Thanks for the responses. Have no fear it is not an original hood. It is actually suffering already from minor stress cracking in front of the snorkel. The guy I bought the car from lifted it on and off the car by putting his forearms inside the snorkel and lifting it that way.

With two kids in college, buying a new hood is not possible now. I was hoping someone solved this problem before me and I could have picked up on their design. Back to the drawing board!