I had the hood fly open at 65mph a couple weeks ago and the hood and the rear mounting brace is trash. I found a '49 hood but it has the '50-'51 rear brace in it and WON'T fit my stock '49 hinges. What is involved in installing the newer '50/'51 hinges, other than buying the hinges? Are the hinges a direct "bolt-on" replacement? ANY help will be appreciated!!!!
why do so many 49-51 hoods come open? My 50 Crestliner has the safety catch only and has never come open. Its been that way for decades
I wish I knew, MAYBE it's "karma" biting me in the butt....LOL!!! My'49 has ONLY the stock "Primary" hood latch that is controlled by the Inside Hood Release cable under the dash...........This WILL be augmented by the stock "Secondary Safety Latch" that Ford put on the 1950 and up models, THAT'S for sure...
Jim, sorry about that flying hood. Those can be a problem that no one ever wants to happen. Was on my way down to Paso Robles back in 1999 when I stopped for lunch in Stockton. Saw a group of cars from Portland fueling up in the lot and went over to ask if they were OK if I ran on down to Paso with them. I fell in on the tail end behind a sweet little '51 Ford. About an hour down the road I watched as the hood on the Ford rose up and smacked the roof real hard. Not to be discouraged the group located a bungy or some wire from the ditch and tied the thing down and off we went again. Everybody at Paso was feeling remorse for the guy, so a magic marker was placed on the hood and all were asked to sign their comments and names... I mean everyone did...builders, entrants, vendors, etc.... Creating a real wall hanger worth keeping and more special than a trophy !
I’ve only owned one ‘49 and never had it that far along to be putting a hood on it so I’m not too sure BUT I am almost certain that the 50 and 51 hinges are bolt in. If you still had the 49 hood you could just swap out the rear brace and no foul. But for some reason the’49 hinges are not that easy to find from what I know and that might be why the rear brace was swapped out on the new hood. Do you have the later hinges for the car yet? I might have some here but will have to dig around for them and see what I can find. Let me know and I’ll root around in my shed that is packed eyeball deep in parts that dad and I pulled off of parts cars through the years. edit* I reread your post and saw that the hood brace is trashed too so I’ll see if I have one of those also. Worse case scenario you can take the two you have and graft them into one good one, yeah it’ll be some work and a lot of fussing but it might be worth it if we can’t find you one
Thanks for the responce and I appreciate your offer to look for the hinges but I found and bought a pair on ebay for $80 , right next to an identical pair for $250 + shipping....
..As long as it isn't Kool-Aid!!!..Only older folks will understand....Good luck with the hood and hinges and yes, install that secondary latch at the appropriate time. Flying hoods seem to have been a Shoebox Ford issue for decades. Sorry it happened to you........Don.
It’s amazing how prices for stuff are all over the board whenever you look on eBay. But if you ever need anything don’t hesitate to PM me and I’ll see if I can help out.
Ford wasn't alone in that problem... Saw many 49-52 Chevy's and fixed a few that had the windshields busted because the hood latch let go, even with a second catch. I made my own safety catch on the last 50 Chevy I built. and...That's another Paso Robles Story... Paso '98 ..cruising into the Park and Too Tall Pat Ganahl walks into the street, up to the front of my car, bends down and pushes the hood shut... Pat knew those Chevies too ! A bit embarrassing and I definitely wasn't going to let that happen again !
I’ve always been paranoid about this and attach a short chain and spring hook assembly on the hoods of cars I’ve owned.
...I remember it was a thing back in the '70's to chain and lock your hood so that prying eyes couldn't see what secret stuff you might have engine wise.
Or, run it without. Cool is cool... Or if you must run one, find a real small bungee cord to attach under the lip and hook to the radiator bracket. Sumthin's better than nuthin. Good luck.
Your hood can be straightened pretty easy, first step is put a tire under each rear corner and the front of the hood and stand in the middle of the dent, by the right hinge then in the middle of the hood, should pop out most of it, straighten the hinges, they bend real easy. Put the hood back on the car and close it, knock the rear corners down to match the cowl, then body work the remaining dents and have it louvered to hide any more flaws and put a safety chain on it and proceed.
This is what we HAD to do when junk battery prices spiked around 1978. Especially if we had to park on the streets.
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