The 1935 Ford Grille Shell

Alright! Let's talk about 'em! Nobody ever seems to want to talk about 1935 Fords, being an oddball transition year and all. The design change is obvious, but it has a nice hot roddy flair to it in my opinion... but maybe I'm just partial. Let's talk about 'em anyway.

Oh! I noticed there was no "social group" for 1935 owners, so.... there is now!
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/group.php?groupid=338

Those of you that have '35 Fords, if your car is low, what did you do to the bottom to keep it from hitting everything and still have it look good? Were these stainless or were they some level of chrome over steel?

Does anyone know what happened to the original dies for these grilles? You see 33's, 34's, and 36's out the wazoo but nobody seems to be producing 1935 grille shells. I remember some years back there was an Australian company making them, but haven't seen much from them lately and I'm not sure how accurate they were. Also someone came out with a terrible fi*e*g*a$$ shell once that looked like ***. Noticed when I was at LA Roadster Show last year that someone was actually making some machined, billety looking **** as well. Weird.

So what's the scoop? This might be a good place to just throw down any history stuff anyone would want to share about the design, if anything knows anything.

Have some fixing to do on mine. Has been severely abused!



OUCH!! Can't wait to put the bumpers back on this thing!!



Here's a good example of how nice they can look!

 

I believe they are being reproduced, or in the process of it now. I contacted a company who was doing them in chrome.I forget who now though.... I believe they were about $2500. Comparable to the new 34's.
I love '35 Fords, I figure the '36 as the transition year. A retrofit on the '35 which if you really look at them, the 36 just doesn't have the same "flow" that a 35 has. Now as for them being "hot roddy", I'm not so sure... I see it as a cl***y custom 100%...

Mine will not be very low in the front, so I'm not too concerned with damaging the bars like yours. But I do have to repair the grill I have now...

Nice to see ateast someone else out there appreciates them, aside from those selling the grills. They REALLY seem to appreciate them $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

plans for mine (photoshop drawing)

 

There was a guy up here who made up '35 grilles. Very nice next to original pieces too. I'll try to find out if he's still doing them.
Looking at yours it seems it does'nt need alot of fixin'. Looks like a basic "restore to original" fix.
Maybe some fellow Aussies might spot this and help you out.

Cheers

 

I don' currently own a 35 , but really love that year model. Glad to see more 35 Ford lovers on here. Josh Mill's is currently building a nice 3 window. millscustoms.com

 

WOW!!! That is going to be siiiiick!! Beautiful!

 

Yes! I agree! It's not too bad. Just some straightening and some welding. Not too bad. I need to repair the rot in the splash panel as well. The splash panel seems to offer quite a bit of strength to the bottom of the shell. I really should put it back in.

 

Scooter,

The '35 grille is one of my favorites- would love to have seen it on Edsel's Model 40 special that Bob Gregorie built:

 

That inner panel does add alot of strength, plus helps direct more air through the radiator, I am hoping to make a new one that will really scoop some air up there as I head that '35's run a little hot?

My grill has those lower bars bent slightly but its rusted along the very bottom, I was considering making them out of something a little heavier just incase it bumped something? Replacing all the bars from the bottom horizontal support, down.....

I havent really started working on mine yet, just collecting parts. Hopefully it will be a 99.9% period perfect 1945 custom.
(i know the hood is running down hill, the whole frontend is just sitting in place)

 

Good plans, all of that! Can't wait to see what you come up with! Please keep me posted on the splash panel and lower bars, also. Curious to see what you come up with.

Looks like a good start for sure!

 

I don't have one, but I have come close to purchasing a '35 a couple of times over the years. By far and away a much better looking car than the '36 Fords, with the grill being the big difference.

EDIT: and the best looking Indy cars are those that used the '35 style grill and one of the best looking aircrafts ever made were those that used the '35 style grills.

 

Agreed! those '35 Miller "indy" cars are the top of the crop. On the street cars the fenders really strike me, the concave shape blends into the running boards so much nicer then the 36's which have the abrupt change of pace when they hit the board. The '36 grill/hood seems much more suited for a split V'd windshield like a 37....


Maybe I stare at pictures too much

 

Yep! Pretty awesome for sure!

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SUHR... your grille is just steel, right?

 

Quote : " Those of you that have '35 Fords, if your car is low, what did you do to the bottom to keep it from hitting everything and still have it look good? Were these stainless or were they some level of chrome over steel? "

My 35 is about as low as a guy would want, too low for some because of the ride with an axel up front. And if you want to bomb around like your in an SUV, forget it, you have to cruise and pay attention when their this low.


