I was going through an old build album of my Comet from its first major build in the early ‘70’s. In the album I found some pictures of the original fiberglass hood I used as a plug for the hood on my Comet. The hood I used was (is) the hood from the Tom Coward ‘64 A/FX Comet. Back in the early 70’s I tried to purchase the the whole car, the owner would not sell the car but he did let me borrow the hood to use as a plug for a mold. I took the hood to a fiberglass shop and had them pull a mold from the hood. The original hoods were much different compared to the reproduction hoods available today, one tell tale item is the inclusion of a recess for the factory hood ornament. There is also a number of structural differences.
The hood I have on my Comet is as close to the original as possible except that I included provisions for hood hinges when I made my hood.
Here are the pictures of the original hood when I had it temporarily installed on my Comet back in late 1973. The Tom Coward Comet still exists although it was restored to an unoriginal state.
Jim https://www.hemmings.com/stories/articl ... -calliente
Cool stuff Jim!
Thanks for sharing some of the history of your long term ownership, don't be shy about sharing I'm happy to read anything you print!
I don't have a single pic in the garage wrenching in the early days.
I'd rather do it myself if it's done right or not,,,isn't that what hotrodding is all about
Cool stuff Jim!
Thanks for sharing some of the history of your long term ownership, don't be shy about sharing I'm happy to read anything you print!
I don't have a single pic in the garage wrenching in the early days.
I only have a few pictures of the Comet during the first build, the hood pictures were taken when I was working in a two car garage that was at my parents house. I had to vacate the garage half way through the build because they sold the property. Makes me wonder how I was able to complete the build. I am spoiled now, almost 50 years later I have a well equipped facility to work in.
Thanks for the interest.
Jim
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Jim here is that pic of it again. Never did figure out where I found it. I looked & looked on the Fran Hernandez FB site with no luck.
I remember when you posted a couple of those pictures in the past, I still find them extremely interesting. The underside of the Hernandez hood looks very smooth, similar to the reproduction units available today. The 20 or 21 A/FX hoods were made by Plaza Glas in Toronto, and were “race” quality, not very sturdy. The Plaza hoods were also made using a three piece mold, exactly the way I had my mold pulled.(Plaza Glas only used one “s” in the word glas” Thanks for posting the complete set of the Hernandez pictures.
Jim
Man that’s such a cool (literally) setup. Love pics of the cars of the ol’ days. If we would have had better cameras there’d be a lot more, or could have afforded them
When was the 427 available in the Comets? The friend I ran around with as a teenager in the mid 60s, his brother had I believe a 64 or 65 comet with one, that thing was crazy fast for the times. Would like to have pics of half the rides friends had back then, even the ones I had. Just wasn’t into cameras, more into light to light racing
Would like to have pics of half the rides friends had back then, even the ones I had. Just wasn’t into cameras, more into light to light racing
Same here! Never owned a personal camera until I bought an IPhone 4 years ago to run GPS in my wife's car. Little did I know it had a digital camera Been tech savvy since the '80s but not mobile devices.
The hood I used was (is) the hood from the Tom Coward ‘64 A/FX Comet.
Jim, I know the ram air hood was used on the '65 FX cars.
What's the skinny on the '64s? I've seen teardrop and ram air both on those. Did they start w/ teardrops and moved to ram air later in the year?
Going by Don Nicholson's cars. Ran teardrop on wagon, ram air on the factory-backed Caliente.
The hood I used was (is) the hood from the Tom Coward ‘64 A/FX Comet.
Jim, I know the ram air hood was used on the '65 FX cars.
What's the skinny on the '64s? I've seen teardrop and ram air both on those. Did they start w/ teardrops and moved to ram air later in the year?
Going by Don Nicholson's cars. Ran teardrop on wagon, ram air on the factory-backed Caliente.
Joe
Joe,
Good question. I remember having a conversation with Joel Kanois about this, Joel is the person who purchased the Tom Coward Comet when the dealership received their ‘65 A/FX car, and the person who loaned me the hood when I made my copy. Joel campaigned the car under his own banner which was “Kanois Enterprises” out of Kenosha Wisconsin. Joel told me that the Comets were delivered from Dearborn Steel Tubing with the teardrop hood similar to what the Thunderbolt’s were running, later in the racing season the dual scoop hood was developed (Fran Hernandez) and Plaza Glas made 20 or 21 of them and sent them to the teams that were campaigning the ‘64 Caliente’s. Joel did not take possession of the teardrop hood when he purchased the Comet, it probably ended up in the scrap pile behind the dealership! I remember seeing all the Comets fiberglass parts hanging on the wall of Joel’s shop, he also had the 427 just sitting on the floor.
Jim
Been tech savvy since the '80s but not mobile devices.
. Great article by the way 
