How do you open 1974 Corvette hood when release is broken?

Answer 1

if the cable is broken, go ahead & pull the cable housing out from inside the car. if the inside of the cable remains there (i.e. broke off the handle) then you can use a pair of pliers or vice-grips to pull the cable & pop the hood. if not, it becomes more difficult, but not impossible.

for this, you should really have someone familiar with working on cars doing this. you will need to jack the car up & either put it on stands or ramps (driving a corvette onto ramps --- well, let's just say you shouldn't attempt it unless you don't care about your car). with a very bright flashlight, climb underneath the car about 10 to 12 inches behind the drivers side front wheel. look up with the light near the hood on the drivers side, closest to the windshield. just below the hood, you will see where the hood meets the firewall. there is a round receptacle there with a cable that if you couldn't remove the housing like in the previous step, said housing loops up from the firewall, to near that receptacle. you can have someone very carefully from inside the car, pull on the cable housing so you can identify it. once you see the cable, upon careful inspection, you will notice it attaches to a lever. using a short broomstick or similar device (try to stay away from metal things for this, as you run the risk of shorting something if you just go touching it to everything), push the lever towards the front of the car until you hear it "pop". you will in all likelyhood, have to repeat this procedure on the passenger side, but it is located in the exact same spot on that side, so if you found the drivers one, the passenger side will be the same thing but on that side. once it's open, don't shut it until you replace the cable, or you'll have to jack the car up every time.