I'm dropping this here for those who have a problem with a stuck hood latch on a '59 or similar. My truck came back from getting a new engine with a hood that would sometimes not release without some cursing and jiggling it etc. It finally wouldn't open at all. Some cursing, throwing stuff and bruised hands from shoving them between the hood and cowl and finally I figured it out. The problem was a bent release pull, the tab you pull on in the grill had been pulled too far forward bending it. The answer was counter intuitive, Pushing it back toward the radiator a bit to bend it the other way solved the problem.
