I can appreciate wanting something made in USA, but would you buy crap just because it was made here? My last three Deuces were built with Brookville shells, and they took too much work to look and fit correctly. Next time I'll use what's best no matter where it's made. If Brookville wonders why they are selling less shells, maybe they'll work on their dies and get competitive again.
I seen your response, I was asking in regards to 5Wcoupe's purchase. Thanks for all the insight guys.
I've done a lot of pkg roadsters and several deuces for myself over the last several years and if I can't use a gennie shell I have landed with the Vintique shell with a Dales insert. I've had to many fitment problems with the Brookville shell???
Vintique does not sell direct, only thru dealers suchas Yogi's, Speedway, Parr, etc. They are a long time aftermarket supplier and make very good Repro "stuff" check with Yogi's they are also an "old" shop ad very highly thought of as well as being very knowledgable. Good Luck Big Jim
I had 3 new shells to pick from when redoing the front of my roadster after an accident. Vintique, Brookville & a cheap Ebay knock-off. Insert of choice was a Dales. Brookville wasn't even close to fitting the Dales insert. Curves were wrong. The Ebay one was a joke. The Vintique one fit like a glove- fit was perfect.
Sorry for the delay- I am using original insert not repro but I also have an original shell to compare my Vintiques shell to and as far as insert fit, the shells very close to same.
Gary, in some of your older posts, you have mentioned you had to fill the vintique shells due to the holes for the radiator / emblem mount being off. Is that an issue in recent years?
I went back and looked at the E-mail I got from Brookville Roadster telling me the shell I won had been back ordered,,strange,I thought they made them but the back order came from Antique Auto Sheet Metal. UPDATE: Shipment was canceled <nobr>Tuesday, November 13, 2012 3:08 PM</nobr> From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Add sender to Contacts To: [email protected] <table bgcolor="#EDF9BD" border="1" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td>Your shipment from Antique Auto Sheet Metal was canceled. <table border="0"> <tbody><tr><td>Pkg 1:</td><td>Order Number: </td><td>5887</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table> I still don't have a shell. HRP
HRP You need to contact Brookville. You are aware that you need to send the balance on the shell ? My good buddy also won a grill shell and if I remember it cost him right around $50.00
I bought mine ,grill and shell,off of the bay.Guy with the name"1badcamero". Had lots of good comments about it. Free shipping .He is in Columbus Ga.
I've talked to them 3 times by phone and no one ever mentioned a word about money except that if I wanted the original style shell I would need to give them about 375.00 for a complete grill/insert/bezel/cap and badge.,,HRP
Kirk! ask me about this last week and I forwarded him the information,,he passed it on to the guys that take care of the Goodguys prize giveaways to look into. HRP
I sent them another E-mail today after I posted this but I really doubt I'll get a response until next week. HRP
I have an nice original Douche shell on my Model A and the Vintiques insert fits somewhat poorly in it. I've had to do a little whackin' and bangin' on the insert to get it to fit close to the original shell. It's still not right but it's just a jalopy.
It's looking like a Vintique shell with all thier trimmings around the fill hole and a Dales insert with the crank hole from Kenny's Rod and Kustom
Purchased two complete shells, cap, ornament and emblem along with Dale's Mfg. insert from Brookville several years ago. Insert would not go back into the shell far enough for the bottom of the ornament to mate up with the top of the insert properly. The holes for the ornament were also drilled off center. Had to do considerable cutting and shaping of the shell so the insert would fit properly and not take the paint off the shell when installing the insert. The four mounting indentations for shell to radiator were not in the right positions. Talked with Brookville at SEMA, they said the shells take 7 different draws to get one stamped and formed properly and they were not aware of any problems. I looked at the 3 window on display and they had drilled the shell to radiator mounting holes off center near the stamped indentations. Looks like they just weren't being stamped properly. In addition, the Brookville shells do not have the crank hole or side vent holes. You can order the Dale's Mfg insert with or without the crank hole. After looking at a lot of 32 grille assemblies it may not be a big issue unless you are using the original style cap, ornament and emblem. HRP: FYI, Antique Auto is the company Ray Gollahon originally formed to sell his reproduction sheet metal parts when he first started. He later formed Brookville Roadster. They are both still active entities and located at the same location.
A Rodder: On some of the early Vintique stock style shells the the rad hole and related holes to mount the bezel were off to the right of center about 1/4 inch. I recently had a stock style Vintique shell and this appears to have been corrected.
I thought a Dales insert was custom fit to the shell you tell him you have (Brookville, Vintique, ect). How can all the blame be put on the shell, when all the different inserts are all over the place. I think all the inserts except Dales are off shore shit.
Well, if you have a shell that's off and an insert that's off, odds are that some of them will match perfectly. of course, that wouldn't be the ones I had.
I use to work for Obsolete Ford Parts which is owns Dales Manufacturing. Their grill inserts are made in Oklahoma City. They used a NOS Ford grill insert for the tooling that makes the grill inserts. They do offer versions that do not have the crank hole as well as chopped versions. I have personally sold probably 200-300 inserts as well as Brookville shells and never had one that would not fit. It has been a number of years since I worked there and sold them but I would still purchase a Dales grill insert and Brookville shell anyday. If you are having trouble with a Brookville insert make sure that you call and ask for one of the managers. They are great people to work with and they will make it right. If you want a fiberglass grill shell talk to Wescotts they make one of the best fiberglass shells.
MY EXPERIENCE. I bought the Dales insert with a Vintiques shell, original style and the vintiques lace kit, emblem, bullnose piece and radiator cap. All from Kenny's Rod and Kustom. I got a good deal for all at $650 including shipping. The insert fits tight which isn't necessarilly bad but I do think it will scratch the paint up going in once the shell is painted, we will see. The insert is uniform all the way around and once set into its mounted place looks good. The hole for the radiator cap/emblem/bullnose and the three holes and the hole for the emble are drilled/punched off center. The tip if of the bull nose is about 1/4 off of the center of the center bar on the insert and its not the insert that is off, the insert matches the crown stamping of the shell surround. I had to really put some pressure twisting the bullnose to get all four screw holes lined up. I think I will die grind the holes over a tad and allow the bullnose piece to move and rotate to get the tip of the bullnose to be over the center bar where it should be. There is some manufacturing dimples, two on each side of the smooth part of the shell, I am not sure why they are there but it is a little dissappointing. There seems to be a little of a low spot on the shell off the the passenger side of the fill cap area. Here are some pics. With a little flexing to get all the screws lined up, this is as good as it gets, without the screw in, the "natural" spot where it wanted to line up was clocked over to the right even more. Maybe the dimples are where to drill to mount it? There are two on each side and they are symetric. Maybe these will help a future buyer. I think the insert is nice and heavier feeling. Comparing it to another insert I got on a car recently, it is much more rigid feeling. I can be safe to assume that no one expects to pull these out of a box and shoot them in a deep gloss black without some work but I thought the nose piece should fit much better than it does. Joe
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