Hot Rods straighten hood (bowed)

I have a hood that doesn't quite line up like my original hood on my 57 Ford. The passenger side is perfectly level and follows the fender line nicely but the driver side sits up around 3/8" higher along the fender line.
I was wondering if it's possible to or common practice to place a couple blocks on the ends and push down in the middle to take some the bow out of it?

 

Being the owner of several 57 Fords I can tell ya that's exactly how to go about it. In fact I often use a 2x4 about 3 feet long laying right at the edge and the Correct mall and give them some Love Taps. When mixing body parts none of them are an exact fit. The other thing is to loosen the bolts that join the inner fender to the fender skin and see if you can get a little help there. They will move up and down a bit. Try that first then talk to the hood.

 

On a recent 54 ford hood adjustment. Owner tried to shut it to aggressively.
A stiff left arm while facing the windshield, pulling down with my right arm.
Something popped and it went right back into place.
I do not know if it was the sheet metal that tweaked, or if it was the hinge that popped.
But was a quick fix after I tried several other options.
I then liberally oiled the hinges.

 

I havent worked on any 57 fords but I have done the 2x4 trick on many old cars and trucks, it works well, just be patient and do a little at a time . The hoods get bowed from hinges that are worn and binding or siezed. Make sure the hinges are well oiled at all pivot points and have no excessive play.

 

The hood is off a Meteor, but that shouldn't make any difference. The hinges on my car fine and my original hood fits pretty good. The swap meet hood I picked up cheap I suspect is bowed from closing the hood on the driver side instead of closing it in the middle around the catch.
I'll try the 2x4 trick and see if that gets me anywhere. I guess this has to be done with the hood off, and it's a two man job taking it on and off.

 

I have been a bodyman for over 30 years and a old bodyman (who isn’t alive anymore) showed me that very same hood adjusting trick about 30 years ago. It is very common to “tweak” body panels to make them fit. But you should always spend some time making sure that all other adjustments that could have been made - have been made - before you go bending stuff to gain alignment.

 

"WRONG!!" Leave it on, just block it up about 1" at the stop on the Cowell. If you remove it you won't know when you finally have a good match to the Fender.

 

A bodyman friend of mine was an expert at adjusting body panel alignment with strategically placed random chunks of 2x4, 4x4 etc. and by applying physical force to the needed location to help the panels get to where they needed to be. He used to tell me that while it works well, it's usually not the kind of adjustment made with the owner/customer present. Lol.