Help,

The bodyshop that has my car has another 71 that has a 442 hood. It's fiberglass with a metal frame. Any easy way to tell if it's original or aftermarket and if it's original how much are those worth? He's buying a Thornton repro so I might be able to get the original hood.

 

If its an original hood why would he buy a Thornton? The value is about the same if hood is real and in good condition. I believe TPP has one out there with a metal frame but it is different when compared to an original but I dont know the exact differences?

 

The parts place does not make a 71-72 hood with a metal underside that I have seen, only 70 and as stated above the structure is very different from an original. I just paid $2,650 for a never installed 71-72 Thornton. I have not tried it on my car yet, but the quality certainly looks nice. It will be going on my 72 holiday coupe (although it will look like a 71 when finished). The current Thornton price is $2,995 plus shipping and at least a 6-10 week wait if you can get one at all. At spring Carlisle (actually held in the summer due to Covid), one of the usual Olds vendors had 2 original 71-72 hoods. He was asking $4,000 for one and $4,500 for the other (I don't know if he sold either or not). As Scrappie said, if it is a real 71-72 hood it seems odd that the owner would opt for a Thornton, unless it is in really poor condition (warped, metal structure rusted, etc). These hoods would bring $5-$6K or even more 10 to 15 years ago, but recently (last 3 years or so) I have seen a few sell in the $2-$3K range so if it is decent and you can get it for $3000 or less it would be a reasonable buy. Since it is at the same body shop as you car, it might be good to ask to test fit it on your car if it looks like you will be able to make a deal.

For comparison. Here is a pic of the parts place 70 metal hood structure.



Here is a real hood that was on ebay:


Here is the what a Thornton hood looks like



If you notice, the ebay hood has a cutlass S metal structure, while the Thornon hood does not. I have seen original 71-72 hoods both ways and I do not know why some were made different. I would think it may have been based around when they were made but I do not know for sure. Before I found my hood, I had considered buying a fiberglass pin-on hood with the air box and using panel bonding adhesive to graft it to an original steel structure from a flat hood. Not sure how it would work out, but definitely a cheaper option as you can get a pin-on hood for as little as $300.

 

FYI, that is not a "442 hood". It is a W-25 hood that was an option available on the 442 as well as other Cutlass models.

 

Only way I was able to tell if it's an original GM hood is by looking inside each inlet toward the front of the scoops. There should be a small hole on either side. I believe Olds was going to use these holes for some type of flapper mechanism. I could be wrong on that, but I have noticed all the aftermarket hoods do not have these holes. JMO