If you are looking for a Shaker Hood you have some choices to make. The first decision is weather you want Fiberglass or Steel.
If you decide on Fiberglass AAR Fiberglass makes the best one, hands down. They make 2 styles, one is a single piece with a convincing (but imobile) bubble molded in, and another that has the hole through it like a steel hood. These are nice hoods, but you'll always have to deal with the headaches fiberglass offers in the area of fit and finish. AAR's glass hoods are usually priced at around $600.00 or so (don't quote me, that's a ball park).
Now, when it comes to Steel Shaker hoods here's the lay of the land;
There is only one manufacturer who actually has the Under Hood Braces & Trim Ring componants made and converts original flat hoods into Shakers himself (and that's the only way he sells them) that person is Gene Gregory, Alhambra Productions in Illinois. Gene makes a quality product and has been at it the longest of anyone. He also sells through Art Pachecho of Six Pack Performance in Albuquerque NM.
Genes hoods are typically around $1,500.00 plus a core charge or a good core exchange hood. It was more than likely Art or Gene you met at Carlisle, he hits most major shows around the east.
Then there is Ben Snobar, Northwest Performance in Olympia Washington. Ben also has his own Under Hood Braces, Trim Rings, and other Shaker componants made. Ben ONLY sells kits, he does not sell converted hoods. His conversion kist are priced similar to our own. However, quite a number of people (Body men, etc.) have been buying and selling Bens kits after converting hoods (with variable results concerning the quality of the conversion) and taking them to shows for sale so you may have met one of them at Carlisle as well. Thier prices are all over the map but generally go for around $1,500-$1,800.00. Bens are the ones you see on
www.shakerhood.com.
Then there is Harms inc. (My company). We make our own conversion parts for the flat hoods. Our goal was not to copy those already on the market but rather to improve on the OEM details and offer a unique way to install the kit (as opposed to a crimped flange, we offer a sepperate flange that can be bonded or welded in). Our kits offer Under Hood Braces that are unique for Cuda and Challenger, all other manufacturers on the market sell a single style, and it's for a Cuda, you have to modify it to work for a Challenger hood, and it will work, but it will never appear correct. You will find no other kit on the market that is as accurate to original it as ours, we gaurantee it! All the factory details are there including drain holes, fixturing holes, crsh wrinkles, out side die cut and part curvature, etc. We chose not to make the other Shaker componants simply because what's currently out there is pretty decent stuff, not enough room for improvement to go into all new tooling and do our own versions. We will probably carry some of the better individual Shaker under hood componants on the market as a conveinience to our customers, but that is coming slowly. If you have the time visit our web site for details about the kits and pricing, we are very competitively priced.
www.harmsauto.com or just give me a call at 801-940-2689 to discuss.
*I should also mention Jeff Bobst , he makes one Shaker componant, a very nice Cuda trim ring (it's expensive, around $600.00 last I checked) and is in the business of buying conversion kits and selling completed converted hoods at some eastern shows, while he attends shows, I have not seen him advertise as a business . He does nice work. Other than Jeffs, ours is the only reproduction trim ring on the market accurate enough to original to fit an original Shaker hood.
In my opinion there is no single source for "the best" of all the needed parts to complete a Shaker Hood, there are some "one stop shops" amoung those listed above, but no single vendor offers the best quality or price for each individual componant, for that you'll need to do some shopping around.
