General Motors products from the early 1950s are not known for their precise panel gaps and hood fitment, and in the Buick world in particular, the 1953 model is particularly egregious. Several service bulletins and mid-model year running changes were the results of hood and fender chips resulting from a first-year alligator hood. Because of my personal interest in these matters, being the owner of the car pictured above, I keep a careful watch at car shows, and even glamourous restored Skylarks sometimes suffer from “the best compromise” of hood, fender, and door alignment. After nearly 16 years and numerous struggles, I have managed to arrive at a compromise that brings me solace. Maybe it can help you, too.
This is my Special the day I sent my dad out with a check to pick it up from the previous owner. As you can see, the driver’s side of the hood doesn’t quite fit correctly at the cowl. It was worse than it looks in this picture, and attempts to adjust the hood resulted in frustration after frustration, sometimes making matters worse. Not all days in the garage work out as you might hope.
This past fall, I finally grew tired enough of this blemish to actually take serious action. My reaction to it gave me pause. My other cars don’t all have perfect panel fit, so why did a hood that was slightly ajar at the cowl make me so preposterously angry? Was it because I love this car more than almost anything? Was it that the eyeball searing blue paint can’t possibly hide sloppy alignment? I don’t know, but it was time to get to work.
This was my dilemma. On a Buick, the hood hinge adjustment follows an arc: If you adjust the hood backward, it is also forced upward by a slight amount. Exacerbating the problem was the back edge of the hood; the shape didn’t follow the cowl, making it seem that the hood was bent or damaged at some point in the car’s past. I called a local hot rod shop to inquire about reshaping and refinishing the hood; my metalworking skills are fairly good, but not nearly good enough for a complex job such as this.
The estimate was fair but not cheap. Regardless of my decision, I figured that I should have the hood hinges rebuilt before any work was done, simply to remove them as a variable. My garage rafters temporarily became a hood support device, because a ’53 Buick hood weighs something like 57 billion pounds; to lift the hood, I used some ratchet straps and a block and tackle. The straps allowed the center of gravity to be easily shifted while I worked, while also keeping everything stable. My lovely bride, meanwhile, shared some helping hands in case things went sideways (literally and figuratively).
Once the hood was hanging safely, I removed the two inner hinge bolts from the cowl under the dashboard. One extra bolt per hinge is removed from the outside of the cowl.
Once they were on the garage floor, I discovered that the hinges were shot. The rivets and arms were extremely loose, especially once I removed the springs. (This is accomplished by stacking washers between the coils while alternating sides, stretching the spring enough to be removed – be careful if you do anything with hood springs.)
One of the difficulties in removing the hood was removing these shoulder bolts, which have a head that is shaped like a potato. I had to use a crow’s foot attachment and take a half turn at a time while that huge hood was strapped to the ceiling. Not great.
Needless to say, I sent my hood hinges to a business in Virginia that specializes in that service. The owner, Willie Wilson, not only rebuilt the hinges but also made me some new shoulder bolts to replace the worn out originals, AND the new ones have a traditional hex head. Mr. Wilson asked me if this was acceptable, and I replied that I’m not a stickler for originality and would prefer that he do that. I have to mention that I am extremely happy with his work and especially his communication. Really good, prompt communication is somewhat rare in the car repair world (in my experience).
The happiest surprise was that once I reinstalled and adjusted the hood, it fit much, much better. Obviously, the shape of the hood had previously followed the loose hinges upward and outward.
It fits so much better, in fact, that I will actually have a little fender and door adjustment to do, but even if I don’t, it’s completely acceptable to me as it is.
Both sides are now close enough that they don’t upset me, and life is all about minimizing disappointments. A few spots of touch up paint (when it warms up outside) where the hood touched the fenders and cowl over the years will complete the job.
My PSA for you is this: If you have an old car, and its hood fit is raising your blood pressure, it may behoove you to check the hinges. It may seem obvious in retrospect, but we all have lapses of reason, and sometimes they last for over 15 years. Now that one of my life’s minor annoyances has been eliminated, driving Big Blue will be even more fun this summer.
See my history with “Big Blue” here.
Wow. It’s incredible how a job like this can bring about such satisfying results. And I’m like you: While I appreciate originality, I’m not averse to using modern, hex head bolts and Phillips screws in place of original hardware. If it ever becomes an issue of originality, they can usually be switched back to stock.
Which reminds me…I have a number of jobs to perform on my two CCs out in the barn (a Suzuki Samurai and a Ford Ranger), but with the temperature at 0°F (-18°C) right now and a forecasted high of 5°F (-15°C), I’m not seeing it happening anytime soon.
Yeah, it’s about 14 degrees in Michigan today – I stay out of the garage when it’s below about 25 or so. The next job is replacing the Dart’s original brake lines, but I’ll probably wait until late March to do that.
It was -8 in Van Buren, Ark. when my power went out at 7:37 am this morning. Came back on after a few hours,
There’d be no way I’d be working on a classic right now! I wonder how GM got it’s reputation for body integrity with issues like this from the near top of the ladder marque. Was the lowly Chevy as bad (or worse)?
This writeup especially speaks to me, because my mother just sent me a photo taken in 1953, of her, my uncle, and my grandparents in front of their new 1953 Buick, in front of their house in upstate New York. It is clear from the pose/setting of the photo that the people were something of a prop to the car.
We don’t know who took it, but it is a quality photo. My mom was very young, but she recalls there was a neighbor with a darkroom in their house, which was a thing back then. Maybe they took it.
My grandfather died in 2006 or so, and he always bought a new Buick every 24-36 months, his whole life. My mother’s childhood milestones (Girl Scout awards, confirmation class, graduation from high school and college) are all marked by photos of her in front of the Buick they had at the time.
