1965 Hood: Original vs. Repro

[Christopher P.]

I've been told that my 1965 327/300 car has a repro hood. I found a guy about an hour away who claims to have an original at a reasonable price. Can someone post a photo of the inside of an original hood and provide some guidance on how I could tell if the one for sale is original?

The judging manual description is pretty brief. I don't have a picture of the one for sale. Thanks!

[William C.]

Re: 1965 Hood: Original vs. Repro

one easy thing to look for on an original '65 is the lack of holes in the hood reinforcement. The holes (front drivers side) were added in '66 to allow the hood emblem to be installed, and were not present in '65 hoods. Easy thing to check.

[John D.]

Re: 1965 Hood: Original vs. Repro

Were the emblem holes continued into the 67 model year ?. My early 67 has the holes.

[William C.]

Re: 1965 Hood: Original vs. Repro

I believe the holes in the reinforcement continued into '67 once the tooling was changed it did not go back. that is why a "genuine" 65 hood is tough to find.

[Brian M.]

Re: 1965 Hood: Original vs. Repro

Yes, original 67 hoods have the access holes for the 66 emblem. quote=William Clupper (618);446586]I believe the holes in the reinforcement continued into '67 once the tooling was changed it did not go back. that is why a "genuine" 65 hood is tough to find.[/quote]

[Christopher P.]

Re: 1965 Hood: Original vs. Repro

Thanks Bill. Other than that, is there any distinguishing features (pattern of hood support, thicknesses, textures, measurements, etc.) to help me determine if it's original vs. a reproduction that doesn't have access holes?

[Jack H.]

Re: 1965 Hood: Original vs. Repro

Also, '65 hoods did NOT have provisions for mounting the hood prop on the LH side of the hood. Once the factory adopted LH mounted hood props, the later hoods had dual mode (RH and LH) hood prop mounting pads to be downward compatible with earlier cars...

[Rich P.]

Re: 1965 Hood: Original vs. Repro

Chris,

make sure the rivets holding the hinge, male hood pin and hood prop plates are solid and not pop rivets. Some repros and later GM hoods used pop rivets in these locations.
Also make sure it is white/grey fiberglass.
Rich

[Michael M.]

Re: 1965 Hood: Original vs. Repro

I took 2 sets of pictures for you. The set on this post is a late 65 or 66. It does have holes for the emblem which you will see I am filling in for my 65. There is other holes being filled but disreguard them as someone butchered this hood to install on a 63. The second post will have a March 65 big block hood which is very original. Both have a right hand hood support without any provision on the other side. I am working on both hoods right now if you need additional info or pics. Thanks, Mike

[Michael M.]

Re: 1965 Hood: Original vs. Repro

Here is group 2 the first is the emblem holes being filled on the 66 hood

[Michael M.]

Re: 1965 Hood: Original vs. Repro

Last 4 of 65

[Christopher P.]

Re: 1965 Hood: Original vs. Repro

Thanks Bill, John, Brian, Jack and Mike!

I bought an original 1965 small block hood yesterday (only $300) with your help, plus some other pointers I got from a friend.

To help others with future questions, I'll summarize all I learned from you and others and attach photos of my new hood to document the points.

1. Hood lip should be approximately 1/4" thick (+- 1/16") and thickness should be consistent along the sides. Thicker areas could indicate where someone added bondo to make up for poor hood / fender alignment. (Photo 1)
2. Measurements of symmetrical sides should be equal (driver side front to back = passenger side front to back, driver side edge to center bulge = passenger side edge to center bulge, etc.). Differences could indicate someone grinding the edges down or adding fiberglass to make up for poor hood to cowl, or hood to hood-surround alignment.
3. Inside hood surface should be relatively smooth as would be the case with press molded fiberglass. (Photo 2)
4. Hood support mounting provision should be on the passenger side only and there should be no emblem-access holes in the front driver's side hood brace. (Photo 3)
5. Rivets holding the hinge, male hood pin and hood prop plates should be solid (not pop rivets). (Photo 4)
6. The lip on the underside of the front of the hood should have little or no black-out paint with fiberglass strands visible. Fiberglass should be white or gray. (Photo 5 - see next post)

Thanks again all and happy hunting to anyone else who's looking!

[Christopher P.]

Photo 5

Photo 5 attached from previous post.

[Wayne M.]

Re: 1965 Hood: Original vs. Repro

Just a thought --- any known differences in '65 hoods (big or small block) on Dow-Smith (A-body) cars versus St.Louis ? [rivets, finish, reinforcement, bonding, etc.], or, did hoods (and convertible decklids, for that matter) arrive at Ionia and St.Louis from a 3rd source, and were therefore identical ?