ok my brother just picked up a 48 ford coupe and is looking for some ideas for a custom grille he has a 49 plymouth grille he might try to make work but if you have any ideas or pics let see them. thanks
I've got a 49 Plymouth grille & bumper on my 46 ford coupe. The grille fit perfectly, but the hood took some serious metal work. Len (ChopShop) did all the fabrication.
I have a '48 Olds grille for sale. I love the '49 Plymouth grille in '46-48 Fords. If I ever have another one, that is what I'm going to do. That looks killer Nelly.
This is my 48. The Plymouth grilles do look good. Mine is a 51 Buick not too hard to do and a little different.
Another trick- Turn the hood upside down. Build a can to tie the 2 side together, tack it in,then ya can cut out the center filler (leaving the 2 side still together) Cut a filler and weld it in to make a 1 piece hood. Then pie cut from the rear side @ 0 to 1 1/2 " in the front Pulls the snout down just right. Good luck
Here's the olds grille and later olds headlight treatments that I really like- stolen from the HAMB itself! If you can chop yours like the '41 you've got it made...
I got me one of those 'glass chins from Fairlane, no bumpers, will be chrome pushbars, the bottom radiator splash panel I made after this pic came from a mid 80's Lincoln, might not be the right shape for the 49 Plymouth grill...
If you're handy with sheet metal, the stock grill can be made more distinctive by removal of the top bar.
How about whackin the top off, chop the windsheild 4 1/2" and pull it back , suicide the doors,shorten the decklid 12"pie cut the fenders,hammer weld out the bodylines on all 4 fenders?
Well, it was far from a drop in replacement. I first cut away any sheet metal that would allow the grill to sit in place for basic mock up. I then framed the grill in 1/4" steel rod, and fabricated the bolt on points to the grill from the 1/4" rod frame. From there I made the grill surround from 6 separate pieces, formed with a planishing hammer, and then gas/hammer welded it all together. I probably spent 3-4 weekends on the basic rough in.
Ok, this is definately not HAMB traditional but the chop part is great. Work was performed by Fred Golden and Ramsey Mosley. If you are using IE you can enlarge the page enough to read the whole artical. I did this feature back in early 2002 or late 2001. Enjoy