Nick,
I bought VIN 559 about a year and a half ago, and there's one thing that is still a mystery to the car. I talked to Tony Swann about this, and he didn't have the answer. DMCH's museum department never got back to me (either time I asked), and
the thread I made on the subject was a bust too. There are four 3" plugs (the same as used next to the gas cap) on the "X" brace of the hood, in addition to four 1" plugs on the outer edges of the hood, all on the underside. I took a picture of the plugs in question and circled them here:
Hood_Plugs_Circled.jpg
(Non-circled version attached)
Tony Swann said he had only seen these on a handful of 500 series VIN's, and that they were mostly on 600 series and 700 series VIN's, but did not know what their purpose was. From your time at DMC, do you remember why this was done to these hoods? The leading theory seems to be to test hood light wiring, but there's no corresponding hole at the base of the trunk for the wiring to go through on the passenger side, and it also doesn't explain the four outer 1" holes, nor why it was done to more than just one hood. Could it have been a production error of some kind, or did it serve an actual purpose? Any insight you could provide would be very, very helpful.
Thanks in advance!
- Shep