Can't Open Hood - '73 S

[ttweed]

A variation on this problem hit me last week w/ my '67S. I have never had any problem with the front latch, it always worked perfectly. A few weeks ago, we had an autox where it started pouring rain after the first run groups. I hurriedly threw all the crap I had carried down and unloaded in the pits back in the car, including the spare and the jack. I always load the jack under the spare tire to keep it secure, but this time in my haste, I loaded the spare first, along with some other stuff, and then realized I had forgotten the jack and just laid it on top of everything.

The next time I went to open the hood, it was jammed. I could not even pull the latch knob out all the way. I got a neighbor to help me, and by pushing/pulling/bouncing the car every which way while putting backpressure on the knob, it finally popped.

When I looked under the hood, I found that the jack nose had slid into the ~1" dia. hole in the front sheet metal panel where you can access the set screw on the wire pull coming from the cockpit. It had slid around during driving home in just such a way that it jammed the mechanism!

Just a "head's-up" to watch out for the consequences of what you might be carrying in the trunk shifting around under driving loads. I am thinking about getting a rubber plug to fill that access hole, or just taping over it temporarily, to prevent any recurrence in the future.

TT

[pwd72s]

Great tip Tom...thanks!