ever have a hood fly open on ya?

Making a run through Virginia on a suspended license. 54.99 mph (limit 55) and hood hood on my freshly completed '78 Bronco flew up past the point of no return and smashed into the windshield. Police stopped to "help". Luckily my buddy was following me, he distracted John Q, I used my belt to hold the hood down and bailed.
1986 Dodge Diplomat (perhaps the coolest car a 16 year old could own): It snowed about six inches, I cleared the windshield but not the roof. The first time I hit the brakes the whole snow roof slid forward. The wipers couldn't handle it...

 

i had the hood on my 81 bmw fly up when i got hit by the gust from a semi doing 70, the hood is reverse hinged so i just pulled over and latched it again with no damage done.
also i had the hood in my 67 impala come up and fold over my roof. it did a bunch of damage to the roof but the windshield wasn't broke. then about a week later someone put a tire iron through my windshield.

 

I was driving home on the highway from failing inspection in my winter beater(slammed 85 toyota p.u.) and as i watched the speedo touch the 65 mark the hood slams up against the windshield so i swerve it to the right almost taking out a retirement village sign it turns out the guy who did the emmision inspection didnt fully shut the hood. It only bent one windshield wiper no other damage.

 

When I first got my driver's license, my dad bought a 69 Mustang fastback because he wanted the top loader 4-speed out of it. The car was about 30 miles from our house down a state highway. He had me steer it while he pulled it home on a chain. He decides that the smart thing to do would be to pull me at 60 mph. About half way home the hood flys open and lays back on the now busted windshield. I can't see so I hang my head out of the side window and try to keep it on the road. I am weaving back and forth and pumping the dead brakes trying to get my dad's attention that I have a big problem back heee but he keeps going. We finally get to town and come to the first stop sign. He jumps out of his truck and walks back to see how I am doing. I ask him if he saw me weaving back and forth for the last 15 miles trying to get his attention. He laughs and says "yeah, I saw you. Pretty exciting ride for you, wasn't it?". He had my younger brother also steer a chained car home when he first got his license. It was a 2 hour pull down Interstae 80, Des Moines to Cedar Rapids. The man was a nut but he sure ws fun to be around.

 

for that reason here is a photo I saved to cure that problem on a tri five.

 

I had a 73 camaro about 12 years ago. She was a pretty good runner. Went by a friends house one day to show off. Left the stop sign hard, banged her into second, hit third gear just before his house, when I noticed the hood shaking a little. Lokked to my left and saw the 4 hood pins that hold the fiberglass hood hanging from the door lock. That thing launched off the car like it had rockets attached to it. I had to be doing 80, I got slowed down in time to see it land in the grass. I turned around, went back and put it on and drove away while my buddy and his neighbor were standing out front laughing hysterically.

__________________
If you cant dazzle them with brilliance, baffle em with bullshit

 

Years ago at Aquasco(Md.) dragway, I had a 56 Ford,312 Y block w/3 2's and fender well headers, I had radiused the rear wheelwells, had 9:50X15 bias ply whitewalls on the rear, a mailbox hoodscoop,no front bumper, sort of the poor man's gasser look. Since I had cut the wheelwells, I had to run in the Gas class! The car was a real slug and on My first run,I had to run Bob Bernadon's "Jolly Dolly" which was a first class C/G 39 Chevy coupe. He left hard and I slowly pulled away, as I was at half track, My hood flew up, bent back over the roof, not being able to see very well, I slowly went to the end of the track and up the return road as the fans laughed they're butts off! Bob came over later and introduced Himself and said He was sorry to see that happen, I left the hood at Aquasco and drove hoom hoodless. Many years later,I ran into Bob at a car show and He still remembered our first meeting!

 

Had a sister in law that bought a new 67 Mustang. She was blasting down the freeway and the hood came open and was ripped right off the hinges. She said she never slowed down - must have been a sale going on somewhere. That must have been interesting for the traffic behind dodging that hood

 

Happened to me in my sister's MG Midget back in about 1980. My buddy Kevin and I were haulin' up I-435 in KC in the fast lane, guard rail on the left and a tractor-trailer on the right. We had the top down, just minding our own business when WHAP! The hood flew up, hit the windshield, folded backward and bonked Kevin on top of the noggin. After a brief bout with sudden onset diarrhea, I poked my head out the side and got us past the bridge and into the center median. Thankfully, my sister had some bungee cords in her trunk. We strapped it down and headed back home to put some ice on Kevin's bean. I'd really rather not do that again any time soon. Hahaa.

