So a couple of years ago I picked up an Alumicraft Pines Winterfront grille insert and enquired about the availability or prospects of a badge to compliment the insert....with nothing available except for original, hard to source badges i set about creating my own. I enlisted the help of graphic artist Jason Krzmarzick who with the aid of a couple of scanned badges created the final vector file. The first badge i acquired came off a different model but was the correct badge. Gary Mussman was kind enough to help me with shipping and removed the badge from the grille insert and forwarded the badge to me. It was a good starting point but as you can see it had some serious patina. I moved that badge on to someone with an original Pines insert. The vector file was getting closer but needed some tweaks and refinement. I was lucky to find another grille insert from another unknown model with a very nice badge, however it was void of any colour. A quick spray with a rattle can and some 2000grit gave us a great reference for what we had been missing. With the vector finally at a stage where i was happy to go to production, I contacted Texas Nameplate Co and worked out the details. I received notification that the badges were ready for shipping and had this image of the finished product sent through. Im very happy with the final product. I have made a small run of badges, please DM for further information. I am currently working on the crank hole cover which should be available soon. Monty
I love it and the effort you went to in creating it, but with so few of the grilles out there, is a sizable market to be had? I guess you don't really have to own a Winterfront to enjoy the emblem..Looks like a beautiful piece for sure.
No its definitely a niche market, essentially i wanted a new badge to suit my 32 sedan which when finished will also be new...hopefully they can both age gracefully together.
I was considering buying one of those repro Winterfront grilles for my 32, but the lack of trying to find a badge here in the UK (plus the cost of those repro's) meant that I shelved that idea. I'm sure if you do a run of these and put them up for sale you'll get rid of them.....
From I read the '32 Winterfronts(made by Pines) that the Ford dealer sold had just a plain smooth cover .Only the ones marketed by Pines and their vendors had the cover with the graphics.Here is a pic from the book
LOVE the amount of info that flows thru the HAMB. Kudos to all you great guys that share the knowledge!
When I bought my 5 window in Sept. 1970 there was a Pines in the trunk but no shell or original insert. It did have a plain stainless crank hole cover and it was a manually operated unit, it opened with a cable like a choke. Pines were also sold with thermostatically controlled, vacuum operated shutters. In 1970 I wisely (?) traded it off for a stock grille insert. Who knew, and I was building a hot rod anyway. Even if I had kept it it wouldn’t have ever found its way on a hot rod, the Ford grille can’t be improved on in my opinion.
Thats.how i understand it to be aswell. Perhaps any one with a Ford delivered car may want to preserve that fact. Im hoping the Alumicraft owners may want a badge to improve the aesthetics.
I've had 2 deuce winter fronts and they both had plain covers without the logo. Yours look fantastic.
I am thinking of doing a small run of badges and was wondering if there were any interested HAMB members? Badges are $225 USD shipped worldwide.
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