1959 with 1958 hood

[Mark P.]

I saw a 59 with #41 VIN over the weekend. It had a 1958 hood that the current owner said came with the car. All 3 prior owners were known to the current owner and the original owner had told him the hood came with the car when new.

Has anyone seen any early VIN 59's with a 58 hood ?

[Dennis C.]

1959 with 1958 hood

I haven't.

[Chris B.]

Re: 1959 with 1958 hood

I'm the owner of the 59 #41 and would like to know if anyone knows if the early 59s came with old 58 parts. ie hood.
this has been bugging me ever since I bought the car I was going to buy a new 59 hood but the cost is a little to much plus shipping
can anyone help.

[James G.]

Re: 1959 with 1958 hood

1958 vin #003 (three) had a 58 hood, and trunk spears and all. The trunk however, was all 57 when one opens and looks close. My best guess is the possibilty of a diviation, would be in vin #001 thru Vin #010 for varations. But a 58 hood on a 59 car after pilot line production is highly unlikely, but never say never.

The judges would probably not agree that the left over hood was original. I suppose you could strip paint and see what appears, but now we are talking lots of money to find out proff.

[Stewart A.]

Re: 1959 with 1958 hood

I think it would be highly unlikely. Surely a 59 of any number would have the smooth hood. That's the main difference in a 58 - 59. James could be right never say never. If that's correct Mark he has a one of !!!

[Dan H.]

Re: 1959 with 1958 hood

Murphy is at play here! If the hood has been there, paint matches etc., figure a damage sustained at the Dealership, only replacement in stock, a 58 hood!Dan

[Mike E.]

Re: 1959 with 1958 hood

Not totally relevant, but back in the early 80's I had a 57 hardtop on a 57 hardtop-only car that was a very late 57 with appropriately dated (and never replaced) plexiglas that had a 58 headliner. Underneath the headliner that was falling down were all sorts of green grease pencil marks and codes that I am convinced came from the manufacturer.
Having said that, I'm really skeptical about the hood. I've traced several cars back to their original owners and no one "ever changed anything"--but a 71-dated hardtop on a 69!!??!!

[Dan H.]

Re: 1959 with 1958 hood

Must agree with Mike, I worked on 58 sn 003 and it had all 'cosmetic' features of a 58 with only hidden 57 components that did not take away from the 58 design. On a production car, if it has different year components on it they were probably an early 'replacement' due to lack of correct components being available then. Prototype 59's were well defined and not lacking correct '59' features. I would doubt sn 41 unless very conclusive documentation was available.
Dan

[Dennis A.]

Re: 1959 with 1958 hood

Side Point...
Most all 61"s built in 1960 had 1960 parts....

[Dan H.]

Re: 1959 with 1958 hood

Yes Dennis, I remember working on a very early 61 that had a 60 tank top style radiator in it, I assume the hood would have had the 60 configuration on the underside, Mike E. knows the details I'm sure. Externally, no difference I can recall.
Dan

[Chris B.]

Re: 1959 with 1958 hood

There has been some body work done to the front of the car. So the hood might have been damaged and all they had to replace it with was an old 58.
I totally agree with stewart. If your going to produce a new year car with changes you wouldn't leave last years hood on it.
Its not like they used a small 58 engine part where you couldn't see the difference.
The hood is kind of noticeable.
Does anyone know where I cold get a 59 hood near to North Cali.
The shipping from the east cost is a little much.
The purple car is how the car looked when the owner we got the car from found it.
then the next is how we got the car, and then we finished it.
Quite a change. All with a 58 hood. LOL
I have over 240 photos of the resto on my website. .......( click on "Corvette" top right of the page).......

https://www.chrisrebennettphotography.com

check it out. lots of hours, beer, and late cold nights. But all worth every cut and banged head.
On to the next one!

[Joe P.]

Re: 1959 with 1958 hood

Yes Dennis, I remember working on a very early 61 that had a 60 tank top style radiator in it, I assume the hood would have had the 60 configuration on the underside, Mike E. knows the details I'm sure. Externally, no difference I can recall.
Dan

Would a 59 hood fit with a 60 top tank rad?

[Dan H.]

Re: 1959 with 1958 hood

Joe, I believe there was a difference in the copper radiator hoods and the tank top ones, didn't Roy Braatz have some good photos of C1 hoods a while back? Check the archives etc.
Dan

[Stewart A.]

Re: 1959 with 1958 hood

Chris, nice car dude !! Where are the hubcaps. It's killing me only joking
Can't see the photo to well, it looks like they are rallies. These are the correct wheels and caps.BILD0513.jpg I had to wait for the big grey Kangaroo to move before I could take the photo. Good luck with the hood you could always fill those silly false louvers with some filler Stewy

[Mike E.]

Re: 1959 with 1958 hood

Would a 59 hood fit with a 60 top tank rad?

No--because of the configuration of the underside of the 59 vs. the underside of the 60. There were 4 58-62 hoods. 1)The 58 with the louvers, 2)the 59 with no louvers but the larger support on the underside, 3)the 60 with the down-sized support on the underside so the top tank radiator would fit, and 4)the 61-62 style with a relief in the smaller underside support so that the hood would clear the new radiator top brace that was unique to 61-62.
60's received the new hood whether they had a top tank or not. 61's early that had a copper radiator (left over from 60) generally received the hood with the additional relief. (I say generally, because I haven't seen them all--but #2 already did.