54 Grill in a 55?

Will a '54 Chevy grill fit on a '55 Chevy? What about from another year/make? Need some style on my build, don't want no cookiecutter same ol same ol.... but chopping & sectioning the grill opening are out of my league. And don't even mention that billet foolishness.

I know there are some old heads in here who know a good swap for me, or else somebody has seen a '55 Chev with teeth in the grill (or some other simple, effective, visually striking technique). I'm open to ideas - Thanx y'all

 

if you gatta big enough hammer you can make anything fit. the first 55 test cars where desguised with 54 fenders and grills.

 

My question is are the grill openings the same width? Or just chop the 54 grill to fit?

 

i think the 57 corvette grill will go in without too much modifying, i think they sell them after market now..??

i always wondered what a 55 chevy p.u or a 1ton grill would look like in there

try a search, there alot of threads with tons of pictures of peeps tri-fives

 

Will dig deeper in forum searches. Thx for the ideas, please keep em comin.

 

The Vette teeth always looked good in '55's.

but i think id be more worried about Ditchen them Z~28 wheels !

 

Yea they're ugly aint they? Placeholders for the time being, had to ditch the cragar 14s when i put in the dropped spindles & disc brakes in the front... had to take what was free.

Corvette grilles dont look half bad, just kinda... slimline I guess. Trying to see what would fit that's more, toothy?

 

With that opening you can put about anything in there you want to trim to fit. DeSoto, Corvette, 53-54 Chevy, VW bumper guards, maybe even early F1 teeth.


But uh, the '54 Chevy grille bar extends all the way across the front through the parking light housings, it's a little wider...

 

Nice one Kopperhead. Chrome so bright it looks like it'd glow in the dark. Saints colors, too (What can I say I'm a New Orleans boy...)

Best I can tell, that corvette grill is the standard swap. I'm having a hell of a time finding alternatives to what all the other guys are doing.

Beetle bumper guards... I'd forgotten about that one. Thanks y'all, I'm really dusting off the old brain cell on this build-- all the tips and advice is greatly appreciated.

 

Love that 55....I have looked and cant find them so does anyone have more pics of this car?

 

There are pictures on the Hamb of 54 and 53 grills in a 55. Both look good. 53 had extra teeth to fill out the mounting bar. Suppose you could do the same with the 54. I have also seen a 56 with early 50's DeSoto grill teeth

I've been playing with this idea for a while just can't find the right look/price.

Let's see if I can finad them and post em.

 

I had a 54 grille in my 55 hardtop......had it floating in the opening.....fit great and looked sharp......had the bar painted black and the teeth had been rechromed......had new grille surround chrome.....looked like a mouth with teeth......had a lot of compliments from people about it.........will try to post picture of it later for you......stan

 

yeah, don't do the vette grille it's been over done,do a nice custom tube grille--

 

Try to ignore the angel hair.

 

That's the one I was looking for....thanks Blue. Does anyone have pictures of the VW bumper guards mentioned above? I pretty sure you can get those cheap, just have never seen them used as a grill.

 

Here is a picture without the angel hair, taken near Shepard AF Base.
Ol Blue

 

Yes indeed, it looks like we're gettin somewhere with this. Much obliged to all y'all for passing on a thing or two about a thing or two: it is appreciated LAMF.

So in Rik's sweet little magazine article, the grill 3rd from the top on the right caught my attention... does it look to anybody else like it could be the same as Ol Blue's "angelhair" 55? Can anybody clue me in as to what either of those puppys came out of?

 

if you take the outside teeth off the 54 grille, under them is the seem to take the parking light ends off.

 

Dude, use a 55 grill guard has floater...Its clean sipmle & sweet!!

That maroon 55 is from NY and has always been one of my favorites but i could never understand why he used the 54 chevy turnsignal the way he did..It f@cked up the whole flow of the front in my opinion.

Tommy V is perfect!!

 

Anybody have pics of a 55 with a front roll pan instead of the bumper, now that my mind's run amok?

 

I say be different and use a '49-51 Mercury Grill. I always thought the stock grill looked good on those Merc's but most people seem hellbent on getting rid of them. I have no clue on the fitting for that though.

 

So what did you decide to do? What about door pulls?

 

If you want something simple, my '55 Chevy I removed all of the the
vertical bars except the middle three bars. It was a simple modification
and a real clean traditional Kustom look.

Just another idea...

Happy Trails,

Mick

 

I'd second the vote for either a tube grille (used to see them everywhere, but not for a long, long time!) or Mick's advice.

 

I made my own grill with expanded metal i got from the local steel shop , door pulls and some $2 bullets i found at swap meet.. I do know they sell chrome expanded metal somewhere.

 

if you want something different and you are handy with a saw and a welder, put in a 52 buick grille. I have one in my 49 plymouth and am putting one in my 53 Dodge truck ( truck has kinda the same opening) pic included to see what it may look like for you. Bud

 

Back from the dead...

Just curious before I pull mine apart if the hood support bracket and the top black bar bolt back in (when you drill out the rivets attaching it to the grille) or will it take some fab work?

 

Please tell me the OP had his tools taken away before he butchered that 55. Nothing looks better than the stock egg-crate grille. Why hack something that looks better than what you end up with?