1970/71 Polara/Monaco Hood Question

[Greg B.]

I just remembered something from 4 decades ago that I always wondered about. I know someone here has the answer.

My love for C-bodies goes back to 1971 when my father bought his '71 Monaco. He was a real estate salesman and so he drove a lot, and sometimes I would go along with him on summer days when I was out of school just for something to do. Back then we had very few divided highways here. Most of our main roads were 2-lanes, with an occasional passing lane if you were lucky. So you would be driving at 60 or 65mph and have opposing traffic doing the same speed in the next lane. Lots of bad accidents on those roads.

Sitting in the front passenger seat of the Monaco, I used to get alarmed every time a big truck blew past us in the opposite lane, because the wind rush would sometimes cause the right front corner of the hood to flex up quite dramatically. It looked almost like the whole hood might come loose for a split-second. But it was just that one front corner.

Has anyone else experienced that on these cars? I wondered if ours was missing a reinforcement attachment or some such thing.

Thanks for any insight.

 

[polara71]

The hood is attached in the center, not on the outside corners, like all others. No problems. That doesnt mean I dont get hood vibrations at high speeds, nothing different with the 71 Polara/ Monaco than anything else.

 

[Greg B.]

I guess my point is that in all the driving I've done over the years, I've never seen hood flex like that in any other car. Maybe ours was defective.

 

[ceebuddy]

There are adjustable rubber stops in each front corner. Usually, they prop up the hood just so much that there is a little tension versus the centrally located pin. This should be enough do avoid any air rush to lift a corner up, I think. Perhaps on your father's car, one rubber stop was sitting too low while this would perhaps not make the hood look misaligned under normal circumstances (I assume it would, though) and then a blast of air from oncoming traffic would lift it up a little becaus of the slack.

 

[kmccabe56]

I just remembered something from 4 decades ago that I always wondered about. I know someone here has the answer.

My love for C-bodies goes back to 1971 when my father bought his '71 Monaco. He was a real estate salesman and so he drove a lot, and sometimes I would go along with him on summer days when I was out of school just for something to do. Back then we had very few divided highways here. Most of our main roads were 2-lanes, with an occasional passing lane if you were lucky. So you would be driving at 60 or 65mph and have opposing traffic doing the same speed in the next lane. Lots of bad accidents on those roads.

Sitting in the front passenger seat of the Monaco, I used to get alarmed every time a big truck blew past us in the opposite lane, because the wind rush would sometimes cause the right front corner of the hood to flex up quite dramatically. It looked almost like the whole hood might come loose for a split-second. But it was just that one front corner.

Has anyone else experienced that on these cars? I wondered if ours was missing a reinforcement attachment or some such thing.

Thanks for any insight.

A truck passing on your left caused the passenger side front corner of the hood to lift? That's a new one on me. Just checked the '71 TSBs, and there's no mention of that being a problem. Agree with the poster who suggested that the rubber adjuster stop on that side might have been a bit off. Those bumpers are there to put some tension across the front of the entire hood. Either raising the bumper or lowering the center latch, would, I believe be the cure to that issue.