If you are talking about the large Horse shoe shaped bow above the engine lid.
That piece of wood is not easily removed(i can only speak from the expierience of an early car, mind you,1950).
On the early cars this bow is fastened by nails thru' the bodywork,the heads are then lead loaded.There are also steel tabs welded to the inner body work,which screws pass thru' and into the bow.
The bow in my car was bedded on a piece of seat material to asure it lay level.
If you are replacing the outer hood and padding,i'm sure the other bows can be removed without too much damage being done to the headcloth.
The most rust i found on my car was under the large horseshoe shaped bow,it would appear a prone area for trapping water.
I would certainly say this is an area that if you do not treat you will have big problems.
If the later cars are built in the same way, the photograph shows the sort of damage you will need to make to your car to remove the lower bow :cry: 14946.jpg You have insufficient rights to see the content.