Hood Ornament for 39 Deluxe

[First time restorer]

Anyone ever have a problem with a new hood ornament fitting on the original hood. I bought one from Bob Drake and it does not contour properly to the hood.

[flatjack9]

I bought one years ago and it broke after a year. Total junk.

[19Fordy]

I had the same fitting problem of my DeLuxe hood ornament not fitting the curvature of the hood after I had it rechromed.

What happens during the chroming process is that the two ends of the ornament actually "pull in" towards towards each other making the curvature radius smaller.
I ended up using a Dremel tool with a small grinding wheel to enlarge the radius so ornamemnt would fit. Took a long time and patience to do as you don't want to scratch the visible chrome. Cover it with several layers of masking tape.

If the plater had properly put a brace between the two ends during plating this would not happen. Makes one wonder about the plater's knowledge of the physics of the plating process. You would think a plating business would know this in advance.

[1931 flamingo]

There was a discussion either here or on the HAMB recently about fitment issues with new 40 ornaments with pictures and remedies. FWIW
Paul in CT

[40larry]

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Originally Posted by First time restorer

Anyone ever have a problem with a new hood ornament fitting on the original hood. I bought one from Bob Drake and it does not contour properly to the hood.

I have had this problem with Drake hood ornament for a 1940 Ford. I discovered the problem before hood was painted and actually built up the hood nose area to match the ornament. On a second 1940 I discovered the problem after hood was painted and very very carefully bent the ornament to correct the fit problem. I never got it perfect but quite close. To finish I used a product called "strip caulk" made by 3M I think. The caulk is black and will really hide any remaining gap on a dark paint. Good luck.
40larry