Have you gotten back to work on this one? I love where its going and want to see it finished!! A 46 Chevy grille would look good as well. They were used quite a bit in the early customs. Maybe you could use the entire height of the grille instead of cutting it down like they did. That way there wouldnt be the space between the hood and grille.
Not back on it yet should be by Christmas, thanks for asking. I too like the '46 Chevy grill, but would be difficult (expensive) to find over here. Nice picture. Cheers Tony.
heard through the grapevine that the A is done so does that mean we have some progress soon. cheeras vin
A quick and nasty photoshop of an idea I had - get another grill and turn the lower section upside-down? Cool car.
Thanks for the interest guys, I can assure you it's not forgotten but putting the V8 in the coupe took a year instead of the estimated six months then my daughter bought herself a little 50's Austin which promptly blew it's engine. You have heard it all before life and plans and all that. Back on it in the new year with no excuses and to prove it's all the truth a picture of Scarlett with the offending car.(any excuse.) Cheers Tony.
I feel like a loser, as more excuses and still no progress. All I have managed to do is make a little more space around the Poncho, ready for the off. Thanks for taking an interest as soon as I get going again I'll start posting. Cheers Tony.
HA, didn't think you would see this thread again. No stopping me now. Some time back a mate had an Oxford M.O. grill as a bit of garage art, which he lent to me with the instructions if you use it you can keep it. Thanks Vince. A quick mock up, got potential but a little small, if you squint, a bit late forties Caddy don't you think? Decided to give it a go with the view to widen out the bottom with an extra bar stretching into the front fenders, first panel tacked in. Both filler pieces welded in. The slam panel rail I altered to the new grill shape using parts of the original with a few additions, nice and strong now tying the two fenders together. Some new mounting tabs welded to the grill and all fits quite nice. Picked up a Rover 2000 front bumper on Ebay to use for the bottom bar. Scribed the ends into the fenders, but not too keen on how it tapers into the fenders. Bidding on another now which I will alter differently for a more pleasing shape to flow with the bumper. Quite pleased with the result, I will of course be extending the grill pieces that are short. I want to pull the car out into the yard to view properly as at the moment I am crammed up against the back wall, not a good way to make design changes. Next job is to reform the nose of the bonnet doesn't look to bad in the photo's but is actually protruding over the grill by about 3/4 of an inch. One problem at a time.
I´m really happy to see you´re back on it. The grille looks great, though you are leaving yourself wide open to unwanted conversations with every old fart... "D`you know, I used to `ave one just like this... great car the old Morris...."
I think the hood would look fine hanging 3/4" over the top grill bar. Just bring it down to match the contour. Terrific work!
A little more progress on the Poncho. After fitting the new grill the bonnet needed shortening by about 3/4" and reshaping on the bottom edge. I did this by first making a new bottom lip out of a piece of 16g shaped and bolted to the slam rail, using wooden wedges to keep the contour accurate to the new grill bar. Next I slit the bonnet vertically along both sides of the trim recess and then a couple of horizontal slits each side to assist in massaging the new shape before welding. Once this was completed a little work was needed on the internal panel that holds the catch, nothing too complicated usual cutting and shutting. That's about it for the Poncho nose job not a massive task but all progress in the right direction. That's not me in the pictures by the way, I'm far better looking! Thanks for the help Harley.
I've been grafting, not happy with the first version of the grill I scoured Ebay and picked up a couple more Rover bumpers for a bargain price. Playing around with two blades instead of one gives the grill a lot more bulk and enabled me to remove the bottom bar from the Oxford grill, doing away with the problem of the upper bar being too short. I have had some longer vertical bars bent up in stainless, although at this point I have only offered them up they set the whole thing off nicely. I next turned my attentions to the bonnet trim, the original was bulky and in my case rotten, I think the bonnet is too vast to just smooth it off so decided to have a raised peak which I think keeps a little of the Pontiac's identity which is nice. How I achieved it was a bit Frankenstein but it turned out alright, although I might return to it later to flair out the raised bit to the width of the bonnet, will see. With such progress I couldn't wait to get a bit of filler and primer on to check it out, I did a quick mock up with the panels for a photo and yeah I like it, so now it's on to the backend.
Wow, that looks sharp! Quite a difference from the original opening and the hood peak looks like it could be factory. Glad to see progress on your car.
As a bit of a change from grinding and filling I decided to fit and start the Caddy lump. I used a combination of the original mounts mated to a pair of Range Rover rubbers all went well. The engine has been sitting around for about four years now and I have never heard it running, so after pulling the sump and finding it clean as a whistle inside, a few more checks and got the oil pumping round we went for it. Burst into life immediately and with in a minute sat there ticking over like I was running it yesterday, had to quickly shut it down though due to no cooling connected, sometimes life is good.
The Jalopy Journal
