Lock for Ford E series hoods?

[Mikerson]

Unfortunately, the design of the e-series leaves the hood release cable exposed in the grille (at least on mine). A thief can simply cut the cable and sheath through the front of the van then pull on the cable to pop the hood latch. I have been thinking about a hood lock too to help with this problem.

Rob, is your antenna mount in a location that prevents the “force” attack? What I’m thinking is that if your antenna mount is up by the hinge on one side or the other, that a thief will simply just trigger the latch one way or another then lift hard on the hood. It may bend or break, but with the leverage from the length of the hood, it could easily be opened far enough to gain enough access to disable an alarm or access the battery(ies). Pics of your setup would be great.

I was thinking about bolting in a gate latch or something similar that could be attached to the hood and radiator support to be padlocked. Ideally this could be placed sort of within the grille area and slightly out of the way from view and the elements. Though I may look into drilling the latch. If anybody has done this, pics would be awesome.