Making grille teeth from scratch or other items? Thoughts?

So I'm missing my entire grille center for my 54 Poncho. I'm basically left with a mouth and all the chrome surround at this point. So, I've been thinking of doing a custom grille for it. REALLY like the look of verticle teeth similar to 51-ish Buicks, mid 50's Desotos, the popular 54 Chevy, etc.

What have you guys made verticle teeth from that are readily available or easy to alter to get the look I want? Had thought about just taking some mandrel bent tubing with a large radius, pie cutting for a point and then squeezing for a narrow verticle oval. Then cut the back (one side of the tubing) out so it's open for mounting and such.

Would like to see what some of you have done. Did a search and didn't see a whole lot amazingly. Some custom grilles, but not alot of verticle construction from scratch.

Let's here some ideas! Thanks guys!
Scooter

 

VW bumper guards are cheep and available.

 

Some that I like and would consider styling it after...










Most of these are a bit curvy though. The custom blue Buick was able to pull it off and still compliment the ridge of the upper grill surround.

 

I was thinking about doing something similar for my vette. Similar to a 58 except making them out of 18 ga sheet metal, taking too triangle shaped pcs, making a teepee and welding at the seem. It would be similar to a 58 vette, **** more agressive.

 

Like these?


I think these might be a bit too curvy for the overall effect I need. The Poncho trim has some parts to it that come to a point and I sorta want to try to be consistant with that detail. Those would look ***y all in a row lined up though. Hmmmm....

Here's what the stock one looks like. I have everything but the "lips" in the center. See how the top piece kind of has that ridge to it. It's very slight, but is definitely to a point and is apparent on all the rest of the trim pieces. It rolls up nice from the marker lights and forms that ridge on-center...

 

My dad used VW bumper guards on his Studebaker and they turned out pretty good I think. There are several differant styles available from stock to custom ones in differant sizes and are pretty cheap, like $15 a peice or so.

The nice thing about them is that since they are so cheap, if you screw em up or don't like how they look, you arent out tons of cash.

 

What's a good source for these and do they come painted so I can strip them and have them chromed after I modify the hell out of them? Would like to see your Dad's car. Post up a pic with the grille.

 

yeah, I was going to use VW guards too. There are the smaller ones too for the bumpers without the over riders. I think i have 2 left in the garage. i can bring them to Viva las vegas if you are going. The cool thing about those is that they are usually already chromed and they are easy to find at the junk yard or pomona swap meet for example in the VW section. They already have a bolt that goes through too so you just have to fab a bar across the opening to bolt them to.
here's the first pic i found on the net..


I think one of bad bobs friends had it on a 53-54 ford?

 

Here's a pic. I don't think he even cut em up or did anything to em really. Thats exactly how they came. Already chromed and everything. These are 'cali' style overriders that you can pick up at any VW or dunebuggy store. EMPI or BAP usually carries em and like I said, they're dirt cheap.


Here's a pic of my 52 studie. Same year as his and this is what his looked like before. He would have liked to have used the stock style grille inserts but didnt have enough good ones, so he just tried out the VW ones for a quick and cheap test and ended up liking it.

Hope this helps give you a few extra idea's you might not have considered otherwise

 

Thank you thank you ! Dead nuts on, I was looking for the shorter ones.

 

what about a mesh grill with drawer pulls, not knobs but the 50's 60's looking ones you can get at home depot for cheap.

 

Here's you 'uber chepo test pieces, $15 a pair!
http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/.../Pr-p_CATENTRY_ID:100000220258201951582004761

 

Well, I actually saw a 55 chevy custom once with a very unique grill. I was standing there staring at it trying to figure out what it was, it didn't look bad, but it was obviously after market or something. Then a guy came up, stood beside me for a while and then said "figure it out?" I said "no" and he told me it was a row of chrome bathtub faucets!

 

Im thinking about making a grille using the over riders from a holden so I cant help you much over here scooter. But heres some pictures for ideas. . .

 

ooh and this one

 

Thanks guys! Some helpful stuff here! Great pics too. Keep the ideas flowing!

 

"Making grille from scratch"
My 49 Merc. sled
Let me itemize for you:
14 teeth from a "52" Buick
8 teeth from a "53" Buick
44 pain the *** little brackets
4 pcs. of 8 ft.flat stock
4 grillion cut off wheels
1 burnt up shirt (see grinding wheels above )
168 ****ing dollars to get steel out of my eye ( see cut off wheels above)
half a roll of mig wire
3 burnt up socks (See mig wire above )
1 garage window ( see burnt up sock above)
1 Slag hammer ( see garage window above )
2 months of my life
And only the Lord knows how much whiskey & beer

 

LOL!! Awesome! Well, she looks good so it had to be worth it!

 

that´s an older picture from my 50 Merc with VW Grille teeth.
Sorry for the bad quality of the pic.
My boyfriend made this grill and gave it to me as a birthday surprise because I didn´t like the rusty stock grille anymore.
Unfortunateley I sold the Merc
Here in germany we can´t find Desoto Grills around every corner,either

 

scooter, are you going to do anything with the indicators?? Cause they stick out a bit to go into the original grille . . .

 

...best thing I've read in awhile - thank you!

 

I like the faucet idea, finding them cheaper than the vw stuff would be tough.

 

heres a pic of 69 camaro bumper guards, they have a nice shape and could be found cheap if the chrome was in poor shape.

 

BUMP! Whats the latest with ya 54 scooter????

 

i was gonna recomend ditching the side markers too.

 

Yeah, been thinkin about those a bit. I like them and want to retain them so I think I'm going to fab up a transition piece that will help those flow into whatever grille I do. One for each side. I want a cross bar that's visible integrated into the teeth, so transitioning off the side markers would be ideal for what I want.

Things are moving slow. Just hitting a money and time wall right now. Building two cars at once is a drain. Haven't been able to spend a lot of time with EITHER of the cars lately either.

The latest is that I've collected all the chrome I need with the exception of the headlight rims. I may swap the taillights for some earlier ones too. I'm just trying to get the car together mechanically now; brakes, get 'er running, suspension stuff, etc. Needs some electrical attention and I need to get the paperwork in order for registration. She got a freshly powdercoated set of wheels just need some WWW's to wrap them up in and she should be sittin' nice. Especially now that it's sitting right with the rear end lowered. I'll try to get some pictures of it soon with the way it's sitting. Just want to get it running and driving good before I go too nuts on body mods and stuff. This will end up being a daily driver at some point.

 

Anyone feel like doin' some photochoppin'? Here's a stock 54 front end:


Make the car black, ditch the bumper guards, slam the front end and transplant some teeth in the middle in place of the stock grille "lips".

Here's a clean slate if anyone REALLY wants to go crazy. This is how she's sittin now without any of the chrome on there: (Poor girl )

 

Anyone feeling creative today?

 

what about a truck bumper overridder? ive seen some cool ones with a bar accross and bullets. maybe just check the next swap meet and see what you find.

 

who did your drywall in your garage?