Arggh! Destroyed my Studebaker hood!

I'm so pissed at myself & I'm sick.

Last week I decided to drive my '53 Stude to work, so popped the hood in anticipation of checking the oil & other stuff since it's been a couple weeks since I drove it.

Something else came up & I had to shuffle my cars around the yard/driveway, so I closed the hood, but didn't latch it because I knew I needed to check the oil, etc. Got busy rebuilding a distributor for another car that if I got it fixed, I was going to drive it to work instead of the Stude - got close, but ran out of daylight. I thought nothing of it because the Stude always runs pretty well.

Had to go to work very early - 5am - which meant it was still dark outside, so I didn't notice that my hood wasn't latched. As I pulled onto I-40 & accelerated down the on-ramp, I saw the hood bobble once & hit the brakes, but it was too late - hood came flying up at 50mph & destroyed it. Bent it over backwards on the roof - two dents in the roof & major gouges in the tops of the fenders to boot. I was just sick. Found some rope & tied it down (won't even come close to latching now)

So I'm on the hunt for a hood because I think I'm better off starting with another one. Got a wanted ad in the classifieds, so if you've got any leads, lemme know there (or pm me).

 

That sucks. I had that happen to me in my shoebox I had a while back. Ran it without a hood for over a year before if finally went back on. Good luck finding a hood.

 

Ya know, I hate it when I do stuff like that. Will it buff out?

 

where are you located?
i've got a buddy in north carolina thats a stude guy from way back and has a lot of parts, hoods are a pain to ship so your location would be a big factor.

 

In the 70s we were riding with a friend in a 47 Chevy coupe from Houston to Memphis TN to the NSRA Nationals. As we crossing the Mississippi River Bridge into Memphis the hood flew up as you describe but by some freak of design didn't crumple over the windshield but bent the crap out of the back corners of the hood, we drove over the bridge looking between the top of the dash and the back edge of the upright hood. Pulled it down, beat on the back corners a bit and latched her down.
Damn, that's frustrating! MY sympathies.

 

that sucks ,had it happen to my 73 camaro,took out the windshield ,hood ,hinges...

 

Sorry about the damage, but thanks for sharing your experience with us. I many times leave my hood down but not latched. I'm not doing that no more, it will either be up or latched.

 

I did that exact same thing in my 55 Commander back in 1992.

Mine however knocked the coil off the firewall and shorted the wireing. no
factory fuses so it smoked the wire going to the switch under the dash. Window cranks were sticky so you had to "Assist" the windows down going 40mph with a car full of smoke.

Pushing the Stude back to my buddy's house it started to snow. True story, ask Holidazed, he was there. I'll try and scan in a picture tonight, it will make you feel good. I had the same damage, destroyed hood, top of fenders gouged and 3 dents in the roof. Thank god it didn't break the glass.

good luck finding parts, I'll keep my eyes open for you.

 

Man- that sucks bro.

Good news is about 100 HAMBers are going to the Springfield swap in about 3 weeks, so if there is one there we will find it!

What years/ body styles will work?

 

Sorry to hear it. About 1977 I had a '54 merc. Took a buddy out for a brief demonstration in the car. Well I didnt have the hood bolted to the hinges. When I got up to about 30-40 MPH the entire hood lifted up like an airfoil and went completely over the car and landed in the street. Fortunately, though the hood was flattened no one was close behind me. I happened to run across a '53 merc parts car soon afterwards to replace the hood.

 

I almost bought a '55 DeSoto that had been totally restored, except when it was on the transporter back to the owner's house from the resto shop, the hood had flown open and smashed the hood, windshield, roof, dented the fenders a little, etc. Didn't have more than a mile on it since restoring it and the owner never got to drive it. His insurance company auctioned it off I guess.

Man that sucks.

 

My first car is still in the driveway, complete with 2 twenty year old dings in the cowl panel, the very last place the original hood touched the car. Been real careful ever since.

You'll get over it eventually, they're all just a bucket of bolts at the end of the day and anything can be fixed.

