[Ramairnacho]

Originally Posted by unruhjonny

Discussion about these hoods is not new;
I never suggested that this discussion was new.

What is new to me is someone suggesting with a degree of clarity that the unbraced hood is a 1970-only part.

I am pretty sure that the "1970-only" assertion was debunked well before my first post (#102) in that same thread.

I could look more through that same thread to find other replies about it but I am fairly confident the "1970-only" assertion was quickly tossed out - which is why the latest compiling had the hood type in the 70-71 category;

To be ever more clear, I compiled information from that thread, and while I did add the odd item during the ongoing discussion - the "update" posts I have made were not "my" information;
You can find all the items elsewhere in that same thread posted by members other than myself.

Everything I have learned about the unique parts for these early cars has been learned either here, or the pre-crash classicalpontiac.com discussion board (I believe I joined that board in the late 90's).

The absolute garbage that I have read on social media groups touted as fact is astonishing - and since 'nacho had said he was told a 'story' by someone, which I do not recall reading here, I assumed it was from a social media group.

What I am trying to correct here is the assertion that this hood is a "1970-only" part;
I tried to be amply clear that I could not recall when the braced hood was phased in, but I was quite confident when I first spoke up in this discussion, that by 1973 they were all braced.

Regarding this:



Maybe you were doing some angry posting here?
(no, I didn't miss it in the first post either)

Replacement parts is not new.
Replacement first version parts are exceptionally rare.
I am pretty confident that before the unbraced hood was phased out, demand for replacement hoods would have been very low.
Demand would have been much higher a couple years after the '70 Formula came out - and at that time, the hoods would have all been manufactured with the additional bracing.
To say that another way, I would think that the vast majority of the replacement hoods would be the later hoods.

If 'nacho's assertion of these being "1970-only" hoods is correct, and we add in a small number of service replacement hoods made DURING the 1970 model production run (February 1970 to early July 1970) we would now be looking at numbers well below 10% of the total 70-75 Formula hood production - making the early hood that much rarer - and to me, these hoods are too easy to find to be parts that ceased to be made before July 1970 (which would probably be around the time that 1971 model year parts were being pumped out).

But let's pivot for a second;
Unmodified cars are fantastic examples for situations just like this.
Sometimes these cars are flawed examples because of "lost" service or repair history, but generally they serve as great examples of when parts or assembly methods changed.

If that chalk marking on Dennis's Formula hoods is a m-d-y format (which to me seems confirmed by FormulaJones's (1970) hood markings);
If the lead time in mid-May (1971) between braced hoods and cars produced was four months;
Then that means there was a LARGE stock pile of hoods before May 1971.

It shouldn't be a stretch of the imagination to think that the hood type change over likely happened mid way or late into the model year.

FormulaJones' 70 Formula seems to be a great example of the typical date spread from sub assembly to production - because that date spread is measured in days, not months.

It's a 1 year only hood they had issues that's why it got redesigned. they where breaking and going back to dealer under warranty this is not a know secret. The second design is a better hood that you can see on the 71 dated in February is steel reinforced hood. Yes it is possible that they did use 70 hoods on 71 but it's a left over part just like the 71 ta with a 12 bolt. They are very hard to find with out bracing in any condition I have only seen about 6 for sale in last 5 years. Im.mire puzzled on the ra hood I bought and has no lip but factory screens and boot retainers. I believe it's a 71.