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?

Well my car wasn't an a12, but had the hood and to me it was good and bad at times... not fun to remove the hood to check oil or something simple. However it was really nice at other times to not have a hood to hit my head on or hinges to avoid.

I've owned my Bee for 21 years and have put a little over 32,000 miles on it. Yes the Hood is a pain in the azz. When you are planning to wrench it's not an issue, but all those little things like checking the oil or searching for an odd sound make it an issue. I very rarely remove the hood at cruise nights or small car shows. It's the most functional ram air system you can get! My sig. pic is prior to my 2005 resto.
KID

Great info guys. How much does the hood weigh and what is the technique for one person to remove it?

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 head on the hood!!!

I made clear 1" dia. stanchions with hood pins to set the hood on whenever I needed to work on it. helped alot by not finding a place to set the hood or scratch it across the roof.

Whatever small issues there are its worth it...Coolest option ever..

Anyway...

Taller guys have an advantage ..Im short so it is a bit of a PITA, I dont own an A12 but have worked on dozens of them...One thing that every A12 owner should own is a folding tubular stand like the bodyshops use...Put some foam on it so it doesnt damage the hood...I dont like putting the hood on the roof...Ive heard of hoods falling down off the roof-yes, even with the vinyl top...



MB

When the hood is off, wind is your worst enemy. I don't own an A12 but I did have a 'glass liftoff hood and I usually sat it flat on the ground for just that reason. I had hood pins mounted to my shop wall so I could hang the hood when I was working on the car.

Call me, well... call me whatever you want, but I loved pulling the hood off of my a12 superbee. Liken it unto a ritual that few ever get to experience. It always initiated a conversation, and an opportunity to meet people. An avenue by which the minions could catch a glimpse of how truly unique and awesome these machines really are. An opportunity to enlighten the uneducated, and share in the beauty. We know all about these cars, and in some sense we can become almost desensitized, or callous as to just how over the top they are. Many people have never even seen or heard of one of these cars! It is exciting to be able to see that "light" come on in someone's eyes for the first time. I think of taking the hood off as an "event", an unveiling, so to speak. I remember pulling into a gas station and it was like, "showtime". I am a left handed artist, and musician so that's how I roll. That being said, I was always worried about wind, and concerned about damage occurring to the hood when it was off. For what its worth... Just one more opportunity to admire that sexy thing. If it weren't for 9/11, I would still have mine. God bless

Oh the stories those hoods could tell.....

My original A12 hood was supposedly victim of the "Oh $#!T I forgot to re-pin the hood" and run over by a Chevelle that was getting beat by the A12 (Gary Tsuperbee you have to back me on that one) and then there's the story of someone's wife driving the husband's A12 to the gas station back in the day when they pumped the gas, cleaned your windshield AND checked your oil.......yep pulled only the front two hood pin clips out and tried to open it with the rear two pins still in .

Okay we need some more...A12 sail hood stories

Al Kirschenbaum with the first A12 Road Runner built ...testing for Cars Magazine...April 1969 - looks like he's got the right idea....


.....other than maybe he's thinking "Now where am I going to put it..?"

It's not really much of a pain. I always get help putting it on the roof. In 40+ years, I only had to worry about the wind once at a car show. You don't need to take it off that often and you can always get help. Mine flew off my old black car twice. Once on the trailer on my way to the races. After I loaded it up, I disconnected the battery and walked around behind the trailer and forgot to put the pins in. It blew off about 800' down the road. It was 4 lanes and a car behind me stopped and moved it to the shoulder. I was lucky to realize it almost as soon as it happened. I had to walk back and get it and carry it myself about 800' and put it back on the car on the trailer! It only weighs about 37 lbs but that was tough duty to carry it that far on a 95 degree sunny day! It cost me $40 to get a friend to fix both corners and repaint it back gloss black. Nice to have such friends!
The second time was leaving the scales at Maple Grove after weighing in after winning a big race. I had to get in the engine compartment after I weighed it and the cars were lining up behind me. I took iff in a hurry and it flew up about 30' landed on the tip of my deck lid almost right above the trunk lock and ended up flat on the pavement behind me without hurting the hood! I did some paintless dent repair on the decklid before that technique became a craft. The car still had a ding on it that I couldn't get out when I sold the car in 1995. I would not trade my lift off hood for anything!

I would put mine under the back of the car if the wind came up

Not a real A12, but I've had mine for years on a street car with no issues. Just learn to find a good spot on the ground.

My car obviously isnt an A12 car..('68 RR), but I've had a lift off hood since Ive ben driving it.

Its a pain in the butt for routine things, like checking oil, connecting battery cables, and even in the garage since my space is limited. Over the last couple of years Ive been fighting a wiring issue as well. After shutting it off, sometimes the car has no power at all, anywhere, and I have to jiggle the bulkhead wiring to make the connection. At a gas station, finding a place for the hood can be a pain.

With all of that however, Im still very happy with my set up. These fiberglass hoods are fairly lightweight and its relatively easy for me to remove/replace by myself. On the occasions when Im actually working on something, its fantastic to be able to have an unobstructed work area underneath the "hood."

Oh, and I agree that its just plain "badazz" having that huge, functional scoop that looks so cool. It's definitely something that drew me into this hobby.

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