1954 Demo Hood Dimensions
- Thread starter !michael!
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mercman from oz
Well-known member
1954 Ford Crestline Skyliner in Australia with Promotional Plexiglass Hood for the new Y Block V8.
mercman from oz
Well-known member
An unusual item in this private collection is a “see-through” hood for the 1954 Fords. This was available to Ford dealers and was shipped in primer with masking on the window. The dealer was responsible for painting the matching color to the demonstrator display car. Ford encouraged this to allow customers to see the new “L” head engine which replaced the flathead for the first time in over 20 years. It even includes lighting to allow viewing at night! This collector was able to find a NOS unit still in its original packing crate and saved the box labels and instructions.
56sedandelivery
Well-known member
Looks like it would be a very flimsy hood.
KULTULZ
Well-known member
Below is the explanation -
It has become stylish in the last 10-15 years for those who have glass-top 54 cars to find and install a glass-top hood too, to say nothing of the Cordoba deck lid!
You asked about quantity made, here is what I know, told to be by an old Ford dealer in a small town in Texas after I asked him whether he might have one of those hoods.
He took me into his office and showed me a letter from Ford and the COD Invoice for the glass-top hood and display kit. They were both thumb-tacked to the wall over his desk, to remind him, he said, of what "f**kers" FoMoCo could be!
Every Ford dealer in the USA was shipped a glass-top hood and a new engine display kit by REA Express COD for approximately $350! The kit consisted of chrome-plated rocker covers, fan pulley, engine fan, air cleaner, and some other small parts, plus a pair of light bar assemblies with mounting brackets.
The letter advised them to install the dress-up parts on the new engine and paint and install the hood on a sporty car, convertible or 2door hardtop, and place it front and center in the showroom window. The light bars mounted under the hood and had colored Christmas light bulbs shining down on the chrome-accessorized engine.
The dealer told me he wouldn't waste his parts, paint and labor installing all that "young kid hot rod crap" on brand new engine and he damn sure wouldn't spend the time and materials to install that "silly-*** hood" since "folks buy Fords because they're the best car for the money not because of sales display". And " How the hell did those fools expect him to sell a gawd-damned car with a big-a$$ window in the hood?".
So, the answer to how many window hoods were made is AT LEAST as many as there were Ford dealers in late 1953. And most of them never did install those hoods anyway.
The dealer told me he had smashed that hood personally a couple years before I came in and scrapped it. The chrome engine kit was sold to a kid in shop some 10 years later after sitting around on top of shelves for years. The light bars were used to illuminate the showroom Christmas tree for many years until they stopped working and were discarded.
That is the window hood story as I was told it by an old Ford dealer.
pasadenahotrod, Mar 28, 2009
SOURCE - H.A.M.Bone - https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/1954-ford-glass-hood.347295/
It has become stylish in the last 10-15 years for those who have glass-top 54 cars to find and install a glass-top hood too, to say nothing of the Cordoba deck lid!
You asked about quantity made, here is what I know, told to be by an old Ford dealer in a small town in Texas after I asked him whether he might have one of those hoods.
He took me into his office and showed me a letter from Ford and the COD Invoice for the glass-top hood and display kit. They were both thumb-tacked to the wall over his desk, to remind him, he said, of what "f**kers" FoMoCo could be!
Every Ford dealer in the USA was shipped a glass-top hood and a new engine display kit by REA Express COD for approximately $350! The kit consisted of chrome-plated rocker covers, fan pulley, engine fan, air cleaner, and some other small parts, plus a pair of light bar assemblies with mounting brackets.
The letter advised them to install the dress-up parts on the new engine and paint and install the hood on a sporty car, convertible or 2door hardtop, and place it front and center in the showroom window. The light bars mounted under the hood and had colored Christmas light bulbs shining down on the chrome-accessorized engine.
The dealer told me he wouldn't waste his parts, paint and labor installing all that "young kid hot rod crap" on brand new engine and he damn sure wouldn't spend the time and materials to install that "silly-*** hood" since "folks buy Fords because they're the best car for the money not because of sales display". And " How the hell did those fools expect him to sell a gawd-damned car with a big-a$$ window in the hood?".
So, the answer to how many window hoods were made is AT LEAST as many as there were Ford dealers in late 1953. And most of them never did install those hoods anyway.
The dealer told me he had smashed that hood personally a couple years before I came in and scrapped it. The chrome engine kit was sold to a kid in shop some 10 years later after sitting around on top of shelves for years. The light bars were used to illuminate the showroom Christmas tree for many years until they stopped working and were discarded.
That is the window hood story as I was told it by an old Ford dealer.
pasadenahotrod, Mar 28, 2009
SOURCE - H.A.M.Bone - https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/1954-ford-glass-hood.347295/
mercman from oz
Well-known member
Instructions for Installation and use of Ford Day and Night Demonstrator Hood