Question on hood pins or no hood pins

[calispecial]

I am currently looking at a unrestored California Special VIN# 8R01C142461, build date 15B. It looks like this car never had hood pins...is that possible? Everything else seems to check out that it is original. Thanks for any information.

 

[hookedtrout]

Anything is possible but I would lean more to the fact that at some point it probably had the hood changed for what ever reason, more than likely an accident to the front end and it was easier to change out the hood than deal with repairs.

Hook

 

[Mosesatm]

It's pretty easy to bash that long pointy hood without damaging the grille, and replacing the hoods were usually cheaper than fixing them. That and the fact that the Mustangs were usually driven far too agressively for their braking abilities probably resulted in most GT/CS hoods being replaced over the years.

 

[case12]

Is the hood pin hold down mounting hardware still in the grill? If so, it just sounds like the hood was replaced? Casey

 

[PFSlim]

[quote author=calispecial link=board=1;threadid=1803;start=0#msg11587 date=1118797450]
I am currently looking at a unrestored California Special VIN# 8R01C142461, build date 15B. It looks like this car never had hood pins...is that possible? Everything else seems to check out that it is original. Thanks for any information.
[/quote]

Drilling holes and putting in hood pins is not that big of a deal. In other words, if that is the only thing holding you back from buying this car, and everything else checks out, putting it back is not a problem. This site can provide you with measurements for holes and the technical know-how to put it back to original.

Just FYI.

Paul

 

[nfrntau]

If it isn't published in one of Pauls books or you don't have access let me know. My hood is still off the car and in primer. Very easy to map out the holes.

Just let me know, email or call 281-360-7870

If not in one of the earlier books is this something you would like for your new book Paul?

Bill

 

[calispecial]

The hood pin brackets are not on the car, but it has the rubber hood adjustment pins. Since the car was made on the first day of production, could they have been overlooked during building?

 

[Mosesatm]

The missing brackets is not good. Time for a Marti report?

 

[nfrntau]

It is possible that the radiator support brace and a fender or two was replaced as the same time as the hood.

I will make a template of the pin bracket supports that are welded to the radiator support brace. Finding the other peices may be difficult.

I think I read in one of the other posts that Marti Autoworks, if you call them and order the report will tell you over the phone if you have an authentic car and then send the report.

I would think it is money well spent in your situation.

 

[Sarge]

I would agree with nfrntau and Casey. If I was to "launch" a new vehicle, I would make sure that I had all parts on hand to build the first XXXX directly to spec. Not having the hood pin hold down mounting hardware could point to a "boo-boo" at some time, but I would want the insurance of Kevin Marti...
Good Luck!
Robert

 

[calispecial]

I have a Marti report. It confirms a GTCS. I'm still baffeled about the no hood pins.

 

[nfrntau]

I would look very carefully for any signs that the radiator support was replaced. Different welds, scratched or different paint, etc. Since you have the documentation on the car that would be my best guess.
If you can't find anything out of the ordinary.
A long time ago I had heard that the pins were dealer installed. Paul has said that the pins were definitely Ford installed so I wouldn't think yours would be missing the pins.
Good luck. Looks like you've got some detective work to do on this one.

 

[PNewitt]

ALL of the GT/CS cars at the factory got hood pins. It was part of the package. Yes, I'll include a template for drilling the holes in the hood, too, in the new book.

If you want to get a look at those brackets in front of the core (radiator) support, look for two screw holes on the sides of both of them. These held each bracket onto the car. That's one way to know if the whole support was replaced (if there are no holes).

Another thing to look for is if the two fender bolts aren't there. They are replaced with the hood bumper bolts. Ford moved them to there, since they couldn't be there for the hood pin brackets.

I betcha didn't see that before now, huh??

Paul N.

 

[68sunlitgold]

Here is what Paul is talking about, this is where the bracket attached to, as you can see my GT/CS also had a front end accident (note the wrinkle in the support) and the hood was replaced, they however did not replace the radiator support, so the holes where still there.

Doug

 

[hcsstang]

While at the Carlisle I ran across a black raven 390 car . He had the Marti report. If I'm not mistaken the report stated that it was the only one that color. It didn't have the hood pins or the rest of the hardware for the pins. I wrote the vin down but lost it somewhere. Like I said before a black one beside of the red one but I didn't have any luck. :'(