Spoiler II Hoods by Chris Vick

Sometime ago “Cyclone Archeologist”, Chris Vick, contacted me with a question. He wanted to know if the holes in my survivor Spoiler II had the hood holes welded or brazed? This set me back a bit. First off, I didn’t know the Spoiler II hood had holes in it to begin with and second, welded or bronzed? I immediately went out to the garage opened the Spoiler II hood and looked at the back side of the front edge of the hood. Yes, there had been holes there! I had always assumed (to assume is almost always a bad thing to do) that the holes were punched into the Cyclone hoods for the front trim piece but not punched for a Spoiler II hood. Well, I was wrong. All the Cyclone hoods had trim holes punched into them but the Spoiler II holes had them  filled! 

I immediately went to my Talladega, opened the hood and its holes were not filled in. Why did Mercury feel the expense of filling in these holes was necessary when they are not visible when the hood is closed? What are your thoughts? Were you even aware of this? If Mercury did it why didn’t Ford do it on the Talladega?

Chris has some great photos and thoughts to pass on.

Spoiler II’s Hoods

So you say you know that the hoods on II’s have the holes filled in and the Talladegas do not, wonder why? Could it be as simple as the T’s hoods are black and the holes don’t show like white hoods the II’s have? That would be my best guess. But did you know that there is more than one way they were filled in? The part number is C9GX 16612 A, Hood assembly-welded. Being that the standard Cyclone hood had a lip moulding and the longnose cars had a header panel, the trim is not used anymore on the Spoiler II. What to do with the holes? The first Spoiler II I restored was an early car and my current car is a late one. When I saw the early hood with the holes welded up and knowing I had to replace my hood I was not looking forward to brazing the holes shut for fear of warping the hood. Well they must have done enough of that because the holes on my hood have pieces of metal between the two layers of metal with the outside leaded over. I do not have a photo of the stripped brazed holes because I didn’t think it would be an issue. Here is a photo of a finished welded hood.

Now here is what my hood looks like before restoration. Each hole has a piece of metal, hand cut and of a different size placed between inner and outer layer.

Here is a photo of the pieces from my hood, yes I removed each piece and placed in the same hole on the replacement hood. Why? Why not, thats what came on my car and it proves what an anal character I am. Humor is needed in this world.

In the photo below, you can see the shape difference in each piece. So at some point somebody said enough of wrecking hoods, find a better way. Your job is to cut tiny pieces of metal and lead them in a couple hundred hoods, sounds like fun to me. 

Here is outside of the hood showing how the lead and metal cracked around the edge in the paint.

I wonder when the change came? Only Team Members can help solve this mystery, look at your hood to see if you have ooze coming through the holes or you have flat holes from the backside with metal pieces between the layers. One of the holes had the metal plug cocked at an angle so if you ran your hand along the edge you could cut yourself. Let us know what you have and the date of your car’s build.

Up coming stories will cover how the fenders were made, how the headlight buckets were made and how the rockers and rear outer wheelhouse were modified.

Chris Vick

PS, my Cale car is now completely painted. Wet sanded and buffed and it is build time. Trying to make a show at the end of March with the other Cale car I did. Image, two Cale longnose cars in Duluth MN at the same time?