When hoods become kites.

[Nelsen Motorsports]

So I had my car apart for two weeks the build a fan shroud and put it back together yesterday and while out and about at 10:00pm the hood decides to go airborne. I am going down the road and I hear, BAM! The hood flies up and completely curls backwards and caves in the roof. The good news is that I kept the car under control, I have a spare hood, and the roof is repairable. Will post pics soon.

[r1lark]

Sorry to hear that man. But, good thing was that you kept the car under control, and no one got hurt. Cars can be fixed.

I've enjoyed following your project, keep it coming!

[64V19816]

And NO YouTube video??

[SN-60]

To: Nelsen Motorsports,------ Same thing happened to Me in a '56 Golden Hawk years ago. Sickening feeling to see the hood slowly rise, catch more air, then 'WHAM!!' I've always safety chained the big Hawk
hoods after that experience.

[StudeMichael]

Make sure you put a pin in your hood latch so this never happens again.

[woodysrods]

Plan to reverse open the hoods on both of our C/K cars.
Good Luck with your repair.
Good Roads
Brian

[plwindish]

I had that happen to my 67 Chevelle SS396 waaaaaayyyyy back in the Spring of 1970 when I was student teaching. I still remember the incident, Wham, then suddenly you have to look under the hood to see where you are going. Visibility was the tricky thing as I was about halfway through a long lazy S curve on rte 51 near Clinton IL at the time. Chevelle hoods were wider, but not as long as a Hawk hood. There was very little damage to the hood as the SS hoods had the air intake inserts in the hood, making it stronger. I believe I needed to get two new hinges though. I bet the snout of a Hawk hood could do some real damage to the roof of the car. The way to prevent the hood from popping up on a Stude? Go Avanti! I had a 64 that the left rear latch would pop up on, but one didn't have to worry that the hood was coming up.

[kmac530]

That stinks Nelson. Did it shatter your windshield?
We had it happen at about 125mph in a built '56 Chevy on the 91 frwy back in the 80s. Ripped the hood completely off and flung it about 100ft up in the air....scary, but kinda cool to a couple punks. Busted the windshield on the way up though...that stunk back then.

[Nelsen Motorsports]

Plan to reverse open the hoods on both of our C/K cars.
Good Luck with your repair.
Good Roads
Brian

I will put reverse hinges on it now.

[Nelsen Motorsports]

Pictures as promised:

[dnevin]

Ouch--that must've been sickening. Glad you have a spare and came out unscathed!

Be sure to document your reverse hinges so I can learn how to do it on my car.

[DEEPNHOCK]

Opinion....

I have a reverse opening hood gizmo thing on 'The Black Car'...
(So I can speak from both sides).
I also know of a half dozen people that have a drilled stock hood pin.
A drilled stock hood pin is an hour's labor addition and a $2 pin.
Reverse opening stuff is cool, and neat, and..... a lot of work.
Removing your hood pin, drilling a hole in it, adding a little pit pin...
Way easier, quicker, cheaper, and less hassle.
But, if you are into re-engineering the whole shebang.... Go for it!

[blackhawk61]

Like Jeff says ......Easy project

[junior]

Wow...that sucks. Consider yourself lucky, good thing no one was hurt, and you have a spare hood as well. I had my hood latch let go on the highway 3 times in one day, but thankfully the safety latch held...still got the pucker muscle going though! Had my austin mini hood come up on me too, doing crazy speed on a gravel road...sliding windows in that car, couldn`t stick my head out to see where I was going, but got the car safely stopped. Here is a solution that works for me on my coupe that I posted a while back

http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.com/showthread.php?26577-c-k-hood-catch-idea&highlight=hood+tailgate

although blackhawk 61`s solution should work for you because your car has no grill inserts. Regards, Junior.

[Studedude]

YIPES!

Glad you are safe, Alex.

Everything else will work out just fine.