68 Yenko Hood Authentication

[Racefan]

It has been a really long time since I have been here, so I hope that everyone is doing well!

I am still putting together my 68 Yenko clone, and finally was able to secure a hood. Were these hoods being reproduced in the late 80s/early 90s, and is there a way to tell if is is a reproduction? I have it at the house now, and will be going to the body shop tomorrow to be scuffed and painted to match my car (grotto blue). The hood is flat black right now, and "appears old". Main reason for my question is that if it is not a repro....would be interested to find the rest of the car it may belong to. The hood came from extreme south-western Iowa, haven't heard of many 68 Y's in Iowa...

Anyone?

[David C.]

I think they have been reproduced for quite awhile now, at lease into the 90's. The original ones were very crude looking on the bottom side. Because of the time they spent closed with the springs pulling on them, they tend to bend and crack. On the last few 67 and 68 Yenkos we restored, we put new hoods on as they look much better on the bottom, and do not have any cracks. Ask somebody who does bodywork on Corvettes if they would rather fix a cracked and wavy fiberglass hood or put a newer, smoother gel coated hood on a car. I have personally wasted more than enough time learning that lesson the hard way. Original hoods make good wall art. Still need to hang the last 67 hood I replaced!