I'm looking at buying this car from a fellow member, howeever I would like some advice on the following picture.

the crease marks on the underside this bonnet towards the front suggest to me that the bonnet has been folded over in an accident of some kind?

Right or wrong?

looks like a straight on hit with bonnet bowing down also the rh lower front edge looks reworked a bit too. After seeing that, look forward of the headlight ears, below the headlight buckets. You should look low down just above the main rails you should be seeing wavey/ creased metal or even cracks if it happened with force. This is where the impact force would have finished up and is rarely repaired.

Cheers

Steve:classic:

Geez, why does the search for a straight bonnet always go wrong.

Im using the car for parts so its not a huge issue, but a straight bonnet would have sweetened the deal.

Thanks for confirming my thoughts.

It does appear to have some sort fo damage, but I don't think it from an impact. The "crease" only appears to be in the actual skin of the bonnet (hood, sorry I'm a Texan). The structural areas (around the perimeter) do not show signs of bending. Otherwise you see the crease all the way across.

It's hard to tell without seeing the damage close up and not being able to see the other side of the hood. Although one easy way to detect bondo is to scrape the paint. If you see metal, then you only have a scratch. If you see plastic, you have a lot more than a scratch.

I'm with Kmack on this one. From the picture, it looks to be straight. What it appears to be is from the upper radiator support rubbing, and rusting. Then the owner repaired the area, possibly using some filler to smooth the damage out. Over time the filler cracked and the paint peeled up showing what you see now. Just a guess from a 2D picture.

If you turn it the right way up and wash and polish it, the reflections you get will tell you if its bent or not.

more photos

top side

To my eyes, I don't think this is indication of sheet metal problems. I agree with Kmack on this one. Looks more like paint wear thru than metal bending.

Take a look at the reflection on the hood FROM THE SIDE! An irregular reflection will show up a wavy hood.

2¢

The 2nd photo gives a closer look.

The car is a full days drive away from me, this weekend is mothers day and my birthday, so I will be taking the drive the weekend after.

I'm going to take a real dive bomb on this one, but since I can't FEEL the metal, and I'm resorting to 2D images, as well as the different light intensities amongst monitors. I find that it fits an accident I saw on another car some years ago.

IF, the "crease" has a distinct RIDGE (i.e. edges similar to the Grand Canyon walls; sheer edges/corners), then I believe you may have Butt Hood Collision.

Now, don't laugh.......or at least not much.

A friend of mine took another car, (I don't recall the make / model for the life of me, only saw the car once) to a body shop to have the hood repaired. It seems that a girlfriend of his had SAT on the leading edge of the hood, right at the ridge, and since the car had been sitting in the sun for a while, the metal was HOT!.

The girl had "dropped" onto the hood, wearing only a bikini. Having relinquished her body to the mercy of gravity when she contacted the hood, she CONTACTED the hood. He swears he heard "meat sizzle". She IMMEDIATELY smacked down on the fenders and kicked down on the ground and literally JUMPED up and OFF the hood. Interestingly enough she didn't get burned.

Unfortunately the hood had gotten creased. The metal was at it's most expanded state from the heat of the sun. When she impacted on it, the whole hood was literally BULGING outwards from the supporting frame. When her weight hit the metal, it INVERTED the bulge of metal for just a short instant. Long enough to cause it to impact the radiator support seam and causing this ridge in the metal.

When she got off, the metal returned to the correct configuration with the hood metal creased but the supports not damaged.

For whatever that is worth.

The hood had this kind of damage.

Interesting