Hood open?

Well, today was the Rockville Car Show, one of the largest in our area in MD. I had a commitment and couldn’t bring a car, but I did go by in my truck about 2:00. Nice show, on a nice, breezy day. But I heard an interesting story.

As I was leaving, many of the show cars were leaving, too. I stopped at a light next to a ’47 Buick, and I noticed something wrong with his hood – it looked like it wasn’t latched down properly. So I said something to the guy driving.

(As you may know, I have a ’47 Flxible Buick ambulance, so I know a little about ’47 Buick hoods, which are sort-of unique. There is a hood latch on either side of the hood. You can release the left side latch and open the hood to the right. Or you can release the right side hood latch and open it to the left. Or, you can release both latches and, with two more strong guys, you can pick up the hood and take it off altogether.)

Anyway, the guy told me that his hood was damaged at the show. He had it open to one side to “show off” the engine. A gust of wind caught the open hood and blew it all the way open to the opposite side. It left a crease in the hood and damaged the latch assembly, though he thought he got it latched enough to keep it from coming open on the way home.

The moral of the story, at least to me, is that this is a good reason to not display cars with the hood open at a show. Our cars don’t usually have fancy, all-chromed-up engines, so it’s not too exciting to show off our engines. And our cars usually look better with the hoods down. And now I know another reason to keep the hood closed.

By the way, the same can be said about doors - particularly our large, one piece, heavy back doors. That door could rattle the whole car – or cut off a kid at the knees…..
 
rear door

At shows my 1968 superior hearse is full of teddy bears with a throw rug on the floor to protect it and to keep the kids knees from being beaten up by the rollers.
I try to park the coach so the back door cant be opened and i place a rug on the side door of the car for the kids to get into to see the furry freinds, I think my rear door is made if cement, It would cut someone in half it you got between it and the door frame:4_11_9:
 
I agree, best to keep things closed. Hoods can be opened to view the engine and then closed on request. In addition to the doors being heavy they also may contain glass that might be difficult to replace if damaged.
 
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