So I bought this house and found this grille up in the rafters in the garage and don't know how to tell if its original or not. I am gonna sell it but wanna know whether I got a repop or original grille before I do so that I don't mislead anyone thanks for any help.
Looks original. The originals were two pieces - the left half and the right half. Each half was a single stamping. On the reproductions each bar is a separate piece and they are spot welded to the sides and the center all the way down. If you use the original trim pieces they will cover the spot welds. I've seen very good originals asking $500 - $800. About 15 years ago I saw an amazing NOS with Ford parts tag still affixed. Asking $1,000. Don't know if it ever sold at that price. Probably would today.
As said--looks like an orig one and nice too. Frank above seems right on the price-good find. I found a nos 40std grille a while back with Ford tags and orig receipt from 57--may use in next 40-nice orig grilles for these early fords are tough to find.
It's a repro. The original bars don't have any seam where the bar hits the side rails. Repos like that sell for $600 new at Speedway. Saw some at Pate for $300 last weekend that were that style.
Could be an Argentina grill.. Popular in the 60's and thought then to be poor quality.. But next to China grills the Argentina grills look pretty good...
Looks like a repop. Original would have holes down the center to mount the center trim strip. It also should have holes across the top and down both sides for that trim. I've seen that stamp before but not on an original Ford part. This was probably made in Argentina. J. C. Whitney sold these in the sixties. We called them hole fillers because they were better than no grill at all.
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