[19Fordy]

Below are photos I just took of my 40 DeLuxe hood mechanism. Ignore the 2 pieces of cardboard placed on the underside of the hood to block air flow where the hood mechanism is located. Look very closely at the photos and you will see the spring that is attached to the little hood release lever (see photo 6) used to release the outside chrome hood handle so that when that chrome hood handle is lifted upward the big HOOK moves backward to allow total release of the hood. NOTICE that the front of that same spring is literally hooked over the lip of the rectangular hole in the top hood mechanism brace. You can see where that spring "hooks" over the lip in photos 1,3,4,6,and 7.

I bet if you slid a thin piece of metal with a "hook shape" on the end in between the space between the top of your grille and the hood you could unhook the front of that spring by pulling it forward, thereby releasing the pressure on the big HOOK that secures the hood. Because that big HOOK is now "free" you could now push it fully rearward and release the hood completely so it would open. Please examine photos closely. Might be worth trying as current situation is dire.

As a last resort you could loosen or remove the hood hinges where they bolt to the cowl but, that might make re-aligning the hood very difficult as you would have altered the location of the hinges and getting them back into the exact same location might be difficult also.