You gotta read this ! Trip home from Albany

Darren Bedford

PCS Member
To all my friends...

After a fantastic week with all my PCS friends in Albany NY it was time to
drive back to Toronto. I left Toronto on Monday July 26th and was returning
on Sunday Aug 1st.

Scott and Roxana from Acton ON followed in their 1968 Cadillac hearse behind
Digger and myself in my 1962 Cadillac Hearse.

The day was perfect, sunny and dry, as it was everyday of our 7 day road
trip. We stopped for gas and cold drinks a few times along I-90 heading West
through New York State.

At one stop Scott said he was going to check his oil before heading out
again. I thought I should too as I never checked it on the whole trip.
All was well and we drove off. Digger was driving my car this portion of the
drive.

About 10 minutes into the drive... THE HOOD FLEW OPEN AND COMPLETELY BACK
COVERING THE WINDSHIELD AND RESTING ON THE ROOF OF THE CAR !!!!!
We were going about 70 mph at this point with absolutely no visibility !
It happened in a split second. The sound of the crumpling sheet metal was
really loud and scary !

Scott saw it all happen and quickly put on his 4 way flashers to slow down
the cars behind us to prevent anyone from rear-ending us.
Roxana saw the hood hinge springs go flying out and over the car landing on
the highway.

I quickly stuck my head out of the passenger side window to guide Digger
onto the shoulder so we could stop the car. It took at least 600 feet or
more to get the car stopped on the shoulder.

I got out and went around to the front of the car to try to pry the hood off
the windshield of the car. It was wrapped like tin foil around a sandwich !
With lots of force I was able to get it down covering the engine like it
should be. The problem was it was bent up at the front about a foot too high
to close as that part kinked after landing on the roof of the car just at
the top of the windshield. Luckily the windshield never shattered !

At this point Scott was up with me and suggested we unbolt the hood and get
the cars off the interstate as the cars were passing us super fast on the
left and we only had a foot on the right beside the guard rail.
I ended up pushing down hard on the hood and it eventually snapped back and
latched.

We got back into the cars and drove to the next service area which was quite
a ways away. We were wondering if it was going to fly up again or not as we
drove down the road.

Both Digger and I were amazed at how calm we both remained through all that
unexpected fast paced action. My heart never raced or pumped faster.
I guess we could have been in some kind of shock. Not really sure.

Digger knew not to slam on the brakes as she is a heavy truck driver.
Her daily job as a grave digger requires her to drive a International flat
bed truck loaded with up to 10,000 lbs of concrete burial vaults, pulling a
big trailer with a John Deere backhoe on it. Her experience with driving
surely paid off in this freak situation.

Scott was sure the windshield was going to be smashed and that we would need
to take the hood off. I wish I had a picture to show everyone what it looked
like having the hood wrapped around the windshield and roof of the car. It
would have been great to see but that's not what I was thinking, to take a
picture, after what had just happened.

We are soooo lucky to not have either hit the guard rail or crossed the line
into the cars beside us. That would have been a disaster. Ruining the car
and possibly causing a huge pile up on the highway. Not to mention the
possibility of dieing in all that.

We are so thankful we didn't get hurt or killed as it could have easily gone
bad and fast !

I have not actually opened the hood since arriving home. I dropped off
Digger and put the car back in storage as I had to get back into my daily
routine after being away for the week.

I think that I would only need a replacement hood and both hood hinges
to repair the damage. I will know better when I open it up again.
When we stopped after we found the first rest stop, I checked out the car
pretty good and didn't notice any damage at all to the fenders or
surrounding areas.

Roxana and Digger walked back and found the two hood springs on the side of
the highway while I was bending the hood back down with Scott.
I would have never let them walk down the highway if I had of known they
were doing that for safely reasons but it was all good anyway.

I would like to say THANK YOU to Digger, Scott and Roxana for the quick
thinking and fast actions they all performed during this unreal situation.

I guess I didn't slam the hood closed hard enough and although it isn't good
I need to replace some parts, I so glad I'm here to write this story out !

I have lots of hearse driving to do and don't want to be in the back of one
anytime soon.

Looking for an uneventful trip to Akron in 2011 to see all my PCS friends
and their classic hearses and ambulances !!!

On a side note, if you know anyone with a real nice 1962 Cadillac hood and
both hood hinges, please let me know. Black preferred but not required.

Darren

P.S. Give your hood a little harder slam and double check it next time you
open it. I never thought it would ever happen to me, but it did.
Be gentle with your pride and joy but for safety sake, hard enough to be
sure.
 
I am very sorry this happened to you. I have noticed the front corners of my hood shuddering a little bit on the highway and wondered what would happen if it came open. I am thankful that you are all unharmed and made it home. Maybe Ed should mail you that hard luck award.
 
will we made it back today with out any incidents. I'll copy the trophy and sent it. we ought to start a hard luck home award. with loading all the parts up from Dana and the yard in Ohio I looked like a Okie heading for calf on the way home.
 
wow

Darren,

back in 1966 we had a 66 catalina that was about 2 months old when we drove it to NC to visit relatives. My father told me to check the oil, I did and sure enough about 10 miles down the road at 60 mph the hood flew up and wrapped itself around the roof. 1 hour, 1 hammer and 1 coat hanger later we were back on the road. My father said nothing but after that whenever I worked on the car he double checked my "work". My dad was a truck driver and the sudden loss of the hood really didn't seem to phase him, no slamming on the brakes.

