66 Hood: What is this one?

[kevinthefordman]

All fiberglass hood, no steel frame. What do I have? No porthole,  and no markings anywhere I see. Hopefully pics will work. Thanks!

[Bob Gaines]

All fiberglass hood, no steel frame. What do I have? No porthole,  and no markings anywhere I see. Hopefully pics will work. Thanks!

Repro all fiberglass copy of the steel innerstructure Shelby hood. Sorry not anything from SA.

[csxsfm]

Were there any SAI hoods that were not porthole but all fiberglass?

[gt350hr]

   The '65 hood did not use a copy of the steel framework for stiffening. It was the only all fiberglass "production" hood. Manufacturing time and quality control issues led to the steel frame , glass top second version.

[csxsfm]

I have a hood that I bought from a fellow that worked in Dick Guldstrand's race shop and was parting out the "GT350" he wrecked in a SCCA race at Riverside.  Its all fiberglass, no porthole and has a fiberglass strengthening sub-structure that is quite different than that pictured by kevinthefordman.  Any guesses repop or SAI?  Thanks.

[Bob Gaines]

I have a hood that I bought from a fellow that worked in Dick Guldstrand's race shop and was parting out the "GT350" he wrecked in a SCCA race at Riverside.  Its all fiberglass, no porthole and has a fiberglass strengthening sub-structure that is quite different than that pictured by kevinthefordman.  Any guesses repop or SAI?  Thanks.

My guess is repro not SA. The Shelby hoods evolved to steel inner structure when they wanted to stiffen the hood on 65,66 and 67 until SA came up with (or at least the sub contractor) a all fiberglass hood in later 67 production that had the stiffing built in. Wouldn't make sense to go back and forth . I have only ever seen the fiberglass inner structure on repros. Keep in mind that the Maier racing was making repro Shelby hoods in the early 70's .

[csxsfm]

Bob, the hood in question is 66/65.  What I understand you saying is there are three basic types of hoods from SAI for 65/66:   port hole fiberglass,  frameless fiberglass, and steel framed.  Thanks.

[csxsfm]

I pulled out Cantwell's book and noticed from some photos that the hood I bought has the same sub-frame as the early port hole versions except there is no port hole layer and the area under the scoop is completely open and larger.

[Bob Gaines]

Bob, the hood in question is 66/65.  What I understand you saying is there are three basic types of hoods from SAI for 65/66:   port hole fiberglass,  frameless fiberglass, and steel framed.  Thanks.

I was also trying to explain the progression to justify why the all fiberglass innerstructure doesn't fit into the pattern . That is if you if you were skeptical about the all fiberglass innerstructure not being genuine.Don't shoot the messenger.

[csxsfm]

Bob, I fired no shots.  Just trying to learn about hoods with some simple questions and observations. 

[mgreene]

Bob, the hood in question is 66/65.  What I understand you saying is there are three basic types of hoods from SAI for 65/66:   port hole fiberglass,  frameless fiberglass, and steel framed.  Thanks.

There was also an all steel hood in '66.

[Bill Collins]

I recall that the back in the day Ford service hoods for the '65/'66 350 were all fiberglass with no sub frame. I have seen a few of these over the years on cars that sustained accident damage early on. They can easily be mistaken for a later repro hood due to their design.

[gt350hr]

    The simplest way "for me" is "if" the strengthening ribs are "glassed over" ( rough glass finish over the ribs) and do not look like the sheet metal frame , you "could" have an original. You must be aware that there are very nice repops of port hole hoods out there. IF the support frame is smooth fiberglass resembling the steel frame work and bonded to the outer hood, you DO have a repop. NONE of the original "all glass" hoods used a fiberglass copy of the original steel frame work. And you know how difficult it is to say "never" but in this case it applies , no question. In "my" personal viewing experience , the '65 progression was porthole ( past 272 which had one for sure) to all glass no porthole , to the last few glass with steel frame '66 carry overs used the same glass/steel version. "Around" Hertz production , Pidgeon Manufacturing ( a Ford division) made the all steel version intermittently used due to paint issues followed by a glass / steel hood with a different scoop opening than the first version , "possibly due to a "source" change. The sides of the scoop opening are "rounded( as in cut out that way) versus the first version where the opening was "blended" without obvious cutting marks. "I" am 99.999% certain that none of the "6S" serial numbered cars were produced with an all glass hood "from SAI" You are welcome to proove me wrong on any of the above.
    Randy

[kevinthefordman]

Thanks for all the great information.  Will be listing in the parts for sale section.

[csxsfm]

Randy, thank you sharing your knowledge of SAI 65/66 hood history.  Appreciate your taking the time to clear this up.