Joe Sorenson

[Billy Nees]

Mark, again I'm done with the hood on Joe's car BUT the GM archives says differently although it IS kinda confusing.

[GTS340]

How many 68-69 GTS darts came with a flat hood new and how many run in NHRA stock eliminator? I guess it isn't about the hood. Too many different GM combos for myself to know.

Paul H

[GUMP]

Originally Posted by Billy Nees

Mark, again I'm done with the hood on Joe's car BUT the GM archives says differently although it IS kinda confusing.

A few years ago I approached our General Motors guy about the whole 1969 Camaro hood deal. He wouldn't accept that most Z-28s didn't come with a cowl hood!!

I think that the only way to prove hood availability in both the 255 and 300 combinations is to find a real invoice for a car equipped the way a competitor is claiming.

[Dan Bennett]

Originally Posted by GUMP

A few years ago I approached our General Motors guy about the whole 1969 Camaro hood deal. He wouldn't accept that most Z-28s didn't come with a cowl hood!!

I think that the only way to prove hood availability in both the 255 and 300 combinations is to find a real invoice for a car equipped the way a competitor is claiming.

In my collector car days, I owned a nicely optioned 69 Z. It's been a long time, but somehow I remember the cowl hood option number was stamped onto the firewall trim tag. Problem is, GM was not consistent throughout their plants. Mine was built in Norwood. And as I learned from the collector arena, a whole lot of people would change or even counterfeit the tags to get the car the way they wanted and still claim originality.

As for the GM guy thinking that cowl hoods were plentiful, this was when I was most active on the streets and at the track. The Z28 was very popular by then and I saw a lot of them. In my experience, less than half I saw had the cowl option. Remember, these cars were being bought by young guys who barely had the money for one and it also wasn't even a full year option.


Came back to add: I was seriously into restoration and research. The only "ringer" hood I ever ran across with documentation from the era it was built was on 67 Corvettes. During the production run, some idiot left a screwdriver (used to remove the hood from the mold) in the small block flat hood mold and then closed it, ruining the mold. Those took a lot of time and effort to make and GM didn't have a spare. So there were some 67 327 Corvettes that came off the line with the big block raised hoods.

And the AMC parts numbers. In 69, I owned a 68 AMX. At every AMC dealer parts department, there was a supplement to the parts book which contained performance parts. It was called Group 19. The intake and carb were definitely listed there with an AMC part number. Yes, not production line but we all know what's happened with replacement parts these days.