 

Very popular on 55-56 fords, that's why they went to tip open hoods in 57-59 I think.

 

Replacing the center nosepiece on my '64 GP, took it down the road forgetting the hood latch wasn't back in (I was like 20). Hood popped up and both springs shot out to each side. Luckily, the hood wasn't damaged in the least & I found both springs in either ditch.

 

I was in a 55 chevy as a kid about 12 I guess. The kid had just put the engine in the car we were test driving it.The hood was sit on with out the hinges bolted in the back. It flew up and hit the roof the hood ornament sliced the roof like a can opener..wasn't a pretty sight. Left it lay along the road went back in a pickup and got what was left.

 

Don't have a hood on my '28 rdstr, none on the '34 Vicky, '26 T 5W don't.......Had one on one of my racecars. Front hoodpins failed at Antioch Speedway (dirt track)in the late '80's and the hood ended up across the windscreen.......finished race because at speed your generally crossed-up looking thru the passenger window...got my ass chewed for running under a black flag. Building a '56 Ford 4dr Blown Hemi NO HOOD!

 

this reminds me of that part in tommy boy!!

 

Yup , my buddy had just got a mk1 cortina for a parts car and we thought we had better take it round the block. there was no fuel tank so i pulled the fuel line from the under side of the car back up thru the engine bay and put the hose in a jerry can in the passenger seat. the bonnet wasnt closed properly because of the fuel line. we went round the block and up came the bonnet. Stupid fucking thing to do but i was just a kid. you live and learn!

 

Hmmm... happened to me about 6 months ago with my 65 Caddy. Bonnet (hood) is so heavy it sits all the way down even if not latched. Got to about 25 30 mph and ...blackout... Came all the way up, popped the springs and came back down. I felt very lucky the rest of the way home. But fuck... a Caddy hood is heavy without any mechanical assistance.

Heard a few Datsun stories too...

 

Nope..never have..
Hope i never do

 

Back in 73 in San Luis Obispo California, I was living on a farm off Los Osos Road, as I recall. Was newlywed married for the first time. I had a motorcycle and a '59 Ford pickup, the first 4-wheeled vehicle I ever owned. My new 18 year old wife needed a car too, and to my disappointment refused a '36 Graham Paige wiht a hotrod Olds engine. It was $300, which was a lot for us.

Economy and a desire to look like a cowgirl firected my wife to get all excited about a total POS 53 GMC truck--flat black, with a 56 bed and rear fenders.

I hated that truck from day one. No room inside, and the doors rattled in their frames like dice in a cup. In the rain there was a geyser up through the emergency brake hole in the floor. Vacuum wipers. Six boring, smoky cylinders. Hated that truck.

Nonetheless--and why we didn't take mine I'll never know--we drove that thing up to Santa Cruz and back three times. We deserved medals.

But it was on grocery runs, twice, at 55 mph, that the hood opened up on me. Both times I saw it tremble and quiver menacingly and I hit the brakes but it was too late. First time it popped almost straight up and creased the stainless between the windshields. The second time it hit the same crease of course and cracked both front pieces of glass.

I hated that truck. And loved my '59 Ford. I wish I still had the Ford and remain unimpressed by chevy/GMC trucks of that era.

Hey, there's an ass for every seat and mine just stays out of those pickups.

 

Oh Yea, i am familiar with the technique...

 

Im thinking hampton raceway circa 1986 or so

 

A customer had a 69 Camaro Super Pro car with a snorkel scoop on the hood. He checked the engine on the return road, put only the 2 rear pins back in. up to speed, hood flipped up and put the snorkel through the windshield.
That guy did a lot of dumbass stuff like that.


Just so you know, forward opening hoods fly up too. My Jag XJS w/a 454 opens to the front, the latch needs to be locked by hand after the hood is lowered. I didn't do that one day, and took off up the road. Air pressure built up under the hood and it opened about 35-40 mph just as I rounded a corner. The rear edge of the hood raised just high enough that I couldn't see over it at all. Putting on the brakes made it go all the way up and I didn't want to bend up the hood or hinges so I had to lay off the brakes and coast down until the hood slammed down again. Only did that once.

