I know we've done this dance before but after spending the day working on a deuce roadster and making the grille shell fit, why the hell can't they make a grille shell that fits right? Brookvilles are less that expected so I go to a Vintique and the Dales insert fits ok but the shell fits the Walker Radiator like shit. I get frustrated and pull one of my wall hangers down and it fits like a glove, bolts go right thru the holes, no struggles and the Dales insert fits even better. I'll also bet there will be less of a struggle fitting the hood. I guess I'm gonna give up another original shell for the cause. The last 4 Brookville cars I've built for myself have had gennie shells with Dales inserts, this one will to. You just can't beat a real Henry!
Gotta agree. The Brookville shells seem to be a little off also. Especially the filled ones around the peak area. They are kinda lopsided. Its not only grilleshells though, a lot of the gennie Ford parts fit nicer then the repop stuff. Some of it is just getting really hard to find.
After spending many years chasing this hobby /obsession I know where both of you are coming from. I guess I see another perspective. Where would we be if there were NO reproductions.........period? I can tell you that by now there would not be a salvageable piece of vintage tin left to argue about. It's just incredible the money it takes make just a simple sheet metal panel that has any kind of shape to it. To do the panels that make up a '32 roadster your talking in excess of 1 1/2 million dollars. And that's not for the finish quality that OEM panels demand. Add 50% for that kind of quality. How many people have the means AND the vision to make that kind of comittment. I come from a manufacturing background so I have a small insight that a lot do not have. I sold an origional '32 roadster body and bought a Brookville (in pieces so i could do the assembly). I "saved" 5 thousand dollars in body work (minimum) amd the Brookville stuff needs final tuning. So..........Ill end by stating my usual invitation. If your not satisfied get out your checkbook and have your own dies built, jigs, presses and endless other suporting bits bought and put the other guy out of business. Oh yea, there's the little matter of a building, taxes, personel, advertising, you know ........those pesky little things they refer to as overhead. Piece of cake, right? Frank
Forgot to add in my post about the "other" alternative. Buy a fiberglass repo piece. Then you can "fine tune" with sandpaper and a can of bondo. BTW, no rust issues either. Frank
Ok I'll chime in . ,On the bay ,A place called Gearhead sells shells ,I just sold one to Ridin Dirty ,I trial fitted the vintique bezel ,Would work but needed a little tweaking ,Original insert fit just like an original ,I did not fit on a radiator ,But for the money 215,00 Its the best damn shell ,That I hated to sell ,,,,,,There inserts did not fit their shells ,I sold that also .I decided to use my original shell and the painted insert .In my opinion nothing is as good as the originals ,Except for that one shell.Krylon ,You should try one .And let me know if you are pleased with the running boards you bought from me ,When you get them.
I have had issues with other parts like Vintique firewalls. Fit like shit and the reveals were to light and the cowl arch was way off. I asked and was told the re-pop guys switch suppliers based on price so one brand is never "always" the best. I bought my current firewall from a guy who builds them from the best components and it is perfect. The feet are right where they are supposed to be the cowl curve is right on and the reveals are stamped deep and well defined.
Glad to hear the ebay gearhead shell was pretty good. I just ordered one with their grille-345.00fer both(hope that insert aint too bad). But heck -it's goin on a tuperware 5w.......poor people have poor ways
Fab 32, I've done the repro deal, even spent considerable time overseas to make it happen as I couldn't begin to afford it in this country, so don't need lessons in getting it done. Also I've run a fairly successful hotrod business for the last 30 years and hope to continue to do so for quite a while. We've done quite a few Brookville roadsters buying them in pieces and assembling them here in NE. and have been satisified with their products, except the shell. Seems like a need to cut and rework every shell to get a good fit and without the shell being right it effects the hood fit. It's just the shell deal where there seems to be so many differances and they seem to change from time to time.Just to clarify, I got my last two repro shells from Gearhead and I assumed they were Vintique by their appearance. The insert fit was acceptable but to get it to bolt to the Walker radiator was a major project, while the Henry bolted right up. I'm probably just a little to picky and want to deliver the best product to my customers possible, but the extra time spent making some parts fit gets a bit frustrating. As for using the originals there some of us who might be considered horders, after all if one original deuce shell on the wall is good 5 or 10 is better! I guess I'll just shut up because this is a no win rant.
