life with an A12 hood?

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Hey A12 owners. Simple question: is living with an A12 hood a complete pain in the butt? Seems like anything from a oil change to a simple roadside repair would be complicated. And if you had to get to a problem under the hood quickly…? How do you deal with it?

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Rob, good question but for the most part there were two main reasons the A12's got a hood with no hood hinges....and it was all a result of a personal reason by engineer Dick Maxwell and his engineering buddies. There's rumor, folklore or whatever you want to term it that there was a rush to production for '69 when the 440+6 was really supposed to be a 1970 model year car and not a '69-1/2 "package". Rumor had it that the test mule 440 6bbl GTX was spotted at a Woodward hangout by some GM people in the Fall of '68. So in order to get the 3x2 440 out there they scrambled for parts and that meant getting a non-inhouse company to make an intake manifold (Edelbrock) and a hood that would feed more air than the '69 hood. The situation with the Edelbrock 3x2 ALUMINUM manifold bears out as to this day it is considered a better intake than the '70+ cast iron (some will say not but who is making a CAST IRON intake that anyone is BUYING ). Being better and not using it for '70+ models was because Chrysler only needed a temporay supply for '69-1/2 production. The LOH on the '69 A12's is the only mass PRODUCTION car that I know of that didn't have hood hinges or a way of mechanically (cable, lever, etc) or by vacuum closing off the outside fresh air access.

So the rush to production for mid year '69 had a lot to do with the A12 "package" and the second or best reason was that Dick Maxwell told me "Mike this was the last BADAZZ street car we were ever going to be able to build". And what better thing to do for a race car but to have a light weight fiberglass hood that could be lifted off and moved out of the way to tune between runs and to cool down the engine as best as possible. The hood was for a purpose or purposes; tuning, cooling, weight savings, ram air. Note that the scoop opening is above the hood surface as the intake air into the scoop moves faster than the "boundry layer" air close to the hood's surface.

It was a race inspired hood that somehow got into production and Dick Maxwell and another two engineers even "hosed down" the hood with GARDEN HOSES to prove to upper management that the A12 could survive and not shut down in a heavy rain or down pour That is right from Dick Maxwell

For the few that suffered and still suffer many took advantage of the LIFT-OFF-RACE-HOOD on the LAST BADAZS STREET CAR and the poster child of the musclecar era

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Removing the hood by yourself is relatively easy, unless it's windy! Grab it inside the scoop next to the center support and put your hip into the front center, lift up and away you go. I have never had any issues on my own. What you do gain is the ease of working on the engine bay w/o worrying about hitting you hear on the hood!!!

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Eh...if you have ever gotten your skull impaled on the typical E/B body secondary hood catch hook, then you will be thankful you have a liftoff...

MB

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Ha! I just sold my A12 Bee and now have a '70 Bee, and wouldn't you know it, I have just about drawn blood twice already with that @#%&*@ meat hook on the hood!!!

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They make a repop with hinges. I assume it's made of steel.

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When I owned my A12 RR I heard quite a few times
I really like your car, what did the factory hood look like, or nice car but why did you paint the hood black and put that big scoop on it.

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And the classic "I wonder why the owner didn't paint the hood?" or "When are you going to paint the hood?"

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I was at a car show once, had my hood up on my props, and was asked by a lady if I could drive it with the hood up like that? ( She was serious )
I said yea only once.
She walked away with a confused look on her face.
Ray

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I'm working with four power antenna motors right now........I'll let you know

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I'm pretty sure it can be said that the A12 Lift-Of-Hood is by far the BEST PERFORMANCE FRESH AIR INTAKE HOOD EVER TO BE PUT ON ANY PRODUCTION CAR IN HISTORY!! (Production meaning more than 500 assembly line built cars by a major manufacture ). The hood scoop design is found on lots and lots of race cars to this day and it is probably the most copied and used scoop design out there..............................BUT as a practical design with not having it hinged well that makes that a PIA.....so it is the lack of hinges that is the biggest negative and the fact that you cannot change from outside fresh air to a protected air source that gives it two thumbs down

The AAR and T/A hoods are great example of the perfect A12 hood.....but who wants an E-body with 3x2's and a small block

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Oh and I forgot about the AM radio interference from the lack of shielding by the A12 fiberglass hood that was also a source of complaints by owners...............and once again the AAR's and T/A's got the benefit of the A12 owners doing production testing for all of those little nuisances so they moved the AAR-T/A antennas to the rear.......the perfect A12 hood and antenna location for the hood too

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I've never owned one of these cars but the topic prompted this question; I've seen a lot of original hoods that have what appear to be stress cracks around the scoop center support.

I assume, if you're pulling the hood by yourself, the only logical place to pick it up is through the scoop opening. Do most of you find that this causes the center of the hood to deflect and ends up causing the cracks? Just curious.

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I've never owned one of these cars but the topic prompted this question; I've seen a lot of original hoods that have what appear to be stress cracks around the scoop center support.

I assume, if you're pulling the hood by yourself, the only logical place to pick it up is through the scoop opening. Do most of you find that this causes the center of the hood to deflect and ends up causing the cracks? Just curious.

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my hood was very broken and cracked when i got it. i added a little extra fiberglass in that area when i painted it.

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