Attached is a pic of the hood of my 78. I know it's impossible to be 100 % sure without seeing it in person and even then with out actually getting into it but would like opinions on :
1) Should I repair this hood
2) buy a new hood

I took it to the supposed best body shop in town and he told me that without actually tearing into it he would estimate 10 hours to repair the hood and make it paintable amd then I would have to add the paint job on top of that. He told me he had just did a complete rebuild on a wrecked 'Vette and swore he would never do another !
He suggested it would be cheaper to buy a new hood (less body/prep work)and paint it . Is he giving me the run around 'cos he doesn't really want to do another 'Vette or is he telling me straight .

Thanks for the input,
Gary






|UPDATED|5/7/2004 6:25:18 PM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

oops ! Here's the link toa couple of other pics.

http://nothingbutmopars.20megsfree.com/photo5.html

It looks from the pics like the hood has some prior damage that was poorly repaired. It's very hard to tell from here, but my guess is bondo was applied over an unprepared surface and simply didn't stick. I've also seen some shops apply bondo over a perfectly good hood just to get it to the right height. It may be worth the effort to strip the old bondo off of the hood to see if in fact it really is hurt all that bad.
The next suggestion I have is, if the shop you took it to hates to work on vettes RUN!
kEEP IN MIND , IF YOU BUY A NEW HOOD, IT WON'T BE READY TO PAINT RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX. A couple of hours prep work will be needed to get the mold marks and release agent off.
Back to your old hood, a lot of people think that since the hood is fiberglass, just an application of body filler will suffice as a repair. Filler is basically the same thing as make-up on a woman, it covers imperfections, not damage.
What is the rectangular area I see in the pic of the hood? Is it a patch?

I went back and looked at the pic again, you also have a bit of an alignment issue with the hood. Has the car been hit?

Part of the beauty of fiberglass is that it is, generally, quite forgiving to work with (as long as you don't try to treat it like metal). In terms of the actual materials required, it is also pretty cheap to work with. BUT, GOOD paint work is not cheap. And you know you want GOOD paint work on a Vette.

RULE #1: The finish is never better than the body work that's under it. (Absolute fact, not opinion.)

First problem is

R1stVette said: . . . I took it to the supposed best body shop in town . . . He told me he had just did a complete rebuild on a wrecked 'Vette and swore he would never do another !

YOU DON'T WANT THIS GUY DOING ANYTHING MORE THAN THE GREAT PAINT JOB FOR WHICH HE IS SUPPOSEDLY FAMOUS!!

RULE#2: Never hire a craftsman who doesn't want the job. (Trust me on this one.)

Assuming that you are incapable of doing your own body work (no offense intended) you have two options here:
(A) Find another TRUE CRAFTSMAN who wants to do a great job for you, or
(B) Drop the six bills for the new hood and have the true craftsman with the killer rep finish it for you.

If you are bucks-up enough for the new hood, then try your hand at the repair work on the old one first. Over the past twenty years I have repaired, prepped and finished steel, aluminum, fiberglass, wood and darn near anything else that can have a finish applied to it. I'll be more than happy to help you through it.

One man's (relatively professional) opinion.

John

daveb12 said: It looks from the pics like the hood has some prior damage that was poorly repaired. It's very hard to tell from here, but my guess is bondo was applied over an unprepared surface and simply didn't stick. I've also seen some shops apply bondo over a perfectly good hood just to get it to the right height. It may be worth the effort to strip the old bondo off of the hood to see if in fact it really is hurt all that bad. The next suggestion I have is, if the shop you took it to hates to work on vettes RUN! kEEP IN MIND , IF YOU BUY A NEW HOOD, IT WON'T BE READY TO PAINT RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX. A couple of hours prep work will be needed to get the mold marks and release agent off. Back to your old hood, a lot of people think that since the hood is fiberglass, just an application of body filler will suffice as a repair. Filler is basically the same thing as make-up on a woman, it covers imperfections, not damage. What is the rectangular area I see in the pic of the hood? Is it a patch?

Dave thanks for the input. yes the rectangular area is evidently a patch. Th ecar has never been hit that I know of and I talked to the 2 owners previuos to me.

lumberjack said: Part of the beauty of fiberglass is that it is, generally, quite forgiving to work with (as long as you don't try to treat it like metal). In terms of the actual materials required, it is also pretty cheap to work with. BUT, GOOD paint work is not cheap. And you know you want GOOD paint work on a Vette. RULE #1: The finish is never better than the body work that's under it. (Absolute fact, not opinion.) First problem is   R1stVette said: . . . I took it to the supposed best body shop in town . . . He told me he had just did a complete rebuild on a wrecked 'Vette and swore he would never do another !   YOU DON'T WANT THIS GUY DOING ANYTHING MORE THAN THE GREAT PAINT JOB FOR WHICH HE IS SUPPOSEDLY FAMOUS!! RULE#2: Never hire a craftsman who doesn't want the job. (Trust me on this one.) Assuming that you are incapable of doing your own body work (no offense intended) you have two options here: (A) Find another TRUE CRAFTSMAN who wants to do a great job for you, or (B) Drop the six bills for the new hood and have the true craftsman with the killer rep finish it for you. If you are bucks-up enough for the new hood, then try your hand at the repair work on the old one first. Over the past twenty years I have repaired, prepped and finished steel, aluminum, fiberglass, wood and darn near anything else that can have a finish applied to it. I'll be more than happy to help you through it. One man's (relatively professional) opinion. John

I have just acquired all the major equipment to do body /paint work ( a long story ) and was thinkinmg of doing both -buying a new hood ( probably a different style . The car is pretty far from aoriginal anyway ) and painting it myself and then trying my hand at repairing the old one . If the old one came out good I would have a spare or could sell it to help defray the cost of the new one .

thanks for the input ! Appreciate it
Gary

That square patch looks like a real backyard barbecue job. From the pics I'm guessing somebody wanted to fix a small area without painting the hood. So, they masked-off the hood axcept for the repair area.

First thing that has to be done (whether by you or a shop) is to strip the hood and find out exactly what is going on here. I agree, the ripples look like BONDO, which is the absolute wrong way to go. Remember what I just said about not treating 'glass like metal? This is a textbook example of what happens.

Also, you can't let somebody just pull the hood, "match" the paint, and stick it back on. The new finish must be blended into the hood surround in order to look right. There is a difference . . . and it's an important one.

John

John,

I do plan on having the entire car repainted soon but just the hood right now would make a BIG dif.

If I end up doing it myself who knows what might happen. And even though I have never done anything like this before I have read some articles on this and other 'vette sites in re:prep work an d I do realize it's not the same a smetal .

thanks!

That hood has been repaired before. It can be fixed by someone who know what he is doing.
All I can say is look at what John (lumberjack) had to say, and take it to heart.