i'd like to get an opinion on grill design. Right now I could go any direction and not married to any one idea. Options I can think of are: 1. Stainless mesh almost 1/4 openings. 2. Sheet metal with hole saw treatment. 3. Sheet metal with louvres. Here is mine. See below for grill examples.
I don't mean to hijack your thread but this is something that I m kicking around as well on my 34 pickup build. I have a shell that is missing some over the vertical bars and was going to the inside out and replace with a stainless panel. I never really considered louvers until you post that picture of the silver car. As someone mentioned above would louvers be hard to cool on the street?
Mesh looks nicest to me. How about 3/16ths or 1/4inch SS rods...polish them up, make an upper and lower attach plate, tack weld the in. I'm not digging the holes or the louvers.
As budget36, I like the mesh way better than the louvers or hole saw treatment. Actually like no grill as well
No grille. This is a race car, right? Any weight is your enemy and especially weight on the front. Wind resistance at speed is also your enemy.
On your car, this might look better painted flat black . . . I think that stainless mesh (01mikep) looks pretty cool too. Or you could try bronze mesh, that might look good, especially after it fades to a dull brown.
Here's a couple good examples of grill shell inserts. The first is one that Skratch just built and the second is from Piero's Live Wire coupe. I think they both look fantastic.
This is the ceiling ventilation duct grille from a downtown DC office building: And another one I made from sheet aluminum with 1.75" holes:
Here are some more I saved off the HAMB when thinking about what I'd do. None are mine. Hope this helps.
how about a '51 Merc grill? Ha! looks like your mild ride needs the least resistance for short track racing
Darby Wire Mesh has a great selection of ss mesh. I bought some from them for the same purpose but didn't use it. Contact me if you would like to buy it.
Is it going to have a radiator in the shell? Because that's kinda hugely important to the conversation.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/1932-1934-studebaker-sort-of.959203/ I especially like the grille on the roadster!
Why the 'A' shell on the 'T' bucket? Confuscious say: "Wide shell on T bucket give Henry 'Big Nose'."
Is there a reason you want a grille in it? The car with the louvers above looks neat, but would give minimal airflow. I've seen pictures (unfortunately don't have any offhand) of drag cars of the era that had a flat panel insert for the grille shell that was removable with Dzus fasteners or something similar, the insert was just flat with no holes and usually had something painted on it, a sponsor name or whatever, so it could be taken off when needed. Might be fitting for the car you're building.