Stuck Hood Opening Latch? 1950s Studebaker (1952 Commander Land Cruiser)

So you’re driving on a scorching 95 degree day, and your previously adjusted idle is starting to choke on the road when you let the engine rest being off the throttle – not a great experience. You try to restart and it simply doesn’t want to budge being pre-choked. Very well, let’s just pop the hood and adjust the idle on the carb…..until your 70 some year old hood release cable, that’s quite shrouded and tucked away inside the engine bay has expanded so much thanks to all the external and internal heat that it no longer has enough pull to open the hood latch…

So now you’re stranded somewhere on the side of the road or hopefully in a slightly better spot and are cursing profusely at the giant hunk of steel you are unable to budge. Even if you happen to have a full shop manual handy, the best you’ll get out of that is what the latch assembly top looks like, which isn’t of any help here whatsoever. You go to the ever knowledgeable forums that always keep the best secrets vague or akin to “someone else did it for me,” so now you’re starting to feel completely SOL. Well, fear not for here is an absolutely sure-fire way to remedy this situation with as little as 13mm long socket/short extension, a ratchet, and a pair of scissors. That’s right, a normal pair of scissors! I fought with my Stude for hours while being massacred by mosquitos so you won’t have to be if you’re ever in this situation.

Step 1: Undo the 2 pairs of the grill pillar bolts on the passenger side, or all 3 pairs if you’ll have trouble moving the grill trim out of the way.

The 11mm row of bolts on the rear flair of the plate shouldn’t need touching, but can be an option if you’re having a hard time moving the pillars out of the way. Also, the center grill pillar 13mm bolts right in the middle towards the front could help as well.

Step 2: Wiggle and twist the front pillars to allow you to tilt the structural grill trim behind them, thus and hopefully allowing you to squeeze your hand through the newly created gap towards the middle of the grill.

Step 3: It’s time to finesse your hand through the trim gap up towards the very middle of the hood to where the latch assembly is.

You will want to try to clear the horns and when you’re probably elbow-deep, like you’re a prison intake guard, be able to touch the hood latch ball with your fingertips – if you manage to get that far in, your chances with our magical can-opener will likely succeed! Your battle map is roughly as follows:

If you can manage to finger the emergency release hole, heh, then you’ll definitely be able to get a pair of scissors in there without a problem to trip it open. If your forearms are real beef cakes, then I’d suggest finding something smaller to aid in your process, preferably intelligent and alive since a phone will be of little use here.

Step 4: Armed or handed with our golden weapon, you hit the tunnels doing your best to avoid the horns and their wiring to reach our Death Star vent tunnel and win this rebellious battle!

Once you feel the latch hole’s rim and the scissors are getting stuck right past it – you’re on the money! Turn your new hood opening key with the handle facing forward; squeeze past the latch arm on the passenger half of the hole;

twist the scissors back to make the triangle key that you want, and satisfyingly jam them up in that assembly to trip the release latch!

And this is how you release the hood in this state-of-the-art, anti-theft hood latch technology of the early 50s! It honestly is easy once you can see that assembly from the top and see your hands through the latch’s big hole to get the full idea of what you’re trying to do. I have tried this with thinner picks, thin and long screwdrivers, and none of those will give you enough leverage to trip the release lever with nothing to brace against nor having ANY wiggle torque room while you’re reaching the sweet spot.

Don’t forget to use a wire coat hanger or similar to engineer yourself an emergency release cable to avoid having to deal with this bulls**t in the future hotter days!