fiberglass hood.

allright then.  Thanks guys for shedding some knowledge on the situation.  It would be a really awesome thing to have a lighter car as mine weighs over 3500 lbs.  Its a mercury monarch which is why i cant buy any aftermarket body parts for it. the hood i have is pretty wavy because i didnt take the time to bondo it...the only parts of the car that are perfect are the front fenders, but thats cause i spent many hours on them by hand...rest was done with power sanders and little body work...heck, its not a show car. and the edge of the hood thats not flush is due to a bad hood alignment...that will get fixed soon.

Are you people kidding me?  I mean come on.  Do you really think that all of these clowns out there making fiberglass and carbon fiber hoods are doing all of these "calculations" to figure out crumple zones and such?  Hell no!  Besides, does that car even have crumple zones?   Looks like a full frame car to me.  Build the hood.  As long as the rear mounts are strong enough, they will hold while the hood folds in half during an accident.  And as loong as the hood is strong enough, it won't rip through the hood pins and fly up at 80mph.  Then again, what do I know. ;)

Uh yeah actually 7zark7 these guys that build hoods (if it's a mass production hood) actually have to build them with some safety in mind (dot will be on their @$$ otherwise).  And that means crumple zones and lots of calculations.  And also that car probably does have crumple zones.  Might not be very big (or very effective) but there are "soft" areas in that frame that will give in a wreck.  But as far as what to do w/ this car.... have to say it, Get a new car.  You're not going to be able to make this one much lighter.  But if you're happy w/ it enough to keep it then don't expect to get too much lighter.  Also look into maybe doing a fg trunk lid.  That's very possible and probably not too hard to do.  Just my $.02