I am ready to take my 71 442 tribute car to the painter and I know I will need to take the hood I want on the car as well. What company should I buy a ram air hood for a 71. I want the aftermarket hood I can' afford a orginal made of metal. You guys mad me trash the idea of adding the two scoops to my cutlass supreme hood due to it may crack later on due to the sun and temper difference in metal and fiberglass. I have noticed opgi hood is much higher that every body else. I have heard good things about partsplace inc. plus I am fimiliar with that part of illinois where they are located.

 

Thornton Reproductions, Quakertown, PA
http://gawain.membrane.com/muscle_cars/

 

I had purchased a Parts Place hood and didn't like the fit at all ! Found an original that needed a little repair for 2500.00 . And in hindsight I wish I had ordered one from Thortons .

 

if u can afford it do a original or a thorton. i went with a tamraz hood from glasstek it was 710$ total. and i'm happy with it and the fitment.

 

Mine also is a glasstek from tamraz. It doesn't follow the fenders exactly but it is just fine for the $ and a driver.

 

Talk w/Troy@Thornton. I spoke at length with him about restoration and got exhaust manifolds from him as well. The reputation on here and from others is great concerning OAI hoods. Good luck.

 

Mine was from Tamaraz too. The fit was good and it looks good. My body guy had to do some work to it, but not much.

 

Thornton's has advertisement on 442.com that says only 4-6 weeks for delivery. Can that be true? No more waiting 6-8months for one? Still $2495 plus delivery is a chunk-o-change!

Still waiting for someone to bite on this one from ebay...and provide feedback.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/71-72...item2eb48f2669

 

Spoke with Troy this last week while ordering manifolds. Give him a call and find out. I had a great experience with him and can say the parts I got were exactly as he stated. Very happy!

 

BTW, I spoke with him about the '70 hoods specifically and they are shipping in the coming weeks. Said late May for new orders on delivery.

 

I sent them an email and am waiting to hear back. My biggest problem is I believe they won't ship to Canada. I really like the metal reinforcement in the hinge and latch area. I am looking for one of these that I can still use my T44 hood lock on. Can't do that with the total fibreglass units from Tamraz, Part Place, OPG or BAP. If they will sell and ship to me, I'm going to talk this one out with the Mrs for $$ approval. It's still a huge wack of coin to spend when I already have a good OEM louvered hood.

 

I went with VHN. $500 shipped to my door. Fully functional.

DSC_5077.jpg

 

vhn?

 

After market parts supplier. Here's their website: http://www.vfnfiberglass.com/site.htm

Go to catalogue, then Olds.

 

Good save there Allan, yes VFN not vhn.

 

has anyone used the ram air hood from original parts group? I am thinking about getting one for my 71 cutlass. Thanks

 

Does the VFN bolt on OAI hood have the metal undercarriage? Just looked at it on their web site. $595. Delivery by truck freight--looks like extra cost.

 

 

Yes David. Thortons price is 2500 dollars plus shipping. I have read they are very reliable. Mine is a driver. Original Parts Group sounds good if it fits good. Thanks 😊

 

I've never purchased a hood from them, but haven't had good results with OPG on anything. 3 orders, 3 miffs. They fixed 2 of them, but the third was, well, strike 3.

 

Thanks. Does anyone know where I could get stripes for my oai hood? 71 cutlass. Thanks again.

 

Got mine from Stencils and Stripes. I bought the stencils and painted it on.
http://www.stencilsandstripes.com/

 

Thanks. I will look them up.

 

The guy at Stencils and Stripes is an awesome guy to deal with. Good prices and great service. He has helped me out a few times.

 

Thanks cutlass Joe. I will give them a call. 👍

 

Does anyone have pics of what a "poor fitting OAI hood" looks like? It's a cost thing. $2500 plus shipping for a Thornton is too much--you get what you pay for I guess. How bad is "poor fitment"? Mine car is a 70 Cutlass/442/W30 CLONE. Driver. Convertible. Thanks.

 

 

Hi David. Just bought a thortons hood. Pretty pricy, but like you said, you get what you pay for. Let you know how it turns out. Thanks. Tpayne

 

Just picture the worst gap mismatch possible with the hood bowed in spots running 1/2" above the fenders.

 

Yikes. That's bad. So is the Thornton nearly as good as an original?

 

I ran into an Old Friend at the Elburn Lions car show. I put the Glass Tech hood on this car almost 25 years ago......I know my stripe job sucks......I have gotten a bit better on the details. Anyway it fit OK and still looks OK today.

I was surprised to see the car stayed within the area all these years.

 

I know this posting is 2 months old. But , I would like to know has anyone bought a parts place hood, How is the fit, I know all after market hoods need work / tweaked . Anyone have a picture of a parts place hood on your car? Is there a better choice at the same or close to same price? I know you get what you pay for. but I need to try and keep the price for a hood low, I can do fiberglass work. Thanks for your input.

 

My car had a fiberglass hood when I got it. Don't have a picture but it seemed fine except they didn't put the weaker springs required for the fiberglass hood and it stuck up a little over the fenders about a foot and a half from the windshield.

 

The one I'm looking at is fiberglass with a metal frame, it says I can use my factory hinges and springs!

 

If it's around 2500.00 you can get a Thornton hood. I replaced my plastic one with Thornton. They fit great ( at least mine did). Close as you can get to factory original.

 

google the parts pace, the horror stories are incredible in the complaints and just the amount of complaints..

 

X2 on parts place

 

It would help if you could provide a link to whatever hood you are looking at.

I would bet that ANY hood (other than the Thornton hood) sold as being a fiberglass outer skin/steel understructure IS the hood made by Parts Place......no matter where you are getting it from. They wholesale a lot of their repro parts to other vendors.

The price point also "tells the tale"......if it's priced around the area that Parts Place prices theirs at and is being sold as a fiberglass/steel version then it likely IS their hood.

 

I saved an original fiberglass hood for 25 years to put on my Vista Cruiser when I restored it. My painter said it would take more money to fix the waves and gaps than it would cost to get a Thornton.

I got the Thornton about 8 months ago and the painter said it was a perfect fit.

Your results may vary, but I went with Thornton because of reputation.