There were several reasons for the changes. The hood would get scratched when you filled up with gas. A manufacturer always wants some distinction between model years. The ridges in the hood were not needed for ridgity. Probably the single biggest reason though is "parts count". The Holy Grail in manufacturing is to reduce parts count. For every part you can remove from the car you save the price of the part, weight, inventory, less venders, labor to install, and warrenty issues. This is how people get promoted, by figuring out ways to make the car simpler or finding multiple uses for parts. Did you ever wonder why the plate under the "T" roof fits so weird and is taped down? Next time you look at it compare it to the plate by the lock for the engine cover. Another fertile area is left-right symmetry. Many of the parts can be reversed and used on both sides so you don't have special left-right parts. David Teitelbaum vin 10757 --- In dmcnews@xxxx, deloreanss@xxxx wrote: > Well, It has been said that the reason they discontinued the gas flap hood > was because of the degree of cracking from the cutting process. Many times > the hood would crack when the cuts were made, this made for many wasted > hoods, which is very expensive. Once again, I believe the lines were removed > also as a cost cutting measure due to defects. I am not quite as sure about > this second one, but I do know that less processes in production = less cost > of goods sold. So, one could draw that conclusion. > > John Weaver > ETDOC > RED DMC #10527