I was cleaning out the head light areas and noticed the front hood cable seems to be too short to fit properly to the mounting clip on the body.

Cable pops the hood open no problem, but looks like some one might have shortened it during it's 37 years being on this planet...

Or is this normal?

No. The stock plastic gets brittle and breaks and as far as i know, there's no stock replacement ...

I cut off the end of the cable sheath at the handle end a few inches after the slip fitting and attached it to 1/4" o.d./ .170" i. d. refridgerator ice maker hose that can be bought at Lowe's/Home Depot. Make it as long as you need with it.....