Features The sexiest Hot Rod Roadster Hoods...

Many guys trying to build a very traditional hot rod roadster forget a key element of the period: A louvered 3 piece hood, or any hood for that matter. While it's true that a hot rod T, A, or 32 looks might good with the engine exposed, there is some... <BR><BR>To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.

 

AMEN! Keep on preachin'! Great topic!

A more recent build by Matt Seret, I always think of the hood on this roadster...

http://seretspeed.blogspot.com/2010/01/27-t.html

And a good example on a survivor roadster that Erik Warner (Tetenus Shot) owned for a bit, 3-piece with louvers for miles covering a hot flathead...

 

I'll be following this thread, as I've been planning to put a hood on my '29. Getting a hood to line up correctly, and not appear to run uphill or downhill on a '29 with a '32 nose is critical. Done correctly, it can really make a car. Done wrong, it can kill an otherwise nice car. Photos, and practical hints for proper installation, will be appreciated.

 

Oh thank God. Hotrods with full hoods or at least a hood top are just plain sexy.

 

Gets me to thinking about my T speedster hood, probably the last thing I address but ever so important.

Great read Jive-Bomber.

 

Well, I went to find a favorite of mine, and found three right next to each other. I have to be careful to note that my contribution to these was the louvers. There is a bunch of "art" or maybe fineness to that though....

 

And a few more... Sorry I'm louver-centric, but I have tons of pictures of hoods.

 

Not traditional, but here is a solid copper hood I made for a customers 26 Chrysler. The car will eventually be painted copper, but the hood really helped with the look.

 

Here's one:

 

I like them all....

 

By all means, be louver-centric!

I love the canted louvers on that 33/34!

 

I look forward to putting a hood in the Bridgeport, but need to lower the radiator shell a tiny bit. Thinking a brushed aluminum one piece, mild louvers with open sides.

Back in the day, wasn't it a rule of the SCTA and a lot of clubs that the cars had to have a hood to participate in sanctioned events?

That said, traditional hoodless hot rods are just as viable as those hooded hot rods.

 

Bob Tattersfield's roadster as seen in the movie 'Hot Rod' (1950).

 

Hard to beat the 32 Ford 25 louver hood. HRP

 

Crawford/Stroner 'Look' magazine roadster

 

Sexiest hood on a roadster , is the same as on a women......none!!!

 

No louvers, just a one piece top made from a piece of .080 aluminum, with some straps on my A Roadster. Not really very sexy but it works.

 

Love those louvers.
Later,
Dick

 

....Unless of course, you louver the hood tops so that they absolutely match the 25 louver hood and they line up all the way across....

 

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Heres a pic of two of mine. I plan to have a hood top too also made from aluminium and louvered but for now just have the sides. I've made two tops so far.. and kinda buggered em both so when i get some time to get more ally sheet i'll do another one. I am almost considering trying to make it a four piece hood so it works as it did originally.. would help practicality.

Anywho.. some pictures!



Before i kinda stuffed it.. Getting a look at it with a hood top.

 

Louvers are a must on most cars.

 

This thread rocks! So many good good ones..

 

Ya, I kinda see it that way!

 

No louvers. Just a sexy generator bubble.

 

Louvers in a hood top are a detriment to a cowl vent because the cowl vent sucks in all the hot air.
I think that might be why so many cowl vents got filled in?

 

Great thread!! I'm planning on running a hood top on the RPU and really like the layout of the Mitchell/Livingstone deuce (pictured in Hot Rods As They Were)

 

Home made like the rest here.

 

This is one sweet ride!!!

 

every louver pictured so far was punched from the inside out. were there many/any cars built in the day with the louvers punched in?

to me it is a much cleaner, more subtle look.

what about cars with the stock vents from 30's and 40's cars grafted in the sides?