front opening hood

[rmk57]

I guess its sort of a novelty but 90% of the time I wish the hood opened from the front.
Quite a few things would be so much easier to access.

Reason I'm mentioning this is I brought my Mustang out of mothballs and pulled the
distributor to prime the engine with a drill. This task would be pretty near impossible
without removing the hood on my 57.

[Limey57]

I also find a rear-hinged hood makes aligning the front end panels easier, especially if the hinges are attached to the bulkhead.  My modern daily driver has hinges that allow the hood to be raised completely vertical, making access brilliant.  Not that it's much use though as modern engines make as much sense to me as brain surgery.

[lalessi1]

I heard that Ford abandoned the rear opening hoods because of the hood edge coming through  the windshield in frontal crashes. It seems there were several decapitations as a result. I have no idea of the truthfulness of this claim, but it seems plausible and gives one pause to reflect.....

[Limey57]

I heard that Ford abandoned the rear opening hoods because of the hood edge coming through  the windshield in frontal crashes. It seems there were several decapitations as a result. I have no idea of the truthfulness of this claim, but it seems plausible and gives one pause to reflect.....

Yuk, never thought of that.  Makes sense when you think about it I suppose, mind you, with no seat belts and more sharp edges inside than the average kitchen knife drawer, any accident is going to be pretty nasty.  I've installed seat belts from a VW Golf in my Ranchero, I know a lot of people don't bother but I just don't feel safe without them.

[Ecode70D]

I heard that Ford abandoned the rear opening hoods because of the hood edge coming through  the windshield in frontal crashes. It seems there were several decapitations as a result. I have no idea of the truthfulness of this claim, but it seems plausible and gives one pause to reflect.....

    Lynn
   This is a true story back in 1960, my friend bought a 58 Ford with a 352 4 bbl carb and cruisomatic.  On the very first night , we decided that we would take it through the local highway were we used to drag race.   (I mean some people used to drag race)   Before we started I noticed that the car had seat belts, so I said lets put them on.  When we got up to 85 mph , there was a car parked on the right side of the road who decided to make a u turn directly in front of us.  We hit him in the passenger door and he went to the hospital my friend hit the steering wheel and got his nose damaged.  It happened like in slow motion.  I'll never forget how the right rear corner of the hood came through the windshield and didn't touch me.  The seat belts kept me from going forward and I didn't get a scratch.  God was Watching out for me.    I fixed the car for him and bought it from him in 1964.

[djfordmanjack]

wow that is an alarming story Jay. I never thought about that before.
My Del Rio is going to have 3 point seat belts anyways, especially for my son.

[rmk57]

 Doesn't sound like they had crash testing in 1957.

[Limey57]

Here's a 1956 Ford crash test video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbZ6HA74qHc

[Ford Blue blood]

Yup, I'm really happy "they don't build them like they used to!".

[wv 57s forever]

   Maybe hood pins would help.

[RICH MUISE]

I hope so, lol. For me, it's the only thing(s) holding my hood down. It does have the safety catch though.

[59meteor]

Frankly I think the rear opening hood is a feature that makes the 57-59 Fords unique compared to the other brands. It does make some things harder to access,but makes others easier. I suppose a person could make the hood a "lift off" affair with 4 pins, but then you have to deal with finding a place to set it down without damage, or having somebody step on it. I own a 59 2 door sedan, and having seen under the hood of a 59 Edsel, which has a front opening hood, the firewall looks identical, with small indentations where the rear mounted hood latch would go on a Ford. Not sure if 58 Edsels are also front opening, but if so, maybe Edsel inner fenders and hinges would fit, although the task of mating the 57 hood to the hinges would require some fabricating. But really Randy, I can`t see getting to the distributor all that bad, although the water pump certainly would.

[Ford Blue blood]

58 Edsel opens to the front.  Hinges would not swap.....they mount on the frame work that supports the "horse collar".