Clarence? He Needs Clearance…

So… My cousin’s uncle’s roommate is a guy named Clarence and he has a 1937 Ford. Or maybe it’s a 1939… I don’t know the details, but apparently he is putting some super tall power plant in the old car and lacks about 2-inches of hood clearance. He came to me for advice.

“Hood scoops?” I asked. “Those are for dudes with tunnel rams, long hair, and claustrophobia aren’t they?”

Despite the fact that hood scoops aren’t typically my thing, Clarence continues to mad dog me for examples of clean and simple hood clearance exercises. I’m a push over, so I’ve been looking. My search has turned up mostly examples of 1950’s era Ferraris. The Italians seemed to do it best, but they are helped by that famously long hood and those oh-so sexy lines. Not even a hood scoop can fuck those up.

So I guess I’m at a loss. How do you get 2-inches of hood clearance from a fat rendered Ford without coming away like a culture-less loon?

The brainstorming continues…