There's no doubt in my mind that if we were to poll CCT readers as to what their favorite truck is, the '67-72 Chevy would edge its way near the top, if not the top of the list. It seems this poster child has climbed its way into the realm of the '32 Ford in the hot rod world (Editor's note: That's Cody's opinion, I still say the '56 Ford F-100 is king!) and the '69 Camaro in the muscle car crowd. Taking things a step further, if we were to break down and hold a separate poll between the '67-69 and '70-72 models, the early style front end would trump its stepbrother three fold. Reason being: folks like the early-style hood better.
As for my personal preference, I like both models. On one condition, I like the sleek streamlined appearance of the '67-69 hood. Yet I like the bulky, albeit, round, persona of the later-year break hood. So I guess one could really say I'd like a hybrid.
Being that Project Get Shorty is a '71 Chevy; the hood is exactly half of what I'm after! As for the rest, well a little time in the operating room can fix anything. Like I said before, I like the round, robust corners of the late-style hood, but at the same time it's just a little too tall and stonewalled looking (if that's even a proper term) for me. Therefore, the only fix for the situation is to pancake the hood.
For those out of the loop, pancaking is a technique with roots back to the early days of customizing. Pancaking is the act of removing a pie-cut sliver of metal from a hood to lower the body line and create a more even-flowing streamlined effect. Like so many customizing tricks of yesteryear, it's a small tweak that achieves large results. Being that Project Get Shorty is a revival of old-school customizing, it only seems natural to throw pancaking into the mix, no pun intended.
A few months back the '71 received a new handmade front end. When the time came to throw the hood atop the fenders, the full-bodied look of the '71 hood didn't do the new refined front end justice. To fix the problem we're going to pancake the hood 1 1/4 inches, lay the nose back, and pinch the corners. And well, when you add those cosmetic touches to the appearance of Shorty's hood, you get exactly what I'm after, a crossbreed between an early and late '67-72 C10 hood.
I began by making my mark...
I began by making my mark with tape 1 inch below the hood skin. (When pancaking a hood you want to make absolutely sure you're keeping heat away from the hood skin atop. Warping the top of your hood can lead to disaster real quick!) I began making my initial layout with a gap of 1 1/2 inches at the front of the hood. I started at the 0-inch mark in the rear.
After stepping back and looking...
After stepping back and looking at the markings, I shrunk my gap to 1 1/4 inches. I made sure the gap across the front of the hood, and just into the corners of the hood, remained at 1 1/4 inches. From there I tapered back to a 0 at the rear of the hood again.
Here you can see the vision...
Here you can see the vision in my head. Notice how the gap at the front of the hood is more than the rear. This rake will give me the new streamlined look I'm after.
The first cut is along the...
The first cut is along the bottom of the top tape. By the way, I used a 4 1/2-inch cutoff wheel.
Next, I cut along the top...
Next, I cut along the top of the bottom tape and removed the sliver of metal from the perimeter of the hood. At this point I had removed all that was needed to pancake the hood.
The hood skin was then re...
The hood skin was then removed.
In order to get the hood skin...
In order to get the hood skin to dive down up front, the top of the front inner bracing had to be removed.
Here's a bird's eye view of...
Here's a bird's eye view of the cut up hood. Although it may look like there's more work in this hood than a human facelift, it's really quite simple--theoretically speaking.
Next, we set the bottom of...
Next, we set the bottom of the hood in place and tacked in its proper position (i.e., spacing, placement, and gaps). One thing you want to be sure and avoid is having your hood slide here or there and throwing everything out of whack. The top of the hood was then dropped in place.
A few months back I did a...
A few months back I did a story on various styles of clamps. It's situations like this where a variety of clamps are a must in any shop. Using my Eastwood Intergrip clamps I was able to secure the two pieces of the hood together for a perfect butt weld.
I then tacked the hood from...
I then tacked the hood from the rear to nearly 6 inches from the beginning of the curve of the corners.
Here's why I stopped short...
Here's why I stopped short of tack welding the entire hood back together. Because we removed 1 1/4 inches from the hood, the contour of the front of the hood won't line up, much like A-pillars won't when chopping a top. In order to set the right contour, we're going to lay the front of the hood back 1 inch and pinch the corners.
To get the hood to lie back,...
To get the hood to lie back, the middle of the hood was split down the middle. We also split the bottom of the hood at the corners (Note arrows). At this point the hood was laid back and tacked in place.
To pinch the corners of the...
To pinch the corners of the hood, they must be pie-cut with a pair of tin snips.
The pie-cut corners were then...
The pie-cut corners were then pushed into position. When doing this, the bottom corners created a slight nipple at the cut marks. To smooth things out heat was applied, and the nipples were hammered flat. The next step is to weld the corners up.
Once everything is welded...
Once everything is welded up, the only thing left to do is grind things down and add some filler over the cut marks. Here is an up-close view of how the corners turned out after I laid down some lead.
Here are a few shots of the...
Here are a few shots of the aftermath. If you'll notice you can see hints of the original '71 hood, but at the same time you could swear you're catching a glimpse of a '67-69 hood.
It's like some sort of Jedi...
It's like some sort of Jedi mind trick!