Ford or repo hood?
 

How can you tell a factory ford hood from a reproduction? I have heard of markings on the underside but where and what are they supposed to be? Also, the hood is slightly bent like it was dropped once or something was laid on top of it. Can this be straightened out? I ask because I need to put on some hood locks. It looks like someone has been under my hood lokking around, maybe waiting to come back later to relieve me of some engine parts. I don't want to have to shoot anyone but...

I just hate to chop up a factory hood, I just don't have the money for a fiberglass one yet. Thanks

Aftermarket hoods are a lot cheaper than NOS (Ford Service Parts) or original items. Typical cost is $150 for aftermarket and $450 for NOS.

Ford hoods bear markings like 10-02-7 on them somewhere on the reverse side. Aftermarket hoods may have a production mark but may not. The ones I've seen have a simple mark like the number 45. There are also constructional differences. There are three or four different early stampings and these have some minor differences. Most are recognizable as OEM parts. If you compare a few OEM's to reproductions its not hard to miss which is which.

Are all NOS parts equal in quality? No, there is some variation in style and finish quality. Most of these are better however than any reproduction.

Are all aftermarket parts equal in quality? No, some are fairly good and some are terrible. Be sure to get from reputable vendor that does a volume business (knows the difference). The worst parts I've seen were crude and had wavy surfaces to the stamping making them difficult and expensive to finish. Most aftermarket hoods are lighter weight metal than the OEM parts.

If I had a car that I wanted to finish in show quality, the OEM part is the best buy since its easier to finish in concours quality. If I had a car than I wanted to cut a hole in the hood or add a cowl intake to...I'd use a reproduction.

A creased hood is likely to always have some crease visible in the finished work. Very difficult to remove it.