Projects Which grill treatment on my 53 Buick?

No one said the ENTIRE car should be left stock....only major components of the front end. Good is good, stock or not. See my post above.

Ray

 

Top one.

 

I was not saying keep it stock. Just taking the elements of the car and slightly, key word “slightly” exaggerating them. There are some examples above. You have a 4 hole Buick they already stand tall. I’m not advocating change for change sake or doing what has been done over and over again. I am saying keep it subtle. If it was mine I would slightly sink all the trim except the rear wheel opening trim. Ditch that and add the skirts. Just my opinion. Just what I would do. I thought we were here to share opinions and ideas. It’s your car after all and you have to live with it not anyone else.

 

Does anyone else think the bottom one looks like a barracuda- the fish, not the plymouth.

 

I like the upper lip and mesh of the Bottom grill. Loose the bar and teeth and use the bumper from the Upper Grill. Keep it simple and elegant.

 

You dogged the dog??? Honestly, Ray.

 

Not sure what it looks like, but looks a bit funky to me.

 

Its like a pirate.

 

I do like the top one.

 

I feel like the Imperial bar is too straight and boxy for the grille opening, but the Dodge bars make it really busy, with extra unnecessary parking lights. Also I think the scale of the Dodge bars is off, they'd be taller and not as wide, so in practice I think it'd look odd.

But what I could see is cut the ends of the Dodge bars off, swap them end for end, and weld them back together in the center for a floating bar. It would fit the shape of the grille opening better and keep people guessing. Here's a quick and shitty photoshop of what I mean on a Dodge, but I think it'd work equally well on your Buick. Likely no background grille would be needed. I think it'd also work better without the bumper bombs on the Buick bumper.

 

As others have alluded "Aesthetics are important". That idea should be paramount.

 

I think the 59 Imperial grill looks great and is the best of the choices here, and is easily as good or better than the factory treatment. I don't love the Lancer treatment.

As correctly pointed out here, properly nosing the car is of critical importance, including both the badging and ornament. Perhaps adding a smooth peak would add back some of the detail removed and still keep the hood smooth.

 

You have entered the bizzarro HAMB. Where shitbox hot rods and restored 50s cars are revered.