And I do NOT want the cure !! krylon 32 .. As a Deuce guy ... I can sympathize with your frustation I have seen your cars and I KNOW you strive to build the BEST vehicles possible. I have NEVER SEEN ... even one reproduction 1932 Ford part ... as good as the original stuff off Henry's cars I imagine I have owned as many originals 32 shells as almost anyone here on the HAMB. and NOTHING matches a Henry Ford shell and insert. Have you ever noticed all the different variations on the original shells from Henry ??? Some have the crank hole round, others have a more rectangluar with a oval top opening for the crank hole. Check out the differences in the drains ... on each side of the crank holes. I have at least 4 different examples ... I would imagine they came from different suppliers to Henry. If all these small suppliers met Henry's standards and could make their stuff so accurate and fit so well 77 years ago ... it does look like with all the digital image stuff and " greater manufacturing equipment and processes ... they could get it RIGHT now
I didn`t know that Vintique makes a firewall? I know of Brookville , Scandinavian Hot Rods and Randy(Escondido) I`ve used Randys and they fit fine.... Michael
Well, this won't probably help ANYbody, but I bought my shell, insert, and radiator off Craigslist from three different places/people, and saved a bundle. Who knows WHO made the shell and insert, but the radiator is a gennie...and they all fit together and bolted up with out problem #1. Go figure. Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn ONCE in awhile...
I have a friend who has a spare 32 grill that is in ruff shape, the bottom of the grill is pretty ate up and gone, he said he will sell it to me dirt cheap but is there any where i can find a lower section to fix this or how do i fix it? and advice
Listening to you guys, I am hearing just what I said, to many variations in the repros. I been doing this long enough that I can usually make anything work but this is frustrating. The current shell I am trying to use has such a twist in it I had to use small punchs and a vise grip to get the bolts in the radiator, now the sides look really pregnent from the pressure and the bead that goes under the rear stainless trim winds back and forth like a mountain road. Just to be fair on my black roadster I used an unfilled Vintique shell, the Dales insert fit perfectly and the shell bolted right on the radiator, just the top rad fill hole was off to the right 1/4 inch so we just filled it and it was fine. Also before anyone blames the radiator I tryed an origianl shell and it fit perfectly. WAAAWAAAWAAA, I'm such a cry baby, I'll just suck it up and move on.
We tried several repop shells on mine before we found one that fit my Dales insert. 2 from EBAY, a Brookville & several Vintiques. Even the 2 Vintiques weren't even consistant. It's even worse when you go to all the different repop inserts. How hard should this be? It's not like they are lacking a template to make something from. A friend of mine is having Dan Fink build his insert as we speak. He had to bring in his shell so the new insert would fit his shell.
Has anyone used a Bob Drake '32 grille assembly or their individual pieces, I've got no other option but repro parts here downunder. Can anyone recommend the best available repro '32 grilles please. Thanks.
I mocked up my roadster with a stock shell and all was good, but I used a Brookville repro on the actual build. All of a sudden nothing about the hood fit! Yep, the shell was outta wack and apart from general shape, when viewed side on the top 25% tilted forward which was corrected with a pie cut and metal finishing. The stock shell is still on the wall. A few years ago I was at a sale at a restorers place and I just missed a perfect shell, grille, bullnose, the whole lot for $750. Damn! p.s. the fixed one is in my avatar
Have you guys contacted Brookville and these other repop outfits to explain the problem wit their products? I think it would be better time spent to do that, than to bitch about the problem to an internet forum. If they are going to invest their resources in equipment to make repops, they should get it right. In the end, they'd make more $ and more customers happy. Pretty sure they'd appreciate the input. Just my $0.02.
Well, you would think so. And I would tell them. But wouldn't you also think that they had "perfect" parts to start with and trial fit them in several applications before releasing a "very expensive to produce" part out to the public? Most probably, all of their parts are off just enough that they fit with each other. And I don't think Henry's build quality was all that great-I think we have a lot less tolerance for gaps and part fit these days.
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