I have a 68' that I'm looking to get a cowl hood for.The GM dealer that I live by priced one at over 800.00 dollars.I didn't really want to spend that,so I look to the reproductions.My question is ,who do you guys think makes the best cowl hood? I was looking at the Goodmark brand,but I know there's others.

I don't think you can go wrong with goodmark. These days that's probably where the dealer gets theirs

I think Goodmark only re-packages these hoods, they're all made by the same company. There's a GM hood in the classifieds, check it out.

I tried one the new GM hoods,..it was awful. Would have required a lot of work to remove the ripples and valleys. Have since learned GM's tooling for the cowl hood is now bad and getting worse.

The Goodmark hood is a good piece and priced right,..very straight,..good quality..about a B or B+. My only complaint with the Goodmark repo is the curvatures are a bit too high along the sides and rear, but it can be worked over and made to fit fine.

Good luck!

I used a Goodmark cowl hood on my '68 and it was very nice fit, plus reasonable price.

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If you are patient, original GM cowl hoods show up on eBay fairly regularly. I picked one up for a little less than twice the price of a Goodmark hood. That is still a far cry from the $800.00 you mentioned. I was lucky enough that it was only about a three and a half hour drive away from me, so it only cost me a tankful of gas to pick up. If I had to pay for shipping it, I might have gone a different route. I was also lucky in that with only a tiny bit of persuasion, it fit diagonally in the back of my S-10 Blazer (seats down of course) and I was even able to close the tailgate and rear hatch!

I have heard a lot of good and bad things about Goodmark products, but there seems to be a general agreement that their cowl hoods and their radiator supports are very high quality.

I used a goodmark hood. My body man had to do alot of blocking to get it straight. With my old hood my air cleaner hit the bottom of my hood when closed. The new hood gave at least 2'' more clearance? And now I can use a nice Bowtie spinner that I couldnt before.

I have a big problem with my cowl hood from Goodmark. I ordered the hood a few years ago from Ricks First Generation along with many other items. Recently I tried to put the hood on the car. The hood lines up on both edges all the way down the hood. The problem is that the very center of the cowl hood sits up one inch higher than the header on the front of the car.

Ricks will not help me out because of their return policy and Goodmark would not lift a finger either. So I am stuck with a bad hood and a bad taste in my mouth from both Ricks and Goodmark.

If you buy one I would suggest be prepared to install it ASAP! so you don't get stuck with a bum hood.

I just bought and installed the repo steel 2 inch cowl from classic industries. I live in LA so I had the luxury of going and picking it up. It fits great. Alot better then the fiberglass 2 inch I had before. I also bought all the bumpstops, adjusting nuts, new springs and hinges as well. I paid around 220 for the hood and it looks great in flat back against the camaros red body.

I have never used goodmarks stuff, but everyone recommended it. The OER 2 inch cowl from classic fit my 67 camaro amazingly well.

I thought Ricks's return policy was that you could return anything you bought from them...forever, as long as it was unused. Is this not true?

This came straight off their page:

"You may return any unused, undamaged and resalable part, in the original packaging, to us anytime. No time limit - no extra charges - no restocking fees - no hassles! Easy enough?"


Gambitt

Gambitt

Thats intresting, when I Called Ricks thewy told me they had a 2 week exchange policy. I will have to investigate further, /thanks

Hey, let us know how this turns out...no vendor bashing here...just wanna see if they hold up to their promise.

Gambitt

I have a big problem with my cowl hood from Goodmark. I ordered the hood a few years ago from Ricks First Generation along with many other items. Recently I tried to put the hood on the car. The hood lines up on both edges all the way down the hood. The problem is that the very center of the cowl hood sits up one inch higher than the header on the front of the car.



That is not all that uncommon even with new OEM hoods on late model cars. Its not uncommon to have to put a block of wood under the hood and reshape it a little.
From Martin Sr basics of Panel alignment -
General tips: Bending a panel or adjacent panel is sometimes required. You can get this done in a number of ways, one is to use a block of wood. Let’s say that along the edge of the hood there is a spot that is high. Well you can’t adjust it down, the front and the rear are perfect. So you can lay a block of wood on the spot, right at the edge where it is strong. Using a big hammer (the bigger the better, trying to make a small hammer do the job can cause a lot of damage) hold the block and strike it nice and solid. Then check the results, you may need many strikes to do it. In doing this you may want to support the hood at the front with a block of wood under the hood. This way the hood is up off the fender and it will bend easier because of the solid rest it has. You can also put the block under the edge of the hood at a low spot and with steady pressure bend it down at a point if you need it.

My cousin is getting me a good contact at Goodmark dealing with my hood issue. I will keep you all posted on what happens.

I hate to veder bash, but I have spent over $7,000.00 with Ricks and I figured someone spending that kind of coin they would be a little more helpfull.

I just ordered the new 4in STEEL cowl hood, I'll keep you posted.....

Factory hoods are the best. The aftermarket hoods are thinner steel and have waves and small imperfections in them that the factory hoods don't have. It usually cost the same by the time you repair the "Yokomoto" hoods and body parts supplied by aftermarket stores, including "Goodmark".
I restore Camaros, and have been for over 35 years.
I'm not the best there is but my cars have won every major show in America.
From Pebble Beach to the old Oakland Roadster show. My advice is free.
Jerry Alexander at "The Factory" Muscle Cars, Rods & Customs

Curtis, let us know how the 4" cowl hood is. I saw one at my local repro shop and it was love at first sight. If I have extra $$ at teh end of this summers thrash, I may just have to do it and sell my GM NOS cowl. From the latest prices, I can make some money on my cowl hood.

I kept the GM cowl hood I had on my first 68 for my conv project. I loved the hood too much to get rid of it. The idea of a 4" steel does sound tempting

I agree with GAMBITT according to RICK's advertisement, they will take any return as long as it is not damaged. Please keep us up to date with what you find out.