I was under the impression that 36 Ford Grilles are not yet being reproduced and nice originals are very hard to come by? It's on the market locally and I have no clue... What's a fair price? ....He also has a similarly -Very Nice- Hood, and 36 Car headlights complete with OEM glass and reflectors. All have original Washington blue paint and must have been pulled from one heck of a nice car many years ago cuz I can't imagine any parting out a car that musta been so fine. Also, what is the original metal? It looks good enough to be Stainless but I have never heard of 36 stainless grille. What colors did Ford paint them? Did Ford ever supply them as bright/shinny or were they all color keyed? Thanks in advance.
i believe that grille IS a reproduction. , probably made in Argentina. my experience is they don't fit well and are not worth much
I agree, looks like an Argentine grille. OE Ford grilles are one piece as in the bars are stamped more like a 33-34 grille/ ,
J.C. Whitney and Western Auto offered reproduction early Ford grills made in Argentina back into the early 60's,... I have one of those repo 36' grill,... And I hate to tell ya',.. but that one looks exactly like it. I think you might find the word "Coleco" on it or something close.
. Thanks for the info guys, How much work is it to make the grille fit? Is Major Surgery required or is it worth the effort? .
Slightly o/t but I had a repro (Argentian) 35 grille, not even close to fitting, it was actually nearly 1 inch shorter also without major surgery I could not fit hood, shape at top was wrong. It looks great on my garage wall! I am not suggesting you would have the same problem with the 36, did it come from the same car as the good front end sheet metal? Maybe someone else has done the hard work.
I quote from the 1935-1936Ford Book published by the Early Ford V-8 Club of America: "For 1936 there were three different types of grills. One was a single piece stamping. The other two had an outer shell with individual vertical bars welded on at the top and bottom. The difference between these two was how the metal was formed on the vertical grill bars. This difference is subtle when viewing both grills from the backside. The individual grill bars were fully formed (symmetrical) on one version and narrowed on the inside on the other." Don't know if that will help or not, but I thought I'd offer it in any case. -Bob
I tried them in the 60's on 39-40 Fords they were crap and the flash chrome on them rusted very quckly.
. First off I want to thank everyone for their valuable insight, much appreciated. Tagman, this interests me... I will have another look at the grille soon to see if it has "coleco" stamped into it as others have mentioned as well as I will take a few minutes to jot down your notes below and see if I can ID this as a Ford or aftermarket/Argentine grille, In the 'Last but not least questions Department', How would a guy positivity know that this is an Argentine grille? What should I "specifically look for" -as opposed to a Ford grille??????????????? As far as it goes, most of you are making it hard for me to believe that this is Ford but I need the nail in the coffin and tagman has brought up some good points that I need to investigate.
I wish I had access to a 36 grille/car to compare to, -Living in Santartica does have it's drawbacks... .
the new repos are BAD most of the time you can see the spot welds on the bottom from the front side for the bars, also the bottom is 2 piece. http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Steel-Grill-1936-Ford-Car-with-crankhole-/190639016996?fits=Year:1936|Make:Ford&hash=item2c62f88c24&item=190639016996&pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr the main differences to look for are around the crank hole and the bottom. some have round crank holes areas: some have square crank hole areas: I've been looking at old black and white pics to see which one is correct but I'm still not sure. The old repos have got to fit better then the new ones. here's mine:
The Argentine grilles never had the holes in them for the stainless trim mouldings at the sides and had a "clamp-on" center moulding. The OEM grilles have a different curvature down the center and the Argentine grilles don't accept the original center moulding with out modification.
Interesting, this one is complete with all original trim Intact. The holes are all there, They look clean, Perfectly Round and ?Factory? ..... All Center and Side Trim Is Present (with clips) -All the trim fit Perfectly ..but I didn't get any pics with the trim in place, or did I ?? I'll try to find a pic with the trim in place. Thanks go to everybody for the great input .
Number One Old Timer, Great Pictures! This Really Helps, First off all I can say is that your first pic shows some pretty pitch poor grille bar to chin work, Can't recall %100 but if I remember right, the backside of this one looks uniform as in the cuts and the spots are all uniform/nicely done.... You know? As in they don't appear to have been braised or even Quality Hand Welded By Your Average -South America- Highly Skilled 1960's Shop Welder Of The Day! Or maybe I'm just wishin it looked better than this ---I need to find pics of the backside Thanks again to everyone that has posted, this is all very informative and each post helps place another piece of the puzzle.......... .
Where is Coleco usually placed? I assume topside but you never know. I will be heading back out there soon for another look and either I find Coleco where it's 'spossed to be or maybe I'm just blind if you know what I mean?
The grill in your first post looks pretty decent to me. Now I ain't a real expert on '36 Ford grills, but that would be the best repop '36 grill I have seen. A magnet would tell you if it's stainless or not. Trim quality stainless is non magnetic.
*Noted This is not to say that Harm's Way and others don't have valid points as well..... What perplexes me is that the perimeter trim along with a brand new $100 vintique center trim fit like a glove So if it was Argentine built then the fitment problems must be in the top, sides and chin -but the OEM trim fits? Confusing and I want it to be ~ But I haven't forgotten what the early posters stated, ...just weighing the facts -Stuck on the fence
forgot to add the they came in chrome plated and painted from the factory.......per the restoration guide. I would say if it's a good price to get it or pass it along to another HAMBer .
the orig. had 2 cross bars and spots on the chin for the stainless to fit into, this grill meets those requirements, but the lower cross bar looks funny?
The pic is kinda fuzzy but from the info that has been supplied this is sounding more and more like an original 36 based on many factors including the trim holes and as you mentioned cross bracing, AS tagman noted, their were several variations in the original grille. This one in particular is located in Canada and may or may not be Canadian production which might also come with it's own quirks. Still, it would be nice to have a known original to set it beside. And after all was said and done, the price was right and the deal is done. And it came with 4 westcotts fibreglass fenders, nice complete 36 headlights and excellent hood plus inner fenders and a few other 36 bits parts. All these parts are missing from 36 project (just a stripped out body/shell) Thanks everybody for the replies, much appreciated moe .
You must remember that here in the US there were manufacturers of replacement grilles, chrome trim, and other body parts for early cars when they were just used cars not collectible goodies. Some were very good, some not so good. The Argentine stuff started coming into the US in the late-50s-60s-70s and filled the bill until quality reproductions came along. Reproductions are, or should be, duplicates of original parts. Replacements, foreign or domestic, are parts which should fit but will not necessarily be the same in appearance or materials, function over form.
I have a couple of the repops and one clearly has Argentina stamped on the backside somewhere. I tried to fit them up to replace an original that had some bent bars and the curvature at the inner fender was way off. The top width also needed to be increased by doing relief cuts on the top horizontal surface to match the hood profile. If you got nothing else I believe they can be made to work but need a lot of hours of rework. May not be as much of an issue if you have fiberglass fenders (OMG) and don't have to modify the grille. FYI - An original may still need some "tweaking" as well in the same areas.
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