Quote:
Originally Posted by Held for Ransom
I believe early in the '71 model year, there were leftover '70 hoods used.
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fair enough.
Lets say they showed up in 1971;
I am totally open to that.
By any chance, have you any information recorded which might suggest the change over date?
Before this discussion, I have
never had anyone assert that the unbraced hood was a 1970 specific part .
I think there are simply too many of the unbraced hoods still out there for them to only have been installed on 1970 model year cars.
70-75 Formula production (except SD455)
1970 = 7,708
1971 = 7,802
1972 = 5,249
1973 = 10,123
1974 = 14,461
1975 = 13,670
total = 59,013
7708/59013 = 13% for total Formula production
If ‘nacho is right, this hood was only used on 13% of the cars produced;
If that is correct shouldn’t they be a LOT harder to find?
They are certainly more uncommon than the braced type, but not that hard to find.
Getting back on topic, I think it’s worth pointing out that a car built the second week of May would be a late model year car;
With September the first and June the tenth (and often last full month of production), that means a May built car was built during the ninth out of ten full months of production.
If we assume that the chalk marks on the hood are m-d-y dating format,
AND
If we assume the date indicates the date the hood was completed as a sub assembly;
That means it was manufactured during the sixth month of production (
also past the half way point).
Curiously, February to May is a very large spread for a part to be produced then find it’s way to production (if that’s what the date signified) - that’s roughly four months!
I had understood that production components are typically measured in weeks or less.
Is it possible that the chalk mark was done at the dealer?
if the chalk mark was d-m-y, that could have been a dealer prep/service mark made on the second of December 1971.
I believe it was common for dealerships to mark underhood to record service dates.
So if this car is unchanged from factory assembly;
AND
If the chalk mark is a sub assembly date of manufacture for the hood that means:
1) we for sure have the hood showing up on production line vehicles late in the 1971 model year;
2) we have the possibility of the hoods being installed in the second half of the model year.
I will stop guessing here, and let someone who knows more than me weigh in…