Steel crossram hood on Ebay

[JoeC]

Jim, could the original steel cowl induction 2x4 hoods have been built by Chevy engineering prototype shop? The reason I ask is because I have a 1970 Camaro cowl induction hood built by Chevy engineering prototype shop and it looks like a production unit but it of course was never in production. The sheet metal looks like it was formed with some type of tooling as the form work is very well done. Could the 1969 steel cowl induction 2x4 hoods have been built by the prototype shop using a low volume process just to make a few until the fiberglass hoods became available?

[Jim Mattison]

I know that only a very few 1970 cowl hoods were made. You have a "very" rare piece indeed! Yes, the 1970 Camaro cowl hoods were hand-made at the GM Tech Center. They were supposed to be for the drag race guys, mainly Jenkins, and a couple of others. The cowl hood on the 1970 Camaro would give more clearance for the carb and air cleaner assembly. As such, they could get more horsepower!

I don't know for sure why they never went into production, but I heard a rumor that the folks from Chrysler were protesting them as giving Chevy an unfair advantage.

As for the steel '69 cross-ram hoods, I believe that they were made from production steel hoods. An outside vendor was hired to put the inner structure in them.

Jim Mattison