I actually put the new grille in my Chevy last year and got had a handful of HAMBers asking about it. At the time, I wasn't completely happy with it, so I held off on posting. After taking care of some other projects, I finally found time to get back to work on this one. Here's how it used to look....'52 Chevy grille... Then no grille... Started off with a new top bar, '54 Chevy cut down... Used the extra pieces cut from the top bar to make the sides... To remove the raised area for the stock grille (with the fenders off the car), I cut around the edge, hammered it flat, removed the excess, and rewelded it. At this point, I had the top bar fit and tacked to the hood and fenders (sorry, some of these pics ****)... Then I moved on to the center bar. Here are the parts I started with....2 complete '51 Ford grilles (the nicer one came from Tuck's Vicky) and an extra ribbed panel... I started with the grille ends. The tabs where they mounted to the small pieces had to be cut off and quite a bit of material had to be removed to get 'em to contour to the Chevy fenders. Here they are, mounted... Since I was eliminating the bullets, and because the Chevy front-end is wider than the Ford, I used two center sections to make the new one. Also, because my top bar is flatter than the stock '51 Ford top bar, I removed some of the V shape. To make the rear panel fit the new center bar shape, I removed the center rib and bolted it up... I used the center rib from another panel to fill the gap... And welded... Here you can see the difference in the V of the stock ribbed panel and the one I made... Here you can see the mockup of the new center bar... From there, I cut it to fit and rewelded the stock mounting tabs to each piece (they line-up and connect with screws and speed nuts)... Connected...
I used the extra pieces from the ribbed panel I cut for the center and welded 'em to the ends of my new rear section. My buddy gave me an extra set of '54 Merc bullets he had laying around, so I cut and ground 'em to fit on the center bar. Here you can see it all bolted together... Since the hood latch originally mounted to the grille on these Chevies, I had to make a new mount. This may later get covered with a sheetmetal cover to clean it up. Also, if you look closely, you can see I made some brackets to tie the grille into the core support... I made a bracket to tie in the stock mounting point on the rear panel to my slash pan. The bracket isn't all that special, but I thought this pic was kinda cool... Finally, I welded the surround and bolted it all together... The ends aren't exactly lined up the way I want 'em in this pic, but it's adjustable and it'll all have to come apart when I respray it... The surround and the ribbed panel will be body color, the center bar, ends, and bullets will all be chromed. And just for ****s, here's the '49 Olds wheel my buddy Adam restored for me... I have a few other things to work on, then I'll start the bodywork and hopefully get this thing looking decent for Santa Maria. Later, Bryan
love what you did with this Bryan. This makes me want to do something different with mine. Really gives it that "custom" look. Great work buddy.
That grille is looking great Bryan. It fits right into the rest of the car. It's difficult to appreciate just how much work and how many pieces went into making that thing happen if it weren't for your play by play. Just curious, how did you tie in the ends of the bracket you made for the hood latch? Did you weld it to the body or make some plates so you could bolt it on? Thanks, Jason
It's great to see people trying different things with the grilles for these cars. It seems that there about 4-5 standard grille treatments for 51-52 Chevies that you see so often, they almost don't seem custom any more. Now, I'd better come up with something special for mine, huh?
Thanks guys. Jason...I just welded some 1" strap to the ends of that tubing and tied it into the existing fender bolts... It's strong as hell....drove it all over last year and the hood stayed latched. I still run a rubber bungee through the hood and around the crossbar.. I've seen the damage on a '54 from the hood flying up....no bueno!
Looks amazing Bryan. The whole car is looking really great and the new grille with the new opening works really well with the rest.
look good man, car is coming along well. curious, have you thought about welding the joint of grill pieces where you have the speednuts, and having the seperation covered by the bullet?
Thanks Bryan, That thing looks solid. I've got to start working on my grille one of these days too and have been trying to think of the best way to attach that hood latch. Mahalo!
Great work, and it really looks perfect w/ the rest of the car. Then just out of curiosity, what kinda suspension youre runnin with?
wicket cool! Thanks for posting some great shots! gives hope to guys with cars with less than good looking grills.
Really nice work Bryan. The grill looks great! I can't wait to see the front with paint on on it for the full effect.
That looks great ! As others have said lots of thought went into this grille and it shows...great addition to a cl***y custom!
A lot of good thinking went into that... and it looks sweet too. share with the cl*** please, when you get it pretty again. -W
Looks Great thats the way Guys used to do it back in the day when Building Kustoms! just my 3.5 cents
Great job! It certainly looks well thought out and executed. It looks like it belongs there and that is generally the hardest part.
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