Hot Rods The Great Mystery: Where do the bottoms of bobbed 32 grille shells go?

Like lost socks in the dryer and the supernatural mysticism of the Bermuda triangle, does anyone really know what happens to the bottoms of 32 Ford grille shells after they are mercilessly hacked off to fit various hot rod projects?

I've seen so many cars with chopped off shells - heck, my car came with a chopped off shell. But where are all the bottoms? Do they end up on the scrap pile? All of them? I'd love to find one to reunite to my own grille shell. Is this a lost cause?

We now return you to your regularly scheduled program.

 

That's like looking for the elephant grave yard isn't it?

 

I think most of the ones that were cut off were done in a time when the 32 shell wasn't uncommon or held in the high regard it is today. Probably the excess metal was just that and went to the scrapyard.

That toaster you used this morning may have been one at one time !

Don

I just want to know what happens to gloves in the garage or shop. I buy them 10 pr at a time and can never find one pair when I need them. Or, I find two lefts or two rights ! Same with safety googles. Where do they go ??????????

 

people put them in the same pile as the fenders, running boards and hoods, then they went to the dump.

 

What happens to all the rubber from tires as they wear out?

 

I bet George Carlin wondered about that, too. He told a joke about sitting in a French restaurant having frog legs and wondering about where all the frog boddies went! Gary

 

What happens to the time i spend on here lookin at post of questions that seem to intrigue but will never be answered ... I am headed to the scrap pile to look for yer grill botoms right now..

 

Don

I just want to know what happens to gloves in the garage or shop. I buy them 10 pr at a time and can never find one pair when I need them. Or, I find two lefts or two rights ! Same with safety googles. Where do they go ??????????[/QUOTE]


x2!!

Lars

 

They're in front of 1940's and 50's speed bumps

 

Yeh...only the real carftsmen got out the hacksaw when they went onto pre-1930 Fords or channeled cars on the east coast; they just got moved forward of the spring and shoved down 6 inches. I would assume that after the first 50 miles, the lower six were just a 50 mile streak of iron filings...mixed with a bit of aluminum from the chain-dragger club plaque. If I were a gambler...we'd flip a coin. Winner would get my shell with rusted out top and your cutoff...

 

I think you're onto something Mr. Lancaster - I can imagine it all too well.

 

i think the bottom of the grilles have been set in the same place with the 33-34 truck doors,??????

 

Hmmm...all the east coast '32-4 pickups were channeled about a foot...OK, so that's THREE 50 mile streaks of iron filings as the just-completed hot rod truck went out into the world! Then--a big grease spot where the owner crashed through the channel job floor that he and his several 16 year-old friends made in an afternoon with only a hammer and whatever was in the back of the garage...

 

I live down wind from the intersection of two highways.
I know where all that tire rubber goes.
As for the bottoms of all those grills, When my older brother bought a 9 year old '53 Chevy the first thing he did was take the skirts off and toss them in the trash can.

 

Here's one answer to that question: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2661/when-the-rubber-meets-the-road-where-does-it-go/

As for the bottoms of the grill shells, my guess is to the scrap yard. Sad, but probably true. Or perhaps some people have them hanging on their walls in their garage or shop.

 

I would think the cherryest grilles stayed in one piece and the ones that were rotted off at the bottom were the ones that got cut. Even in the heyday, those grilles were 20-30 years old and especially around here, they were most likely already pretty rusty at the bottom.

 

I bought the bottom of a 32 shell at iola couple year ago, so thats what heppned to one of them!

 

Seems to me there would be a market for replacement 32 shell bottoms.

 

I think they go to the same place all of the lost socks go???

I dont understand....you put 2 socks in the wash and by the time they comer out of the dryer there's always one missing????

 

Simple explanation;
You know that mesh of lint you pull out of the dryer vent after every load? Or if you're my wife, after every lunar eclipse? Well, that lint came from somewhere.

The interwoven threads that make up your socks are actually twisted strands of lint. With each wash, some lint wears off of the individual strands. Eventually, the strands haven't got enough integrity to stay together as thread, and POOOF! The sock spontaneously disintegrates into a cloud of lint, to be removed after the buzzer.

That's my theory anyway.