Glad you made it home safely!!
 
Ouch!

Wow! Someone's guardian angel was alert that day!

So sorry for the misforturne , but grateful no one was injured or the car was not damaged further!

I'll keep my eyes open for a '62 hood and hardware Darren... better stick to the unicyle for now!

Onward and Upward!

Rick
 
Yeah I heard of this I think on Sunday on our way home. Glad you guys are OK and hopefully the 62 can be fixed back like new in no time.
 
I too heard of this on Sunday and wondered when we would get the story here. Digger did well it sounds.
 
looking for parts

Darren,

I have sent a list of Cadillac parts dealers to you. Hope one of them can help with your search for parts.
The angels were certainly busy for us on the way home from Albany.
Glad all are OK. Keep us up to date on the repair progess.

Scott did a 'Duffy' and ended up needing a tow home after we found he had a bad wheel on his 69 coach. One lug stud in the hubcap when we took it off. The other four were barely holding anything.

Mike
 
Darren,

I have sent a list of Cadillac parts dealers to you. Hope one of them can help with your search for parts.
The angels were certainly busy for us on the way home from Albany.
Glad all are OK. Keep us up to date on the repair progess.

Scott did a 'Duffy' and ended up needing a tow home after we found he had a bad wheel on his 69 coach. One lug stud in the hubcap when we took it off. The other four were barely holding anything.

Mike

That's a Duffy alright!
:eek:
 
Darren, I really feel your pain, since I had the same thing happen to me once a long time ago...... So long ago, that you were probably not even born. I learned from that one experience the importance of lubrication of the secondary latch, and also lubrication of the hood hinges. The reason that hoods fly up like that is that the secondary hood latch doesn't move freely and isn't able to engage as it is intended. This is a result of years of grime building up on the moving parts, and not having those moving parts properly lubricated. Also, if the hood hinges are not properly lubricated, when you close the hood, it might not latch properly. The best advise that I can give to everyone is to clean and lubricate the latching mechanism at least once a year, and to make sure that the hood is properly latched when you close it by trying to lift the hood after it is latched. I have made a call for you looking for a replacement hood, but wasn't able to locate one yet. I did learn that you need to find a 1961 or 1962 Commercial Chassis only hood. I can also suggest that you can have your original hood hinges repaired if you are not able to find suitable replacements. It is a good thing that you found the original hood hinge springs, because finding replacements for them might be as difficult as finding a hood..
Paul
 
Wow, Darren, glad you guys are alright! That could have been bad. And glad the car is mostly OK, too.

I had much the same thing happen to me when I was in college, driving my '63 Studebaker. My hood flew open on the road. Fortunately, I had just read one of the old '70s/'80's "Shell Answer Man" booklets about that, and there was just enough room under the arch at the base of the hood to see out to get pulled over. I put the hood down, and the hood itself was fine, thankfully. One of the hood hinges broke, and it tore up the paint on the cowl. When I got back to my college campus, one of my college maintenance friends saw the hood misaligned and asked what happened. I showed him the damaged hood hinge, and he said I should give him the hinge and come see him at the end of the day tomorrow. I did, and he presented me with a newly machined hood hinge that he made in the maintenance department's machine shop, identical to what Stude made but probably better. His hinge is still on my car today. :cool:
 
Someone up above was definately watching over you two. So glad to hear you made it home safely without anything else happening.
 
one thing that really needs to be checked is the safety catch. this are a big hood and they will look latched even when they are just resting. but why did the safety catch not grab? glad it came out OK I experienced this same thing in a 56 ford wagon . dad was driving and I must have been about 6 years old still remember it today.
 
WOW, glad you are ok. Too bad about the coach but it can be fixed, a life cannot. The best thing to do was not panic, many people make a bad situation worse by freaking out. Just like all the people that slide on the ice and lock up their brakes always make it worse.
The only time I had a hood fly up completly was when I hit a deer in an old pickup, did the same thing wraped arount the top of the truck. The other couple times it happened, the secondary latch kept it from opening.

Good point to make sure your hood is well latched and lubricated, one other tip I always do is if you have suicide doors check them before starting on a drive. I am always worried one is going to come open, even know it is a slim chance.
 
THANKS for all your posts ! Much appreciated for sure.

Tom Hoczyk has a pair of 62 hood hinges for me. THANKS TOM !

There have been a few people who say the hood my need to be a commercial chassis hood. Does anyone know or can confirm this ?

I measured my hood across from passenger side to drivers side and its about58 3/4". Just under 59"

I measured the edge of the hood along the front fender from the point at the corner infront of the windshield to the front edge (just before it goes under and down) and that is 57 1/2".


If anyone had a 62 hearse or regular car, please make a quick measurement and post it here. THANK YOU !

Darren
 
I'm pretty sure that the fenders for a 61 and 62 are commercial chassis specific but not sure myself on a hood. Maybe Mike Stevens may know about that one.
 
There have been a few people who say the hood my need to be a commercial chassis hood. Does anyone know or can confirm this ?

Darren

Rick Duffy said:
Forgive Paul, he has his moments... it's called "Sometimerz!";)

Onward and upward!

Rick

I looked up the specifics in my Cadillac Parts Manual, however, my "Sometimerz" has caused me a memory lapse, so I am unable to provide you with the answer.
 
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