Why is it sometimes we love a car just because of the hood? Is it the manly power bulge? An air-sucking scoop? The seamless skin? All the above. Hell, sometimes it's just for the curves. Here's your ten sexiest hoods.
This is "Answers of the Day" - a feature where we take the best ten responses from the previous day's "Question of the Day" and shine it up to show off. It's by you and for you, the Jalopnik readers. Enjoy!
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10.) Shaker Hood
Suggested By: OA 5599
Why It's So Cool: What's cooler than cutting a hole in the hood of a muscle car and sticking the engine's air intake right up through it? Watching it move when you blip the throttle, that's what. In fact, it was so cool that variations on the shaker theme showed up on muscle cars from each of the Big Three at one point or another. The shaker may not be directly attached to the hood, but it does make up an integral design element, and looks awesome doing it.
9.) De Tomaso Mangusta
Suggested By: Kerc 2.0 Beta
Why It's So Cool: The Mangusta's butterfly engine cover isn't in the front, but that's ok. It's too good not to include here. Covering a Ford 302 here in the US of A, the dual-hinged Guigiaro doors allow for access to the spare tire and a small amount of storage space, but not much else.
Photo credit: PI Motorsports
8.) 1968 Pontiac GTO
Suggested By: wojo is an expert...
Why It's So Cool: Stylish and useful, the second-generation GTO hood incorporated a tachometer for reading engine RPMs. Supposedly more in line with the driver's field of view, the actual benefit of having a hood-mounted tach is mostly just added awesomeness.
Photo credit: Mike Mertz, flckr
7.) Jaguar E-Type
Suggested By: brnout
Why It's So Cool: One of the longest and sexiest hoods ever made graces the nose of the E-Type. It's legendary at this point, having inspired and been copied by many cars since its introduction in 1961. Long, low, wide and curvy, it bulges in all the right places and is everything we want to see on a vintage sports car.
Photo credit: Museo di arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto
6.) 1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am
Suggested By: gkennedy
Why It's So Cool: Made famous in the movie Smokey & The Bandit, the Screaming Chicken hood is one of the best ever. Normally just your basic Firebird hood, sometimes offered with a shaker, the addition of avian-inspired art is what pushes this piece of sheetmetal into today's Top Ten.
5.) 1996 Dodge Viper
Suggested By: GasGuzzler
Why It's So Cool: I'll just step aside and let GasGuzzler take it from here: "The one piece molded design from the top of the fascia to cowl and spilling down to the rockers is just gorgeous. One black, functional vent for the climate control blower, another added for symmetry. Hinged from the front, raising this rare, one-piece engine cover/fender apparatus reveals the power of god beneath a red manifold a a pair of red valve covers with 'Viper' proudly emblazoned."
4.) AMC Hurst SC/Rambler
Suggested By: HycoSpeed
Why It's So Cool: Just in case there was any confusion, the SC/Rambler makes it nice and easy for the air to figure out where to go. This hood showcases a great example of late 1960's pop art, while still beating a number of contemporary muscle cars down the quarter mile.
Photo credit: Cartype.com
3.) TVR Sagaris
Suggested By: mcfarlane4368635
Why It's So Cool: I can hear the design team now, "Let's make it look like a cheese grater! Great idea, chaps!" The Sagaris' hood (actually, more like a small service entrance) looks like it could take off your whole hand if you run it the wrong way over a fender. During the transition from prototype to production trim however, the scoops cut into the front fenders were sealed off to prevent rocks from getting thrown up at the windshield. The cutouts remain because, as commenter pinkshinyalan adds, "TVR is insane."
2.) 1970 Plymouth Road Runner
Suggested By: dmoon
Why It's So Cool: Activated by a switch hidden under the dashboard, the vacuum-operated Air Grabber snags a spot on the Top Ten today for the Road Runner. Combining increased air intake size with a truly frightening cartoon deployable at stoplight drag races, the Road Runner was an intimidating car with a killer hood.
Photo credit: mybulldog, flickr
1.) 1960 Ferrari 250 TR60
Suggested By: Mr. Scroggs
Why It's So Cool: What better way to show off your pride and joy of an engine? Cover it in persplex and run it around France for 24 hours. The six two-barrel Weber carburetors that sit atop Ferrari's 250 engine were on prominent display under their viewing window on several models around this time, including the 256 Formula 1 car of 1958, Phil Hill's Formula 1 World Championship winning 156 Sharknose in 1961, the 1962 330 sports car, and of course the 1962 250 GT Drogo, or as it's more commonly known, the Breadvan.
Photo credit: Homeracingworld.com