1966 GT 350 H Hood - Original or Replacement

[JTRRozon]

My 1966 GT 350H #1227 has what I believe to be a replacement hood.  The car has previous front end damage on the front grill which would make sense that the hood might have been changed by a previous owner.  I can't find any part numbers on this hood and there doesn't appear to be a metal frame visible.  There are just 2 hood pins to hold down the hood and no hood latch mechanism or hood safety catch.
Any information would be helpful as I plan to do some work to the car over the winter.
Thanks,
Todd

[J_Speegle]

A couple of pictures of originals I had handy. Believe your on the right path. Would not be any "part numbers" on the hood structure if its been repainted but stamping dates on the frame

[papa scoops]

to nice to be original, note the cruddy glass work, also no provisions for latch.

[98SVT - was 06GT]

Hoods had a metal inner frame with fiberglass outer - or were all steel with a scoop brazed on. In the 80s there was someone putting glass tops on salvaged metal inners. I don't think those tried to match known stamping date codes.

[Bob Gaines]

Hoods had a metal inner frame with fiberglass outer - or were all steel with a scoop brazed on. In the 80s there was someone putting glass tops on salvaged metal inners. I don't think those tried to match known stamping date codes.

Not that it matters much but just to be most accurate the scoops were not brazed in but leaded in on the all steel hoods.

[s2ms]

Hoods had a metal inner frame with fiberglass outer - or were all steel with a scoop brazed on. In the 80s there was someone putting glass tops on salvaged metal inners. I don't think those tried to match known stamping date codes.

Jim Cowles (RIP) was doing that. Have one of his hoods that I bought in 1988 on my 66, the original hood went airborne when the previous owner forgot to put the click pins in. Really nice hoods, don't recall what dates are in it but will check when I return home.

[98SVT - was 06GT]

Hoods had a metal inner frame with fiberglass outer - or were all steel with a scoop brazed on. In the 80s there was someone putting glass tops on salvaged metal inners. I don't think those tried to match known stamping date codes.

Not that it matters much but just to be most accurate the scoops were not brazed in but leaded in on the all steel hoods.

Mine was brazed in a few spots then leaded. Front corners an rear along with a couple on the sides. About 1/4" spots.

[cboss70]

I had always thought that one easy difference between a real fiberglass over metal frame 66 Shelby hood was that those "V" shaped tabs were fully stamped and bent in to hold the fiberglass. However, I looked at two regular metal mustang hoods today and one had those (rounded V stampings) not fully cut and the other one had them cut and the center tab folded in much like I see on the Shelby hood examples pictured above on this site.  Knowing that now, sounds like, as mentioned above, a shop could put a repro fiberglass top over a generic original mustang hood frame with the cut/tabbed "V" stampings and they would look identical?   Other than a date code, are there are any unique features specific to an original fiberglass over metal Shelby hood versus a repro or a recreated mustang framed/based hood- what are they? 

I have a friend who needs one for an early/mid-series 66 and I told him about the "V" stampings with the tab bent in as being a deciding factor and now I'm thinking I gave him misinformation since I saw that on a stock 66 mustang hood.  With prices getting higher on original Shelby hoods I don't want to cause him a very expensive mistake. Any definitive guide to originality would be helpful for all of us.

[J_Speegle]

Not exactly sure what you mean when you write "one had those (rounded V stampings) not fully cut"? Do you mean that the V detail was not fully stamped through?

When you mention the "regular Mustang hood are you certain those were originals or could those have been reproductions. If so they could have the same features as the liners used for the reproduction Shelby hoods. Also did you find and confirm that the dates on the Mustang hoods were there and original? Also not dates indicating a service replacement?


If someone was making or repairing a hood they might also choose the wrong (for the period) stampings and that could be a detail to consider. Referring to the location of the folds in the forward cross support. Might be one additional detail but would have to look and confirm that one.


Some place to start.


Edited to asked a little more information

[cboss70]

Not exactly sure what you mean when you write "one had those (rounded V stampings) not fully cut"? Do you mean that the V detail was not fully stamped through? Yes, I'll add a picture of both from the regular mustang hoods I have. I had thought the fully stamped was an indicator of an original fiberglass over steel hood but now it looks like they were also on mustang hoods.

If someone was making or repairing a hood they might also choose the wrong (for the period) stampings and that could be a detail to consider. Referring to the location of the folds in the forward cross support. Might be one additional detail but would have to look and confirm that one. Thanks. Sounds like verification of an original Shelby hood (not necc. to a specific car #) really comes down to the V-detail being stamped through as a common trait, a date code on the metal frame, and if you need one for a certain car you would also look for the earlier no folds/ribs or later folds/ribbed feature and a date code that makes sense. Anything else?  Because it sounds like there aren't a lot of unique features and people have apparently recreated some it sounds like a difficult task to ensure if a hood is an original Shelby hood! 

[J_Speegle]

Interesting in your top picture the slot in the main support under/above the V tang is not even there so it could not have been attached like the example you posted in the picture below it.

Wish we had the date from the top example so that we could look at other Mustangs built around the same time to see if this lack of the slot is an original (possible single run of ones with a mistake, a service replacement detail or another reproduction detail.  Sure, what ever it was/is it was not the only one made that way.  Of course as of this moment we don't have any 66 Shelby's on record with the lack of slot in the support.

If you have an idea if when your friends Shelby was built at SA we might be able to look at and compare other cars from around the same time with hoods likely from the same batch. Just an offer and thought