I've put about 8K miles on it since I lowered it and haven't hit the lower grill on anything, and that's going everywhere, with up to 3 p***engers.
One of the main obsticles is pulling up to parking lot concrete stops, and stop sooner than later. I have to watch my bumper guards on those, ( not on in this pic )

My lower grill is 3.5 inches off the ground, all the time ( no bags )

It has a 32 front axle with a mono leaf and 14" torque thrusts by 165 up front.

 

Scooter are you starting to whip your '35 into shape soon? You got my attention man!

 

Yes, they were all steel, just chrome plated on the Deluxe...

 

Yep, their steel...either painted on the standard cars or chrome on the delux....I like the painted myself. The trim on them is stainless...horizontal bars.

I've had success straightening the grill bars if the just bent a bit by looping a leather belt around them and pulling them straight.

 

Okay, that's what I though. Thanks!

 

I have to get my Model A on the road first, but the coupe will be coming down in a couple months to start doing some "revamp" work. Fix the grille, straighten the fenders, swap the dash, fix this and that, put the bumpers and hood back on, etc. It really needs a lot more, but the funds won't be there for awhile. Plans also include getting rid of the gay bucket seats for a bench, different steering wheel, wheel and tire swap, valve covers, and other dress up garbage. All that is going to be very long term though. Just want to get it cleaned up for the time being so it looks a little better.

 

hey scooter, count me in - i love my '35s. luckily for me I found an excellent grille about 8 years ago at GMT in LA - someone had a '35 3w in there getting some serious work done, the car was chopped and the grille was going to be sectioned so geoff said to the owner of the car it would be better to sell the original grille and section one which was needing work. When it arrived it was one of the nicest grilles id ever seen, there was no rot at all.

when I got the coupe it had a grille on it, I believe it may have been an argentinian repro grille but it was a very good copy and fitted really well but it needed rechromed and the cost for that was going to be silly so for me it was better to pay for a good original rather than the argentinian repro.

I believe C W Moss are reproducing the grille now and they normally want $2500 - I have seen them on ebay for that price including shipping.

my car sits pretty low, its on a mustang front end, ive never hit the bottom of the grille when ive been out and about and ive got about 35000 miles on it now.

heres a little pic well it would be rude not to put one up lol...

 

Dad's first new car was a '35 slant back 4Door, I like the '35's more than '36's. How many 19 years old can buy a new Ford today? Some day hope to have a 3Window.

 

Sounds good. How ever long it takes right? It's just nice to know that you have the car to begin with and it's in great shape. '35-'36 Ford Coupe's are the one car that I would trade my roadster with no questions asked. I love them!

 

I agree with this statement... 35 was the new styled body, in 36 they started tweeking it. I love both years, but I too think the fenders flow better on a 35.

The 35 has more of the body style of the earlier years( 33 34 ) and probably ? the last concave fender. The 36 is looking forward... convex fenders... the hoods starting to change, etc.

 

zach I had a look at your web site and from the pics of the photoshop looks like you got the look, I really like them the colour you have picked - suits them very well..

 

Thanks, for posting the picture, I love the car.

 

Holy **** this one's awesome!!! &#710;&#710;&#710;&#710;&#710;&#710;&#710;&#710;&#710;&#710;&#710;&#710;&#710;&#710;

Oh and for the record, I would trade for your '39 Taylor. That this is pretty awesome too!

 

Thank you very much, now if I could just find time to get started on it!
I've never tried chopping a car with shapes like this and my thoughts on how to do it may be a little extreme even though I'm only planning to go about 2-2.5". But I am more excited about this car then any I have worked on in the past.... I've tried to collect the best parts I could possibly afford for it too, so it should have alot of neat period accessories and really stand out from the crowd, atleast in my mind!

*** not to hijack, but does anyone have any extra short type '35 front fender braces? I have long early ones to trade or buy outright****

 

zach there is a couple of good articles already written about chopping a 35/36 coupe I think the articles may be for a 3w but i wouldnt have thought chopping a 5w would have been too different.

 

Thanks, I've read quite a few actually. I've got my own idea though without cutting the center of the roof like alot of them say....I figured it out in photoshop and it seems to work, but that doesn't always relay too well to real life. We'll see if it works. If not, I'll make it a carson topped roadster

 

ok ok here are some more pics, you twisted my arm LOL.. sorry theyre a little big. after having the coop for 6 years or so the roadster came up and it was just too nice to p*** over and it was priced right as well. needless to say they keep each other company very well - both completely different cars though in their build and the reasons behind them.








the roadster was a little rough underneath because of the weather over here cars have a hard time of it so i pulled it apart and redid the whole ch***is, rebuilt rear axle, rebuilt '39 box and a new flathead was put together - the body was very good so its staying as is with nothing at all done to it. here is a pic of the ch***is with the rebuilt engine/box etc. sat in it, cant wait to get it driving again