This might be of interest...... I run a club for an O/T trike and a while ago we had a spate of members driving off with their bonnet hooks undone. The bonnet is rear hinged and some members (including me) got a face full at speed. One of the guys devised a system to wire the bonnet hooks into the ignition circuit so that if the hooks weren't done up the car wouldn't start. It would be possible to make a similar set up wired into bonnet latch - so that if it wasn't secured then the engine wouldn't start.
When I bought my 1949 Ford the previous owner had just drilled a hole thru the locating pin and stuck a pull cleavace pin in in it. He had the hood fly up before this! I could see hooking a straight pin to a solonoid for easier pulling.
I use a wallet chain with one of those spring clip climbing type hooks that latches onto a ring that bolts to the upper grille tie bar.
I was thinking the same thing the other day. Gotta come up with something simple and effective. Switching to a modern latch won't cut it.
You want something simple and easy to open in a hurry (underhood fire). I have had 2 hoods fly open at speed, a very scarry thing to happen.
I installed a pair of '68 Shelby GT500 Dzeus fasteners on a hood, and they are user friendly, not to mention easy to install.
Funny you should mention fire. I traded my 49 Ford that had a hairpin type clip through a hole drilled in the down pin. See note above. The new owner was gong down the highway and the engine compartment was on fire. It was too hot to pull that pin. Seems as though he replaced some fuel line going to carb on the 302 engine but left a hose clamp loose. That ugly pink Ford burned so badly nothing was left except the trunk and the large Pink Panther in there along side the spare. He got twice what it was worth.
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