Know how you feel about pricing. For a while Fusicks was selling Thornton hoods for about 1300.00. Seemed like a high price until this June when Thornton started selling them again for 2200. A New OEM OAI hood was offered on ebay about 3 weeks ago. It was, well,... damn nice!!! but starting bid was 3000.00. Makes Thorntons seem cheap huh? Anyway, it never sold. You just have to be willing or desperate enough to part with that kind of money to get piece of the pie.
There are OEM used OAI hoods on the market that you could probably get for a reasonable price, but likely have to do some fibreglass or sheet metal repair. Also don't forget, if you're going to replace your hood with OAI, you've got to get the hood lockdown package and body mounts, the OAI breather tubes and the OAI special air can and vacuum lid. It's a lot of money (around 650.00 I think) to replace something that's not broken on your existing car.
If you just want the 442 look for your car, why not keep the original hood and put on the W29 appearance package. After all, in 1972 the 442 was basically just a Cutlass S with look good options, an FE2 suspension and a 3:42 posi.
I know that Fusick, Tamraz and Parts Place have a restyled complete fibreglass job with a functional air box. But it doesn't have a steel liner. They claim you can't tell it from the original from more than 5 feet away. Ok, but how do you install the T44 hood lock? (need the metal liner).
Anyway, if the w25 hood is all that's left to "make it right" do it. It's your car and you'll probably not be happy until it's the way you want it. Are you also putting on the rear deck wing to finish it off? They're about 250 aftermarket and most all the OAI cars I've seen have them.
Good luck on your project. If I figure out how to attach a jpg, I'll post a picture of my 1972 Cutlass S for ya. (All the rest of you, that's a hint that i need help doing this)
Allan R.