Hot Rods OPINIONS ON USING A HOOD

Dean, that was just my way of getting you to post more pictures. I think I will lay out the new hood for mine this weekend !

 

Just the Top with Louvers!

 

I think Dad's coupe looks good either way, but the Hemi looks way better with the hood off. For street driving we tend to run the hood, so the cowl vent doesnt just dump engine heat into the cab.

 

In my opinion, once you get past the mid 30s cars, it takes the right vibe of a build to make a hoodless car or truck look right. It can be done, but it has to have the correct combination of parts to look right.

Cars before the mid 30s can look more natural without a hood, but then again, the hoodless rides still needs to have the correct combination of parts to look right. A hood top, or a hood top & side panels are pretty much the car owners choices. There are pros & cons concerning both.

I ran a 35 Dodge 2 door sedan with a hood top but no sides, with full fenders. I thought it looked Ok, I sure was happy the motor was covered when it was out in the rain, and it was easier to keep the motor clean. I lived 3/4 of a mile down a gravel road at the time, going fender less was not an option, or it may have been.

 

I run a see through hood and invisible fenders

After all why would I possibly want to hide this engine.

 

VeryBlue!

 

Simple- if its your car run what makes you happy, why worry about keeping some other party happy, unless you are married to them.

 

Thinking about putting one on here. By the time I cut a hole for the blower and put in some louvers there won't be much metal left.

 

@junkyardgenius - That's one of those cars that has just enough engine! Badass looking ride.

 

Hello,

Opinions on using a hood are all valid. Sometimes the hood makes the open motor area in any hot rod take on the appearance of being finished. Whether the idea of an open motor area is part of the design or not. The original design was with a hood.

During our teenage years, we ran a 57 Chevy Bel Air without a hood to show off a set of dual quads we put on the 283 motor. The hood was removed to give us more access without killing our teenage backs, even though we were pretty flexible at the time. When we finished the installation, it was obvious that we needed to go for a ride to the local hot spot drive-in restaurant parking lots in Bixby Knolls for the Friday/Saturday night, show and shine.

Did we like the look? Well it was a fun project to upgrade the 57 Chevy Bel Air Hardtop’s speed parts installs. It was more powerful and we wanted to see what it was like without a hood. There were enough “hoods” at our high school, anyway…ha! (Pun intended) It was a hit cruising around in the “no hood” Chevy. But, somethings are not supposed to be and this was one of them. It just felt unfinished. Although, it was nice to get the accolades of a job well done and the look of the dual quads was new.

Jnaki

Despite the chrome accessories and nice engine compartment of my own 58 Impala, I was not tempted to take the hood off for any reason. Most everyone knew what was in the motor anyway and saw it many times at school and previous encounters. Besides, they could already hear the motor as we idled through the drive-in location.

What would it have been like not to have the hood installed on the 58 Impala?

This was a similar concept install by the Mickey Thompson Speed Shop proposal in the fall of 1960. We were in a recovery phase and no longer attending the weekly Lion's Dragstrip activities that we had been attending/racing since late 1957.

We knew the shop manager at nearby Mickey Thompson’s shop. We had always had a great relationship with Mickey Thompson at Lions, when we were racing the 58 and the 671 SBC C/Gas Willys Coupe. We were always welcomed at the shop with our purchases and the free Drag News weekly paper. Conversations about drag racing, hot street cars and such were usually the topics, along with what was going on in the back of the shop for the “newish” race cars.

The call from the manager was to ask us if we were willing to upgrade our 58 Impala with the latest from Mickey Thompson’s shop. That meant putting in a supercharged Pontiac motor. Since we already had a C&O Stick Hydro installed, they said the installation would be easy. All safety upgrades would be done. When we told them it was a daily driver to high school, they said it would be built to be driven on the street and compete at Lions.
A dream install that was almost a reality…
When I told my brother what was asked and offered to us, he was happy. Wow. A super, fast 1958 Impala and he did not have to do any work. (because he was in a state of recovery from the burns…) He said that sounded fantastic and he would get back to me. He let it go for several days and finally came up with a “NO.” Even though it was going to be a free install, it was going to be a drag race Impala, not a daily driver.

It was told to us that it was going to be a dual purpose street driven Impala, even a daily driver, as well as a weekend drag racer. He had doubts about the everyday reliability of that 671 supercharger on a Pontiac motor in stop and go traffic to school and cruising around Bixby Knolls teenage hang out scene.

He said it was a drag racing car that could be driven to the drive-in and back, legally on the street. At the time, he was still recovering from his 3rd degree burns and we had to use the Impala for countless trips to the hospital and doctor’s office. We had to have an easy start up, consistent daily driver for those important uses. Not to say anything about my mom’s weekly shopping trips, either.

My brother still had a sense of humor as he mentioned our mom starting up the 671 Pontiac motor/1958 Impala. He could picture her backing it up in our narrow driveway, and ending up at the Lakewood Shopping Mall or in Gardena for some necessary grocery shopping, with a few hot rod encounters along the way. What would she tell people that gathered around the car at the grocery store/shopping mall? Her sons were a little crazy for drag racing and driving hot rods??? She already told her friends that storyline…HA!

No hood on the Impala just was not in the picture before or after the proposal. The smooth lines of the original factory design made the Impala look the best in all phases of cruising, or racing. IOHO
Hood included... thanks @themoose