sklbndt

Hey guys....I will be getting started soon on my 70 Cutlass S resto and plan to put the W25 option hood on the car. I have found 2 suppliers. One is Thornton who recently informed me that they will be again selling this hood and the cost will be $2500. The Parts Place however has the hood for $729. I realize the Thornton hood is supposed to be factory authorized and factory exact while The Parts Place describes their's as "like the factory". Both are fiberglass over steel frame. I don't plan on the car being a show car and would therefore probably opt for the cheaper hood. Does anyone here have experience with The Parts Place and specifically with their OAI hood? Any advice on this subject is appreciated.

Rallye469

$2500 is a lot of moola! But It's suppose to be a gorgeous piece.
I don't have a parts place OAI but I've heard you need to massage them a bit to get all the edges to line up perfectly...if you want it to lay down perfectly-
plan on a few bucks going to your body guy.

joe_padavano

Thorton's quality is legend, but last time I checked, you could buy an original hood for less than $2500. Then again, maybe I haven't checked recently enough...

70Post

John--No matter whose hood you buy do this first....before tearing your car apart for restoration...install the new hood to check for fit, correct placement of various features of the hood, etc. Restos can drag on for some time and you need to find out if there are any real objectionable problems with a new part ASAP.

Parts Place hood--Metal underside is not an exact replica of the factory piece in terms of the shape and placement of some of the metal and cutouts in the metal understructure. One possible caveat here....there have been numerous reports that the nose area of their hood (the spot at the front where the '70 hood "tooth" bolts on and hangs from) was too short...thus resulting in the hood tooth not be placed correctly at the front bumper. To me, it didn't sound like anything that wasn't "fixable", especially if a person could do the work themselves. At bodyshop rates, however, you could be These hoods do seem to be priced well considering they are factory-like with the glass-over-steel construction. For all I know, this problem may have been corrected by now but there was some buzz about it when they first came out with their version. Check your fit closely along the sides of the fenders also--how well the curvature of the hood lines up with the top edge of the fenders...this is something that is not as easily "fixable" depending on how bad the match is (if it's "bad" at all...again, something to check).
Can't argue with their price considering how close to the original there's looks.

The Thornton hoods, as Joe mentioned, are real nice. Understructure matches the originals, etc. Again however...I would strongly advise that it be pre-fit to the car as soon as you get it to make sure everything is correct. Check alignment of everything...all edges, hood pin cutouts, etc.


As I already mentioned....do this before you blow the car apart so you and/or your body/paint people aren't suprised by something later on. No vendor is 100% perfect 100% of the time....sometimes defective parts slip through in the rush of getting the product out the door. Fitting and checking the parts as soon as you get them makes it easier to deal with the vendor on any problems you encounter...they see you are being diligent and tend to resolve any problems you have much quicker.

#1CutlassSupreme

I bought an all glass hood from the Parts Place for my 72' and it is junk. No one offers a metal frame for a 72' so I had to go glass.

My car was being professionally done at a hot rod paint shop and when they went to mount the hood the bolts cracked and started to pull out of the hood! As it turns out the only thing holding the hood mount bolts in was fiberglass!! No metal reinforcement. Very dangerous for a hood designed to grab air.

I brought this to the Parts Place's attention and they treated me pretty poorly. I spent quite a bit of money with them and thought that they were a good company, but once they have your money...they don't care.

Be prepared to spend about $500 extra to have some work done on it by your body shop. Not just for the mounting bolts, but also for fitment. Thornton is $2,500...but in retrospect I almost think that the quality is worth it.

MN71W30

My son bought a ram air hood for a 98 Z28. We had to do alot of body work to get it straight. We fixed major imperfections with dura glass and then had to smear the whole thing with a fine easy sanding filler to get the ripples out. We did make sure it fit first and had to carve a couple edges down. This would have cost a fortune at a body shop. I would pay extra for a nice original hood or plan on doing alot of body work. My original 71 ram air hood had issues too. They rust under the front and aren't perfectly straight either. I AM GLAD TO SEE YOUR DOING YOUR HOMEWORK HERE.
Good luck,
Dave

My442

Find a good used one. They fit the best.