 60's.

 

Your style is timeless, Dean.

 

Man,,,,a lot of really beautiful engines here !

Also,,, a lot of really cool cars from Sweden,,,,who knew.
Let’s see some more from around the world.

Tommy

 

Every picture you post of your RPU is a little different, showing you kept changing it up. Compared to your avatar pic, in this one the wheels are different, blower on the engine, the headers, the Moon style tank up front, and maybe it's just the photo but it looks like maybe the running boards have a diamond plate or something. I'd love to see a photo thread of this great little truck showing the evolution of it over the years.

 

When I ran it to Memphis in 1975.

 

The running boards are the stock Ford commercial boards chromed. The car was in a state of evolution the first few years after it was built. The headers, Moon tank, and wheels were changed when I got serious about racing the car and going after the NHRA cl*** records. The original 283 poked a rod out one Sunday at Pomona. When we patched it up, it was ***embled with Vick Hubbard 8:1 pistons and it became the street motor with the 4-71 added.

 

I think fenderless cars look better without a hood. Full fendered cars need a hood.

 

I ran a couple hood less

 

My roadster in Pleasanton 2012

 

I dunno....model 40s have usually looked better with hoods IMHO.

 

Way better than hoods with out cars like the N.Y. subways. HAHAhahahah!!!

 

None of mine got hoods.But I did just put one on the 32 and I kinda like it.

 

My 32s

 

I never got around to cutting a hole in my 59 hood. I ended up running without it for many years.

 

just my rambling but i think it might have something to do with the length of the engine area. if you have a fender less '20's to '34's, if the frame is a little longer there, it looks good without. stock length frame on these cars, it needs a big motor to take up the shorter space, to make it look filled up. other years who knows. or as they say "beauty is in the eye of the beholder". then who can argue with a flathead in any car, so what do i know?

 

Here's mine without the hood top. I usually run the hood top, but decided to leave it off for awhile.

 

Here are a few of mine, past and present, I ran without a hood.

 

A car my Bakersfield pal had.

 

I generally like early hotrods without hoods. My '35 Chevy has always run with a hood. When I pulled the hood off to get it louvered, I thought it would look cool without the hood for a while. Wrong! The '35 has some akward proportions as it is, and with the hood off, it gets even worse. The cowl extends so far under the hood, that it gets weird fast. The hood actually helps hide some of the weirdness. Looked so bad, I hid the car in the garage until I got the hood back and reinstalled.

 

My 26 sedan
And 26 coupe