1956 corvette body gaps (especially hood)

[Matthew L.]

What sort of factory body gaps (especially hood fit) can one expect on a 56 corvette. I am looking at a supposely no hit all original panel car and the hood fits terrible in my opinon. It almost appears as though I can stick my finger in between the hood and the fender. The front looks better but in appears high in stance. I have not looked at the car in person yet just going off of pictures and videos. Can anyone send me some pictures of a nice factory fit hood so I have something to go by? I understand the gaps werent that great back then but trying to get and idea on whats the norm? Thanks.

[Gary C.]

Re: 1956 corvette body gaps (especially hood)

Matthew,

Thought Dave Smith would respond to your question since he's got a great original '57 example.

The hood fit fairly well. Gaps were pretty uniform. Fit was pretty flush with fenders, nose and cowl all the way around.

Gary
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[John H.]

Re: 1956 corvette body gaps (especially hood)

What sort of factory body gaps (especially hood fit) can one expect on a 56 corvette. I am looking at a supposely no hit all original panel car and the hood fits terrible in my opinon. It almost appears as though I can stick my finger in between the hood and the fender. The front looks better but in appears high in stance. I have not looked at the car in person yet just going off of pictures and videos. Can anyone send me some pictures of a nice factory fit hood so I have something to go by? I understand the gaps werent that great back then but trying to get and idea on whats the norm? Thanks.

Matthew -

When I restored my '57 (15 years ago), I had very few issues with body panel gaps and flushness other than the usual minor tweaks; didn't require any edge grinding or buildup to get decent gaps. What you see most often is the front of the hood being too high - that's usually a result of folks not understanding how the parallelogram/over-center hinge linkage and pop-ups work and/or the front hood blocks being missing. If the hood fit is really poor, it may be indicative of poorly-done fiberglass repairs.


VetteLF34.JPG

[Bryan H.]

Re: 1956 corvette body gaps (especially hood)

Mathew my observation on my early 56 is like the above. I had to refiberglass the bolt holes for the hinges becasue the passenger side did not go flush. i will measure my gaps this weekend when i return home . Bryan Hepper I have an early 56

[Al E.]

Re: 1956 corvette body gaps (especially hood)

Well. I have a 60 that looks like it was put together by Stevie Wonder.. my trunk has a gap so big you can fit your hand in the trunk without it being open. And no matter how I adjust it will never have a perfect fit..I hope the judges will give me points for originality