I have an opportunity to buy an "original" used cowl hood. One amateur restorer told me that the repo cowl hood cannot/do not have the original part number stamped on the hoods.

Where is the part number stamped on the hood? is it on the inside lip of the hood? What IS the part number? :beers:

No part # on the GM hoods that I have ever seen. You can still buy them new for less than 600.00 from Chevrolet.

When I bought my repro hood, I was wondering what the difference was from the original hood... the guy said it was just a sticker (No stamped numbers in the hood).

I bought the repro... :p

I have both and I think there is quit a difference. The inside stamping is much cleaner and crisp on the original and almost feels like a heavier gauge metal. Almost every reproduction I've seen, the front corner is bowed down on one side or the other. I wasn't aware the you could still get them from Chevy. If you can swing the cash, I would go for it.

My experience has been the repo hood is about 1/4" narrower than a GM hood . The cowl panel and header panel are fixed widths so you can't pull the fenders together close enough to close the big gap the repo hood creates. There are pics somewhere on this site I think that shows the crimps on the back corners of the hoods and how they are very different between a repo and real GM.

I have an original cowl hood and it is definetly a heiver gauge metal than any aftermarket hood.

GM is not making them anymore. Discontinued so any that are out there are it if you prefer the original GM type.