Body / Glass: Hood stuck closed, 50 Champion

[tim333]

What's the best way to get at the latch? Through the opening in bullet, grill or from underneath? Just picked up car today, still on the trailer.

[Lothar]

There is a "secret" way to open the hood latch from underneath. You just need a long, thin screwdriver. I would have to find my owner's manual to get the whole procedure, but, as I recall, there is a hole that you stick the screwdriver through and then push the latch back.

[52-fan]

This picture is of a 52, but the 50 will be similar. You reach up through the hole and pry the lever the cable is attached to.

[jclary]

In addition to the suspect hood release cable being the culprit. Once you release the latch, proceed with caution. If you get the hood released and slightly open to the safety catch...it might be wise to take a can of penetrating oil with one of those little nozzle extensions. Try to get some oil onto the hinge pivots. I've seen some very nice straight hood sheet metal bent and kinked by someone jerking up the hood on a long sitting vehicle. This is not just a Studebaker issue, but other cars that have sat dormant for long periods.

[T.J lavallee]

Amen to that! I watched a neighbor ruin a perfectly straight hood on a perfectly straight 60' Rambler American wagon that had sat in his back yard for years. I'm surprised he wasn't more careful lifting the hood as there could have been diamond backs or bees or black widows or other desert critters under that bonnet. The guy he was trying to sell it to wasn't interested after that blunder. Go figure.

[tim333]

I looked underneath briefly, saw a hole about the size of a dime. That hole?

[52-fan]

I looked underneath briefly, saw a hole about the size of a dime. That hole?

I'm not sure what yours will look like from underneath. I don't have a 50 model and I couldn't find a picture. There was a thread on this some time ago and I think the person was told to remove one of the grills to get better access.
You might try a search on Google. Often, that is faster than the search window on the forum.

[TWChamp]

Dime size or maybe a bit smaller. Do it just as mentioned above, and once you get it opened start spraying penetrating oil on the full length of the cable. Do the same for ALL the cables on the car, such as parking brakes, overdrive, wiper motor, etc.

[tim333]

I was looking too low initially, today I was able to easily reach in the opening below the hood moulding and open with a screwdriver. The latch slid right over. Thanks guys.

[kurtruk]

Hood release cable runs near the battery. Corrosion results in the cable housing. Keep it lubed. Hood release cables from this era are getting scarce.

[Stevenlesser]

Hi ,there's actually 2 holes ,if the unlatcher is laying on his or her back looking up at the bottom of the latch ,way up there there's a slot ( no) and a small hole (yes) so you need a small skinny screwdriver that's long enough to reach up there
the hole is just to the center of the business end of the upper latch ,not the secondary lower catch
poke it up there move the handle to the passenger side so the tip pivots to the driver side and it'll push the head of the latch back,
ps you didn't pull the overdrive cable out instead of the hood cable and forget ? I've done that because the Stude of cable looks like the hood cable in lots of other old iron

[MrHemi2U]

I changed my cable with a choke cable from an auto parts store. The hood handle has a set screw or roll pin so that you can change it. I also placed some heat stink tubing around it near the battery so the acid couldn't get to it.