Treat the car to something nice during the repair. You'll be able to look back and view the car as better for having undergone this accident. It's the spoonful of sugar that makes these things go down better.

Good luck

 

If you can find a positive in all this, the odd design of the top of the windshields on these cars being sunk in before the top of the roofline probably prevented a lot of other damage, i.e.smashed out windshield...sucks man.

 

sorry to see that about 2 years ago I had one of these hoods and almost couldn't give it away.

 

I had the hood on my 37 tudor come up like that, but I don't know why. I had driven it down to visit a mate, and had been on the road for about 5 hours and was only a couple of miles from his place when 3 truck / trailers passed me going in the opposite direction and up it came. Thankfully we were on a straight stretch of road, and I didn't go under the front of one of these trucks. It was not a pretty sight, and I didn't know if I wanted to change my pants or be sick first!!
Had a heap of trouble with the insurance company and it took me ages to find another hood to finalise the repairs.
Michael

 

You got lucky............. I knew of a kid back in High school, hood flew up on the interstate, right hinge broke, swivled thru the windshield and killed him. I got the creeps just looking at your post, glad you're fine.
If I see a hood, I'll certainly let you know.......... I may know of one in my friends yard.

 

That really sucks...my sympathies..

 

Thanks for all the kind words. I'm over it for now, I guess. I'll probably run hoodless for a while.

For those of you telling me how lucky I am not to have to replace the windshield - I already had to, just not for this. I had a small rock chip that grew into two big cracks after a freak snow in April! I hadn't gotten around to it yet...

I think '53 & '54 Coupes & Hardtops (C/K models) will fit.

 

Friend who owns a local body shop just did a '54 using a fiberglas hood. Seems to have worked out well although he did some extensive re-inforcing down both catwalks. BTW the glass from c-k's '53 through '61 should be the same. Don't know if the '62 GT's are same.

Bob

 

BJ, you are exactly the dude I was thinking of telling Flat Ernie I would ask the next time I saw you. Well I guess since you saw this thread and aren't offering up a hood, you must not have an extra.

FlatErnie, sorry to hear the news. I will keep my eyes and ears open or you.

 

I had that happen with a 1968 mustang I had at the time. The only diffence is the hood left the car and landing in the road behind me. It ripped the hinges out of the inner fenders. I was doing about 80 MPH when it happen.

I used a sluge hammer to bend the hood back in shape until I got another one.

 

Unless you've ever done this yourself, you cant match the feeling in your stomach when that hood begins to lift.

 

C&B Studebaker in Hayward, CA.
bob may have one for you. or fenders, hinges etc.
he' s a character.

 

i have used several glass ones on 53 and 54 studes.... frank morowski in maryland can make you one...

 

Ain't that the truth......... I did it once, just like you said, pop hood, get side tracked............ send girl friend of to store..... So the hood went up on her. She freaked, ran into neighbors fence.........blah, blah.
Thought about lettin' her think (she) did it... But I didn't have the heart? Spent more time on the fence then on my hood.

I was so proud...!

 

Found a potential in Michigan - anyone heading to the drags with extra space?

 

Bummer!...I will pay much more attention to latching down my 53 now..I had always thought that the way those 53-54s were shaped that the wind would be hard to get up underneath it, maybe actually push it down..yours shows it can happen..I bought a really nice 49 Cadillac once because that had happened, bought another hood for it and put up with a couple cracks in the windshield....

 

It was fine for the 3 miles to the freeway - at speeds up to 40-50 or so. The on ramp was downhill & I was accelerating hard - easily to 60 before it happened I'd think - don't know exactly as I wasn't watching the speedo, just know how hard it accelerates & my typical driving style.

I've seen the fiberglass ones & heard good things about them, but if I can, I'd like to put a steel one back on...

 

Sorry to see that. Ern.
At least you were able to stop safely.
Good luck finding a replacement.
Mart.

 

I guess the manufacturers warranty is out!!

I'll trust that made you smile.

Kev.