Hot Rods "Trick-est" Grille You Ever Saw OR Did on a Custom or Rod?

As we ALL know, rodding was once a pretty local/regional kind of p***ion/hobby . Now, the 'net connects ALL in the U.S. with rodders as far away as Australia, New Zealand, So. Africa, etc.

But, in the '50s & '60s all the personal "touches" that made a hotrod an expression of a young guy's CREATIVITY & ingenuity were, WELL, pretty much up to HIM, right?

Putting the early '50s toothy DeSoto grilles aside for a minute , WHAT WAS/IS THE TRICKEST GRILLE YOU EVER SAW (SWAPPED/ALTERED STOCK GRILL OR FABBED) ON A CUSTON OR ROD???

 

I dont know how to post links but I seen a teck here were someone turned a 1951? GMC truck grill suround into a amazingly nice 32 style shell.

ok lets try this http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=221&highlight=grill+shell

 

This one get a big vote from me. Done by a guy who gfoes by "Hotrob." I asked if it was flipped & he said YUP, "sliced, diced & FLIPPED!"
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My pal worked for Burlington Industries in the d****ry department. I was at his shop and spotted some bars about 1 1/2 in. diameter that appeared to have been twisted and then plated with some high quality chrome. They were curtain rods from a curtain show that had been tossed by the company. Anyhow, he gave me one and I floated it in the grille cavity of my '50 Merc. The cavity was made up of 2 Merc grille shells, one in the stock position and the other upside down and welded to the upper shell and the gravel pan. This made the opening small enough for the curtain rod to fill the opening nicely. I also painted the recesses in the twisted rod to match the interior trim and dash and made two lenses to fill the ends of the rod. The lenses were used for park and T/S lights. The rod itself was bent slightly, in the center, to match the curvature of the grille shell. Is that off the wall, so to speak, enough for ya?

 

Hey! If something works, it WORKS !!!

 

Eew!
http://www.replacementdoparts.com/includes/images/Dodge_Parts/dodge_dakota.02.jpg

 

heres the stock bumperettes turned sidways,

 

This builder used a screen from a door kicker plate.

 

Southpark! One TOGETHER ride! The effective simplicity of the grillework, I'll bet, belies the DIFFICULTY of pulling the feat off! (Ain't that way it ALWAYS works??? LOL) NICE work.

 

Probably 1994ish at a GG show there was a guy that had the typical black fully flamed, full fendered deuce coupe. The flame job had a ton of detail and a ton of licks and just ran across the whole nose of the car.

The hood sides and the grille insert looked completely solid from 30 feet away, but were actually a series of long skinny doors about 3 inches wide. The moment he started the car they all opened at once. To this day it's one of the baddest features I've ever seen, and I can only imagine how many thousands of hours went into fitting those doors and then flaming across all those edges.

 

Here's one I did many moons ago. I bought a 53 Ford that was missing most of the front trim, so I found a 55 Chevy bumperette tie bar and reshaped the opening to suit it better. Then I figured out the cheap bullet shaped lights from the parts store filled the missing lower third of the peaks on the tie bar perfectly and voila! Turn signals, although they were only single filament. I just ran the other two leads to green lights in the opening above the "grille". It may not have been the trickest front end treatment, but I thought it looked pretty presentable for less than $100.00

 

LandSeaAir: Under $100, cool. It USED to be that a lot of rodders felt low-bucks (low as possible & practical, that is) was a sort of philosophical CORNERSTONE of building a rod or custom. If somebody ooed&ahed over your car, or grille, it was ALWAYS great if you could kick in with: "And I've only put $___ in it!"

 

The grille in my '55 Caddy...



Laser cut by CadillacCoffin here on the HAMB from a pattern I sent him...and hand ***embled and mounted by me...the end pieces are now finished and installed with the park lites behind the side sections, below the headlights. I'll post some pix on my build thread...
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=329070&highlight=the+best+55+caddy+build

R-

 

Thanks jimi. That whole car was a budget build, but it was all done right, aside from some of the previous owners body work. Here's what I started with.