I wrote up his 1976 Electra I believe, a car which especially seared itself into my memory when it was new, and I was six. And, the 1967 LeSabre my grandmother kept after their divorce in 1970.
Thanks for the photos, which allowed me to picture them riding around in 1953 in that interior. You have a beautiful car!
My own Dad (a prolific photographer) had a darkroom in our suburban LA 3/2 house, which was actually the hall bathroom that my brother and I shared in our teens. He built in a bumpout into my brother’s bedroom (all finished with drywall and texture and paint etc), in which to mount his huge Beseler enlarger (the source of many curious questions whenever our friends came over and had to use the bathroom – Bitte nicht anfassen (Please don’t touch)) and then whenever it was time to make pictures he’d swap the fixture bulbs out to red, line up various pans of developers and rinses all over the counter and tub wit a few hoses connected to jugs etc and spend hours in there. Once finished there’d be a clothesline hanging over the tub with prints clipped to it for drying. No basements in most CA houses, otherwise he’d surely have a whole room permanently set aside for this.
Importamation, you should post your picture so we can see your grandparents’ Buick! 🙂
Yeah, I want to see how the hood fits!
The last few years with my ’74 Fleetwood, if you didn’t push the cowl end of the hood down first, it would end up 2 inches above the fender. The hinges couldn’t pop the hood off the secondary latch, so the inside latch had to be propped open.
Same way with my father’s 1975 Coupé de Ville. I developed a trick of pushing the hood back & down towards the cowl as I was closing it.
I feel your pain. Back in 1990 I was working on my newly painted 57 Chevy 210 Sedan. When I closed the hood it came down off kilter with the end of the threaded adjustment stop hitting the top side of the fender. The rubber foot saved me from more severe damage, but man was I upset. The right side hinge had worn out over 30 plus years of service. Thirty years later is still gently close all hoods! Friend has the identical issue with his 55 Buick. I will pass along this helpful info.
I never knew when Buick moved over from that open-from-either-side hood latch/hinge design to the alligator style. It is interesting that they did it in the middle of a design generation – I would have assumed 1954 was the year, but I would have been wrong.
Hood hinges tend to be one of those things most of us never think about, so you have provided a valuable service here. And I am right there with you on the satisfaction gained from fixing some niggling little thing that becomes an irritant. Well done!
Very enjoyable to read about this repair, and I’m surprised that this solution doesn’t appear to be more well-known within the classic Buick community.
The Buick’s a beautiful car with or without inconsistent panel gaps, but this fix does make a huge improvement. Congratulations!
My Dad’s ’75 Chevy pick up developed hood hinge problems that would make it difficult to close. This resulted in the hood getting bent from the extra force used. It was so common a problem that J.C.Whitney sold a kit with two braces to reinforce the hood. I found that after I lubricated the hinges I could kind of shimmy it from side to side as I pulled it down. That allowed it to close much easier. I recently lubed all the latches and hinges on my 25 year old Explorer and the difference in operation was noticeable. Nice Buick.
Great job..zeroing in on those hinges really did the trick.
When looking at the view of the new hexhead bolts, it looks like Buick’s design to mount the hinge pivot point(s) so close together may have contributed to the issues. I say this because taking into account the weight, length and bulk of the hood, they look to be a bit unstable.
Good luck with this well cared for beauty.
Just a couple of the amazing things about my Tata 603, is that the front hood and rear engine cover are both self-adjusting, and don’t even have adjustment points! And when pulling the rear engine V8, you can pull 4 pins and the entire rear cover lifts off the car.
Excellent work! I was hoping it was HHR who did the work on your hinges, their shop is roughly an hour and a half from my shop. I’ve seen the quality hinge restoration service they provide first hand at an annual spring car show/swap meet (except in 2020, obvi..) and it really changes the appearance of a car. I understand the frustration of misaligned panels, I’ve spent hours over the years on several projects.
I know the feeling exactly as it is common on certain Ford products. I don’t know how many times I have seen the back end of a Ford hood (mostly Mustang or Cougar) sit high in the back. Now there are specific instructions on how to correctly adjust the three bolt hinge in order to get the back down but it doesn’t always work if the hinges are the problem. My Mustang has that tendency and I always push the back end down after having opened the hood. One day…
That reminds me – I’ve had to lower the passenger hood hinge on my ’65 by about a quarter inch for about 10 years now. Maybe I should put that on the list for this year. 🙂
For about three years I rode to grade school in morning carpool in our neighbor’s ‘52 Buick Special. I can still hear the soft moan of the straight 8 Dynaflow as it pulled away from a stop. Quite similar to an outboard pulling away from the dock.
Some quirky things I recall was the side opening hood, the accelerator pedal starter and the radio antenna above the middle of the windshield that could be rotated by an inside knob above the rear view mirror.
I’ve long felt that a Straight-8 Buick is one of the best sounds invented by man. 🙂
Hearing you on several levels! 1)
The hinges on my ’69 Skylark are shot.
2) The bonnet itself needs attention.
3) And I spent a couple of fun hours adjusting the passenger’s side door window, alter one adjustment, and it moves the others. I love hardtops and frameless glass, but not on that day.
Glass is a whole other issue! My ’65 Mustang has aftermarket doors, which adds another variable to the mix – Let’s just say the passenger window doesn’t quite seal to the quarter window.
Thanks for all the comments everybody! It sounds like a lot of us have struggled with panel alignment issues.
Great read Aaron. The hinge rebuild is on the list of things to do on my cars, but they aren’t too sloppy yet. I can’t believe the difference they made on your Buick. It looks really good now.
I have never heard of your method of removing hood springs. I use an old bicycle lock chain (with a vinyl sheath), and hook both end links on the spring to make a handle. Then I just pull the “handle” and can easily remove the spring with lots of control.