I have one of Albert's carbon shaker / Trans Am hoods sitting here at my house at the moment. It was an early one that Albert built and had on his own car. He had installed the Aerocatch hood latches in the hood.
I bought the hood knowing that the weave pattern wasn't perfect on this one, but it still looks very good. He did a great job of mimicking the original underside structure of the hood. If you cleaned it up and painted it, one would have to take a second look to realize it's not the original metal structure.
And the hood is amazingly light! I have a VFN fiberglass hood on TOW, and I've moved both hoods around a lot. I thought the VFN was light, but it's almost heavy compared to the carbon hood. Truly a surprising difference.
I was all set to use the carbon hood on TOW, but unfortunately it will not fit due to my oil tank location. I made that based on the VFN hood which is different in that area and has more clearance. It was an expensive lesson for me unfortunately.
I run the Aerocatch latches on my VFN hood also and really like them. I originally had the Ring Brother's hood pins. They are high quality, but I really didn't like having pins in the hood and much prefer the latches. They are not very expensive, cheaper even than the pins if I remember correctly. Either will take some cutting and effort to install, but isn't hard. I have mine mounted in a side to side orientation to fit into a channel of the VFN hood. Albert had his mounted front to back. Either will work.
I can't comment on the long-term quality of the hood other than to say it's in good shape as received from Albert, and it's been on a car which was driven. My intention was to paint it, so I didn't care about any imperfections in the weave. I expect newer units are very good.
And you are correct about getting it across the border. One thing with Albert is he will work with you as best he can to help with that. He travels to and from the states often it seems, so he might be able to get a hood across the border and then ship it to save some on costs. Just chat with him and see what he might be able to do.
Good luck!
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