 

McKee, YOU ARE SICK ! (BUT, FUNNY!!!!) LOL

 

40StudeDude, that is a stand-alone grille treatment you should be proud to have created! That is SO slick, I'll bet NON-car people wouldn't even know Caddy's didn't COME like that! REALLY keen work (and it starts with a good imagination!).

 

Good work, landSeaAir! When I did my '55 Fireflite in the early '70s (sorry no pix, bro), I had very little dough and mostly worn out tools. I burned lots of elbow grease and midnight oil. But when it was done, it turned heads and I had under a grand in the whole project.

I am STILL prouder of THAT than if I'd win the Mega Millions & just BUY a perfect frame-off Sportsman!!!! I think YOU are in a position to know the feeling, eh?

 

By the way, I did THE wildest grille swap on my '55 DeSoto. I pulled the stock grille and stuck in a 1955 DeSoto grille!!! HOW ABOUT THAT FOR ORIGINAL???

(Actually, it's hard to beat a '55 grille. Mine had some pits & I had a cleaner one available. LOL)

 

The grille in my '55 Caddy...

StudeDude...Are you gonna have enough airflow to keep an engine cool behind that grille? I like it, but will it work?

 

I don't know about heat, BUT it's a good thing the Caddy has those two Jayne Mansfields out front to protect that one-of-a-kind custom grille!!!

 

Consider this: there's 48 bars in the grille...and 49 empty spaces of the same size between the bars...so when all is said and done and you remove the spacers between each bar, I have half that area to let in air...and that's a lot of volume.

AND, consider this: air does not come in thru the grille alone...air is all around the rad, under the hood, etc...the fan pulls air in thru the radiator...all the under hood panels (including how the hood fits to the rad) are built (sealed) so the air HAS to go thru the rad and not around it, as some cars are.

To answer your question...I drove it to Salina, Kansas in 95 degree temps and 95% humidity the end of July for the sled nats...according to my gauge, it never got over 180 degrees the whole trip. So yes, it works quite well and keeps the engine cool.

I built a similar grille for my (not so HAMB friendly) 1957 210 tudor back in the mid '80's -- but I'm posting the pic anyway...!!!



Never had a problem with that one either...

R-

Jimi...thanx for the kudos...

 

You are very welcome, StudeDude. I'm confused, though: WHAT wouldn't be HAMB-friendly about the '57 Chebby?

Heck, it's not like the time I thought I was gonna get KICKED OFF the HAMB for posting the question: Whether ANYBODY had ever melded a '68/''69 GTO front end to an elCamino REARend of the same era. I found out I was asking about too NEW a car, though I see both elCaminos, Pontiacs (and for that matter, Hemi 'Cudas) pictured on HAMB threads. Maybe it's just that those post-'65 cars can't be the SUBJECT of a starter thread, i guess.

But a '57 Chevy, that I don't understand.

 

It's not so much the model year as its improper atTIRE. Get it.

 

Well, yeah, if that's the way it works. BUT, it sure looks like a slick custom to me (not my TASTE, but isn't individuality of expression part of the hotrod/custom concept?).

 

LandSea: And if yo were cleverly referring to those wheels, I'd rather see a set of cl*** Cragers, myself. But, it's HIS car.

 

True, but on this particular board the clock stops around 1970 or so.

 

A custom grill made by les dunham

 

40StudeDude, I THOUGHT you'd explain the ENGINEERING (aero) consideraitons, but I just wanted to WAIT & hear it from your lips (er, uh, fingers! LOL).

50/50 makes good sense to me.

Hell, if yo house was in, say, Argentina, it'd stay pretty COOl with 50-percent air flow-through, eh?

So, I guess a Caddy in the U.S can tolerate heat pretty well with THAT trick grille!!!

 

No, the wheels are o.k., but as I look at the rest of the car, the theme to Miami Vice keeps going through my head.

 

NITROFC!!! Somebody DID get 'hold of a Tucker & turn it into a CUSTOM!!!! LOL

THAT is one of the sharpest cars I've EVER seen.