sure would be nice to see the rest of the hood
background needed? we can work with that!
...and yes, you did get the hood from me. shame i never got to use it, though. regardless, since you asked for the history of it...
the year was (roughly) 2000 and there was someone on this board who wanted a nice, OE-style carbon hood. the few hoods on the market at the time were RK's ss or the Wings West evo-style. he had been in contact with some company called Fiber Images who apparently made some really nice hoods for the Honda crowd. (if you've been around a while, you might also know them as the company that took a mold from the RK SS hood to make a carbon version for Matt Teske at one point. i don't believe more than the one was made of that version.)
FI told the board member (whose name I forgot long ago) that they would make these hoods if we could get 10 folks to pony up the cash for 'em. this process took roughly 11 months or so, because most folks don't want to fork over $500+ for a hood nobody has ever seen. there were very few options available to the group. you had the basic carbon-skinned hood, which came with a FRP frame and basic, marine-grade gel coat on the skin. eight of this style were made and sent to various places in the lower 48.
two nutty Texans, namely me and an H-town cat some of you might recall knowing as Redlion (Jorge), opted for a semi-spendy option: the full-carbon framing, which was an extra $100 (kinda cheap, considering). there was also the option of having automotive clearcoat put on the skin. i have no idea how many chose this option, but it was also an added $100. freight shipping was about $100 as well, with tracking and insurance.
after waiting almost a year to get the full number of hoods pre-ordered/pre-paid, we then got to wait for a quality, virgin hood to be delivered to FI to have the mould created. this took roughly 2-3 months, then hoods started to ship.
each buyer had the pleasure of calling FI to see when their hood would ship. the ones that Redlion and i ordered were the last two out of their facility, delivering well over a year after we had initially expressed interest in such a hood.
Redlion sold his hood to ESB, who later sold it to one of the north Texas crew. mine remained in the box, as my intended recipient car had ended up being a lemon, and i'd moved to a boosted 2nd gen. didn't even know that FI had put their logo in the gel coat until we put that puppy on your car!
that might be well more information than you'd wanted, but that's as much of the story as i recall.
you, good sir, have a very rare hood!!
i do note that your wiper arms are a little on the faded side, though. for a nice look, head to your local home depot and pick up a can of rustoleum bbq black. respray those wiper arms and be astounded at the fact that they look new. trust me! i just did it a couple of weeks ago on my Miata.
oops...looks like i got the year wrong. just ran through the archive threads and found the one showing original deliveries of the hoods
here. i guess the archive system doesn't go back much farther than that, since none of the threads about actually ordering those puppies comes up in an archive search.
also remembered a couple of other options that were available: carbon/kevlar blend (basically black n yellow) or coloured carbon weave. wanna guess how much those options were?
jux, thanks man! That's what I've really been wanting to find out
Do u know if the other hood is still in TX? Cuz I thought Wojo said he had the full carbon hood from FI as well.
And good idea on the wipers, I'll get to that probably this weekend
Last I heard it was still on JD's car out in burleson. that was a while ago though. I don't even have his phone number anymore. Maybe Ramon will know.
also, nice to hear from ya jux. I've been keeping up with the wagonstein and it's new owner over v6z24.com.
My Cardomain Page
WOW. better late then never. but i ALSO. have a Fiber Images CF hood that has the CF shell. i will take pictures later. it has the tag with i would assume a S/N Number on it. but yeah. i didn realize how rare this hood is.
Another with the carbon framing, eh? Well cool! Where'd ya' snag it?
I know that FI had the hood(s) listed on their site for a bit as well. Not sure if that's still the case, as I haven't checked on their site in a few years.
yes JD in bulerson has the said CF hood from ESB- eric. its still on his cavy. he doesnt have internet at this point to make any post.
