tbird100636

I'm writing this thread after a mishap this past weekend with my uncle's 1966 T-Bird. My uncle's son-in-law owns an auto accessory shop and was having an open house after being open for a year in his current location. It was for his customers and owners of classic cars. So my uncle wanted to bring both the 1964 T-Bird hardtop and the 1966 T-Bird Conv. So I drove down there with the 64 having no problems whatsoever. On his way down, my uncle driving the 66 had the hood somehow unlatch, and blow open over the windshield!!! Keep in mind he was in the middle lane of the highway!!! He got it pulled over with out crashing and called me up at the son-in-law's shop. He asked me if I had checked anything under the hood before I had left and I said no. The last time I had opened it was over a month ago. It didn't look open when I pulled it out that morning. So the son-in-law sent 2 of his friends down to remove the hood so he could continue to the shop. When he got to the shop, to my amazement the windshield was not damaged!!! There were a few scratches on the body, the hood was mangled up in ten places and the hinges were broken apart. Looking at the hood latch I found the secondary catch was binding. 1966 and some later T-Birds had the safety catch intergral with the regular latch. To open the hood you would have to pull the release handle out while lifting the hood. The regular latch had some looseness in it too. In my travels I have seen one 1966 T-Bird with a chain wrapped around the safety catch to tie to the lower radiator support. So for you people with 1966 and some later T-Bird with a hood latch that has an intergral safety catch take a close look at it. You don't want to end up the way my uncle did on the highway!!!

Marqman

Good info, thanks!

__________________
Tim
70 Camaro SS // 87 Mustang GT Conv - 119k
93 Z71 - 264k // 01 P71 - 87k // 05 Dodge Magnum R/T - 122k

tbird100636

Note to Marqman, this does not apply to your 65 as it has the previous separate latch and safety catch. As far as the 66 latch is concerned, I am currently looking over pictures of 64-65 mustang latches as they are similar to the T-Bird piece other than the pull handle. The Mustang piece has a short one piece handle while the T-Bird piece has a two piece handle but otherwise, it looks the same. Same bolt pattern, same everything. Stay tuned......

P.S....The 66 Mustang latch will not work. It has a different bolt pattern than the 64-65 Mustang and the 66 T-Bird.

birdboy66

the owner of my car before me had the hood fly up, it bent the hood, broke the windshield and didn't fix it so now i am stuck with fixing it.