69 hood latches

[Thomas C.]

The female hood latch on the passenger side of my 69 has one mounting hole that does not line up with the hole in the hood. The latch also does not seem to lay flat on the hood. I got a latch for "late 69-76" which fits fine but this latch came with a black cable.The white cable seems too long to work with this latch. The Judging manual says all 69's used a white cable. My car was built in July 69. Which latch is correct? Which cable is correct?

[Joe L.]

Re: 69 hood latches

Tom-----

Your car requires the "early 69" upper latch plates. The "late 69" were not used until VERY late 69, perhaps not going into use until October or November, 1969. My original owner, mid-September 1969 built car has the "early" style.

The "early" style uses the white cross cable. You will note that your hood has two mounting points for the cable retainers on the upper portion of the hood. The "late" style cross cable was black and used one mounting point on the hood. The hoods used with each style were different.

You can further confirm that your car uses the "early" style latches by looking at the lock bolts on the lower latches. The "early" style uses a bolt with a "tulip-shaped" head and the later style uses a bolt with a decidely cone-shaped head. You MUST use the tulip shaped bolts with the "early" style upper latches ONLY and the cone-shaped bolts with the "late" style latches ONLY.

[Chuck G.]

Re: 69 hood latches

For what it's worth, my late August, 69 built 69 has the black cable and the late latches. Joe is 100% correct in the fact that you can't "mix and match" early and late male/female latches, and in the fact that the hoods were different both in the latch mounting, and in the one or two hole white/black cable retainer mounting. Chuck

[John A.]

Re: 69 hood latches

Tom,

I sounds like the original early (rare) hood was changed with a later (abundant) style hood... but whoever made the change did not follow through with changing the hardware as well. These things happen!...

John

[Joe L.]

Re: 69 hood latches

Chuck-----

That's very interesting. I expect that what must have happened was that the supply of "early" style big block hoods ran out before the "early" style small block hoods. So, your late-August car (a big block, as I recall) got the "late" style hood, latches, and cross cable. My mid-September car, a small block, got the "early" style parts. I wonder when the supply of "early" style small block hoods ran out and the actual switch to the "late" design occured? As far as I know, it was not until sometime in October or November.

[Thomas C.]

Re: 69 hood latches

Thanks Guys, Could someone elaborate on the differences between early and late male latches? I guess I have a late hood because I only have one mounting hole for the cable. Tom

[Joe L.]

Re: 69 hood latches

Tom-----

The left lower latches are the same, early and late. The right lower latch is a bit different for "early" and "late". However, they are interchangeable, so it doesn't really matter which one you have.

The real difference is in the lock bolts which fit into the lower latch. The 68 and "early" 69 are what I describe as "tulip" shaped (actually, an inverted tulip). In this design, the sides of the upper portion of the bolt (the "tulip") are slightly curved. The "late" 69 are very cone-shaped. The sides of the upper portion of the bolt (the cone) are straight and angle down at about a 45 degree angle from the vertical.