no kool kustom is complete without a custom grille insert (except 55' fords, those things look great with stock grilles) but who in the hell wants to drop the $5,000,000,000 it takes to get a repop or rummage through a wrecking yard for three decades until you find a 54 Desoto? that's right, no one. especially not a poor as dirt teenager like me. but lately ive been hearing a lot of cool stuff from fellow hambers about creating a custom grille out of stuff you can get at home depot or even walmart. its a good method if you have zero moneys or you have a car that doesn't have any really good popular grille customizations. for instance: instead of paying or searching for a stock 49-51 merc grille, just get a shitload of cabinet handles and mount them to a custom bracket. this way you can decide the style and even finish of the teeth. make a run to walmart and pick up some chrome towel holders, cut em' to size and flatten out the ends for a budget tube grille, you could probably grab something longer at home depot for any post 58' cars everybody knows about the drawer pull grille so I figure that doesn't need explination. so if any of you guys have more budget grille options or really any cheap buildable kustom hacks we want to hear em!
Sometimes you can pull it off, sometimes you can't. Like the guy who used chrome drain traps to "look like" DeSoto grill teeth. It DIDN'T!
I found a desoto in the woods a couple years back and cut the front pan /grill off to put in my 52 chevy never got to finish it my first born forced the sale of it. Now I got a 49 hudson 4 door and I wish I still had the grill. It was a little ruff tho. I tried to source some oval stainless tubing to build a floating grill but couldent find anyone that sold it except online in like 150 plus ft length minimums. I wanted to get it in like 3 or 4 inch and cut it in half v it in the middle and tig weld these two little stainless fog light housings to it backwards for the ends. Then polish it all up since my broke ass can't afford chrome. I've seen someone use chrome handles shaped like ) with an custom opening I though it was a corvette grill at first it looked good imo
Desoto's a little more common around my area then I once though although most are running and driving only in need of some light metal work and paint. I almost bought a edsel(4 door ranger) early this year that had not grill(it was $400 and needed very little body work) I was thinking of ways of making a neat looking grill I though about some 1/4 inch square rod twisted(like Indian Larry used to twist his down "tubes") would look nice when chromed
sorry fellas, i guess 'homemade' woulda been better than 'honkey' most of this stuff sounds bad but if you do it right it looks great. you just gotta take your time doing it cause all it is is scratchbuilding stuff. and as i said before, with a slim paycheck and a monsterous insurance payment, sometimes its the only way for me plus literally nothing fits into my truck without a ton of facelifting.
Hey Honkey. This was two bumper guards some 14ga and a trip to the chrome shop. I think I had under 200 in the whole thing. Here is a little bit better shot. See ya, -Abone.
Did you, by chance, mean "Hokey"? Like, Hokey Ass Message Board"? Somehow sneaked an "n" in there? Either way, good luck with it.
67-70 Mercury Cougar tailight bezels welded together would look similar to the grill above if your needing ideas.
Find a "Pick-and-Pull" junkyard in your area and just walk through it. Keep your eyes (and mind) open and see what appears. Don't worry about finding a grille that's been used hundreds of times. Just look for shiny and shape and use your imagination. Look at truck grilles as they are larger than those on most newer cars. Check out the big Buicks and Caddies. If you find a grille you like that's too small, can you buy two or three and piece them together? Or cut one in half and make a split grille? Remember, this doesn't have to be a forever thing. You can always change it later.
That's IT!! Use your imagination and do it DIFFERENT! I am so tires of rich boys going out and buying everything new and hiring some one else to build it! Make it different, be unique!!
Photo in the upper left shows my old 51 Merc with a cut down 65 Caddy grill I ran in it for a few years. That was before 65 Cads were collectable and the one it cam out of was a 50.00 parts car with a rod out though the side of the block.
at lowes you can get 8 ft sections of flat aluminum bar stock, works great. can be bent and what ever and the price is pretty cheap, how you want to afiix it to the car would be up to you.
http://www.kitcarmag.com/techarticles/0801kc_hot_to_make_an_egg_crate_grille/ This may not be exactly what you're looking for but it may be a technique you have a use for regardless.
I've used a bumper and over riders for mine (my avatar) from a 1960's Morris 1000, I'll see if I can find clearer picture
The Jalopy Journal
