Took my 56 in for an Alignment yesterday. Now the Hood Latch won't release. Never had a Problem in the 7 Years I owned this Car. Looks like He must have closed the Hood hard as the Pin is right through the Latch. Any suggestions on getting it to release? Thanks

  

There is a vertical hood latch panel brace that is anchored to the front crossmember. I think you can loosen the nuts fastening it to the crossmember and maybe that will relax what is in a bind. If you remove a parklamp housing assembly. You might remove a grill half. The challenge will be to keep the carriage bolts on the upper grill half from turning when you loosen the nuts. There might be enough gap between the closed hood and the grill to insert a plastic bondo spreader to push down on top of the carriage bolts. Good luck.

GOOD INFO!

Sometimes, you can push down on the hood (gingerly) while pulling the release. Try and spray the latch liberally with WD-40.

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Its been lubed . I can see the tapered Pin is right through the Latch Mechanism. Shouldn't be all the way through. Latch won't open far enough to let Wide part of pin go back between the open part even with latch retracted. Mechanic must have slammed Hood hard to do that. Normally I just push gently on Hood to close it.

  

I once had a 56 ford hood stuck . Lucky for me, mine was in primer. I ended up placing a piece of sheet metal against the grill and used a pry bar to pry upward on the hood. It popped open and I saw where the under sheetmetal lip of the hood leading edge had been patched and the edge of the patch had wedged under the top 1/2 inch bolt head of the vertical hood support. I can see you have a restored car and prying is not an option. I just went outside and looked at my 56 Victoria and imagined hooking some sort of strap or rope to the part of the chrome hood mascot that protrudes forward and finding a way to create constant upward pressure, not enough to damage the hood, while you at the same time tap on the dowel pin or the vertical brace. Just an idea.  George

Got it open. Long Screw Driver and Rubber Mallett. Screw Driver on end of Pin and good whack with Mallett and it popped open. Mechanic must have really slammed the Hood to get the Pin far enough in to latch to jam it. I hate taking Car to Shop. I had the alignment tweeked to take in consideration of Radial Tires. Changed Camber and Castor a little as suggested by a retired Mechanic Friend. Noticeable difference in the way it drives straight ahead. Doesn't tend to wander requiring constant correction with steering Wheel. Take hands off the Wheel and it stays straight by itself. Nothing else requiring a Trip to a Shop anytime soon thank goodness.

  

Happens on 55-57 Tbirds, too.