Please don't flame me! Has it ever been done with any success I have seen pictures in the little books but never with a hood. I am picturing it with a half thickness shell like Alan Johnson does and maybe louvers that slightly tip back at the top like on Doug Coopers B-400. Maybe I'm stupid but I thougt it might look neat properly done. Just curious if onyone else has tried it.
Someone said once here that you never put a grill shell older than the car only newer, A shell on T, '32 on A ect.
My 33 had a Duece shell on it before I got it... really common in the day... and almost every channeled car had one because it was ten times easier than dealing with an original shell... there was a a car "masterpiece in metalwork" Hot Rod 62 or 63 that had a full hood that was in several Annuals too
Can be done, even full-fendered: Obviously not a bolt-on operation, though. The front/inner edges of the fenders will need some creative work, for a start.
Part of what makes a 33-34 Ford cool is its grille. It has an elegant yet sinister look. I wouldn't want to change that...
'seen that done a couple times before, kinda doesnt have that monkey f'ing a football look of a '32 car shell
Ah, the English language! You had me thinking of putting a '32 bodyshell on a '34 ch***is (partly because someone on another forum recently asked about mounting a '34 body on a '32 ch***is)! Phew!
Check out carnut.com I saw a couple their. http://www.carnut.com/cgi-bin/image.pl?/photo/seebode/see091.jpg Dave
There are a few of them in the book Cool Cars Square Roll Bars. Ran without hoods on channeled cars. An east coast styling thing
Every picture I see looks stupid but the drawing in my head looks f-ing awesome. Time to take an art cl***. Thanks guys and sorry for not searching I thought I was the only knothead.
It doesn't really help to see pictures of 34's with 32 grilles, if you plan to do it differently. If you've got a picture in your head of what it could be, go ahead and do it. There's alot of cars with custom grilles that are kind of hybrids of different years, and alot of custom made bodies too. For every 1000 attempts you see, you might see one that's done just right, that really hits the nail on the head. Maybe you're the one that'll hit the nail on the head!!! If not, who cares. Change it if you don't like it!!
I think that you're onto something with using a custom hood too...I'd have to say you'll need custom hood sides too. Make it look it's supposed to be that way, with nice mathing lines and beads. It could definately be done right!! Go for it!
I've never seen one that looked right. Ever. There was one in TRK here a while back. I think I've even seen it on the HAMB. It was gold, IIRC. 33-34s grills are so awesome I don't see why anyone would want to replace it with anything but a track/Indy style nose. Even then, it has to be just right or it looks bad. 33-34 grills are like a sore Peter. You just can't beat it.
I've seen a few that pulled it off. The theme is fenderless, channeled, 3/5 w, big *** engine(Olds,Cad,Buick,Hemi), really oversize rear tires, heavy rake. A very delicate balance to pull it off. For every sucessful one there are probably a dozen abortions. Frank
A fellow club member used a deuce shell on his channeled 33 Ford coupe back in the early 70's,,I always thought it just didn't cut it,,he eventually switched out the grill for a 34 Ford and the car had a whole new look. Shortly after that he sold it,,,he said the car lost it character. HRP
If you factor in the $$$$ of a nice original or repopped 33/34' grill shell versus a much cheaper 32' one could easily see why. Besides mounting a radiator behind a duece shell is a mere cake walk compared to the 33/34' if your doing it from scratch.
Channelled '34's with with a '32 shell or just a radiator were very common in New England in the '50's. The firewall/grill lines never went together but your eye stopped at the Cad or Hemi in between. Allways thought this was one of the most bad*** Hot Rod looks. These were not built for Car Shows.
Yeah, it was common back in the day from the pics I've seen. I can’t imagine any scenario where it could look good. Yes you’re stupid, (just kidding.) Oddly enough, as much as I hate the look, my buddy Russell used to have one he built back in the 50's that I lusted after for years till he sold it. Did I mention it was my ex-buddy Russell?
I think the practice is usually to take an older car and update it with newer parts to make it look better. Not to take a car and put older parts on it to bring it backwards in time with styling. Model A updated with 32 shell = the right direction 1934 back dated with a 32 shell = not the right direction.
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