 

OH YEH,many years ago.....52 Merc hardtop. No severe damage

Ernie

 

YES on a 75 Pinto doing around 70 75......not a good deal and I was 19 or 20 not good either not that now I could do better..........but no wreck......just a mess up hood and top..

 

last summer just dropped the new 350 in the cutlass and got everything hooked up so of course was excited to take it down the road, well apparently the latch didnt latch and got to about 35 and the hood comes flying up and the springs bent backwards, luckily the windshield didnt break but sure scared the shit outta me

 

lol @ 60'srailjob = a Pinto that would do 70 to 75 mph anyways Mines not hamb frindly but had a Geo metro in 2001 little car 3 cyl , great gas millage , anyways moved to Missouri and was headed down the back road one day and hood flew up scared the crap outta me it Buckled the hood smashed the windsheild and dented the top . took it home ,doors came off and Boom I had a woods car . took it to the woods got stuck on the road leading to the gravel cory had some TNT well you know it's just stuff you keep laying around in your tool box incase ya need it , anyways BOOM Geo went to heaven

 

I had one on a 56 Ford fly up and bend back on me.Luckily I was only going about 30.I saw a Caddy on the interstate one day have the hood fly up,peel back and then fly completely off.It sailed over the car behind him and landed on the windshield of the second car back.Sometimes, bad luck just has your name on it........

 

A buddy had his hood fly up on his 69 Camaro Stocker. Going through the top end...BAM. Wrapped the hood right over the top of the roof.

Turns out it was the zip ties that hold trans coolers to the rad. He hadn't trimmed the ends off adn one end was poking into the latch mechanism. Cost a few bucks to fix that one!!

Bill

 

In the latter part of the 60's a friend had a '55 Nomad with a built 327 and 4-speed. We decided it would be cool to give it the gasser look. Off comes the front bumper and all the other parts below the grill. That evening at about 6500 in second gear the hood decides it does not want to remain a part of the car anymore. About the time the hood launched (without damaging the windshield or roof), I stuck my head out the passenger side window and watched it sail probably 100 ft in the air. The landing was not pretty so a trip to the junkyard for another hood the next day was in order.

The big question was what made the hood decide to depart in the first place? It seems that the hood mechanism latches on a brace behind the grill. However when you remove all the pieces below the grill to get the "gasser" look, you also leave the bottom of the brace behind the grill free to move around. That brace moving around allows the hood latch to work its way free. Viola...the hood becomes a flying saucer or something very similar.

 

Yes it does. Especially if you're on a two lane country road with oncoming traffic.

It's happened to me three times.

Back in the day when i was into mini trucks i had a '71 Datsun truck with a bent up hood. Seems like every yard that had old Datsuns had bent up hoods. Hmmmm......I found out why one day while coming home from work on a two lane country road. I'm cruising along about 60 when the hood let go. Luckily there was no traffic behing me so i got it stopped pretty easy. I grabbed some extra wire i had in the tool box and wired the hood shut and drove home very carefully. The next day i found another hood. On the way home i stopped at Pep Boys and bought some hood pins. That's why old Datsuns have bent up hoods.

The second time was after i wrecked my daughters Mustang on the freeway. I pried the hood open to make sure the radiator wasn't leaking so i could drive it home. I found some old wire beside the freeway, wired the hood shut and limped it to the next offramp. The CHP thought my redneck fix was funny but the tow truck driver just shook his head. About three blocks from home the wire let go and the hood flew up and broke the windshield. No big deal. The insurance appraiser just added it onto the appraisal. Guess i should have used stronger wire.

Number three was in my jeep. I was checking the fluids, lowered the hood and the phone rang before i hooked the side hood latches back. Later i jumped into it and headed out to put gas in it. I hit about 40 and the hood flew up breaking the windshield and putting a couple nice big dents in the hood. After that expensive little lesson i always glanced at the hood latches everytime i got ready to drive it.

 

Oh my favorite subject



Flavaj, Mrs Eighmy, and Nick79 asessing the aftermath of a 70 mph wake up call..

Public Service Announcement: Double check the welds on your hood pins, espescially if you didn't do em'