1965 Hood Dimensional Differences between A.O. Smith and St. Louis Built Bodies

[James W.]

I have been planning to replace the hood on my 1965 Corvette due to a 4 inch diameter hole being drilled through it by the original owner to get the hood open after the release cable broke. When he or whomever drilled the hole they drilled through part of the inner hood support structure and the repair was not good. I am planning to have the car flight judged in the next year or two. So last weekend my son and I finally got around to installing the used 1965 small block hood that I bought at Carlisle several years ago. I wanted to do this to be sure all the bolt hole threads for the hood latch pins, hinges and support were all good before spending the money to prep and paint the hood. To our surprise, we found that the replacement hood was approximately 5/16 of an inch shorter front to back than the hood that is original to the car. My car is a late production car VIN 22,09x with an A. O. Smith built body. The original hood measures approximately 3 feet and 11 inches when measured from the hood centerline front to rear. The replacement hood measures approximately 3 feet and 10-9/16 inches when measured from the hood centerline front to rear. My only conclusion is that this is another difference between the A.O. Smith built body and the St. Louis built body? The hood is a 1965 vintage hood as it has the lighter gray colored fiberglass as found on a 1965 hood and not the dark gray/black fiberglass found on 1967 Corvettes. When setting the hoods side-by-side and looking at the back structure and rivets near the hood latch pins I can't see any differences. All the hood alignment gaps at the side and the front are within spec. as seen in the pictures. So now I am back in the market for a hood that came from an A. O. Smith built '65 body.

As a comparison, would some members with '65 small block cars built with both A. O. Smith and St. Louis built bodies measure the front to rear length of their hood and report what their hood measured?

Has anyone in the past did this comparison in a Restorer Article?

Any comments would be appreciated. Sorry about the picture orientation, they were in the correct orientation when uploaded from my files.

Regards,

James West

[Page C.]

Re: 1965 Hood Dimensional Differences between A.O. Smith and St. Louis Built Bodies

Hi James
I checked 3 1965 hoods today and they were all 3 ft 11 inches. (47") One was a early (42xx) and one a late (227xx) were both AOS cars. The third car was a late St Louis car (209xx). All three have had no front end damage.
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[Keith B.]

Re: 1965 Hood Dimensional Differences between A.O. Smith and St. Louis Built Bodies

the same supplier supplied both plants from my understanding of my research

[Mark E.]

Re: 1965 Hood Dimensional Differences between A.O. Smith and St. Louis Built Bodies

Maybe you learned why the hood was for sale.

[Page C.]

Re: 1965 Hood Dimensional Differences between A.O. Smith and St. Louis Built Bodies

The most likely reasons that hood dimensions were changed was repairs to the front end of the car the hood came from. Some Corvettes with front end damage (back in the day) had the nose of the car cut off through the wheel well opening and a donor front end grafted to the remaning front end. If the the splice was off, they would shortened the length of the hood to fit the opening. This can also happen to the side to side dimension if on fender was replaced.
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[Larry G.]

Re: 1965 Hood Dimensional Differences between A.O. Smith and St. Louis Built Bodies

I have been planning to replace the hood on my 1965 Corvette due to a 4 inch diameter hole being drilled through it by the original owner to get the hood open after the release cable broke. When he or whomever drilled the hole they drilled through part of the inner hood support structure and the repair was not good. I am planning to have the car flight judged in the next year or two. So last weekend my son and I finally got around to installing the used 1965 small block hood that I bought at Carlisle several years ago. I wanted to do this to be sure all the bolt hole threads for the hood latch pins, hinges and support were all good before spending the money to prep and paint the hood. To our surprise, we found that the replacement hood was approximately 5/16 of an inch shorter front to back than the hood that is original to the car. My car is a late production car VIN 22,09x with an A. O. Smith built body. The original hood measures approximately 3 feet and 11 inches when measured from the hood centerline front to rear. The replacement hood measures approximately 3 feet and 10-9/16 inches when measured from the hood centerline front to rear. My only conclusion is that this is another difference between the A.O. Smith built body and the St. Louis built body? The hood is a 1965 vintage hood as it has the lighter gray colored fiberglass as found on a 1965 hood and not the dark gray/black fiberglass found on 1967 Corvettes. When setting the hoods side-by-side and looking at the back structure and rivets near the hood latch pins I can't see any differences. All the hood alignment gaps at the side and the front are within spec. as seen in the pictures. So now I am back in the market for a hood that came from an A. O. Smith built '65 body.

As a comparison, would some members with '65 small block cars built with both A. O. Smith and St. Louis built bodies measure the front to rear length of their hood and report what their hood measured?

Has anyone in the past did this comparison in a Restorer Article?

Any comments would be appreciated. Sorry about the picture orientation, they were in the correct orientation when uploaded from my files.

Regards,

James West

Did you get the hood fit problem corrected?
Both St. Louis and DowSmith used the same hood from the Molded Fiberglass Body Co. in Ashtabula, OH.

[James W.]

Re: 1965 Hood Dimensional Differences between A.O. Smith and St. Louis Built Bodies

Yes,

One of the hoods I bought, the one in the pictures came from a car that at one time must have been in a front end collision. The rear edge of the hood had been trimmed a little over 1/8", most likely to make the front end fit correclty. I purchased anther '65 hood and it fits perfectly, not sure if it was from a St. Louis or AO Smith built car.

James

Did you get the hood fit problem corrected?
Both St. Louis and DowSmith used the same hood from the Molded Fiberglass Body Co. in Ashtabula, OH.

[David K.]

[Larry G.]

Re: 1965 Hood Dimensional Differences between A.O. Smith and St. Louis Built Bodies

The pictures of the hood you attached look wrong color. I do not recall seeing any OEM hoods in production or other FRP panels that were brown, they were a light blue grey color as I recall.

[Ronald L.]

[Ronald L.]

[Larry G.]

Re: 1965 Hood Dimensional Differences between A.O. Smith and St. Louis Built Bodies

I do not want to be out of line or unpopular. But. Why does everyone refer to the DowSmith bodies as AOSmith bodies? All bodies coming out of Ionia, Michigan were produced by DowSmith, Inc. A. O. Smith produced the frames in Granite City, Illinois.

C2 Hood fit was a problem in both St. Louis and Ionia and they differed in their approach for repair. I assume you are discussing flush fit variation. Ionia averaged the mismatch in flush fit and St. Louis split the upper panel from the fender skirt to raise it to match hood crown.