I was capitulating on using a rough ‘49 Caddy grill that I have or trying to replicate a Merc like grille surround like ate aforementioned Devil’s lettuce features. I ultimately decided to go Merc style. I made a wood form that follows the contour of the front lip of the hood. I took a section of 1.75” OD electrical conduit and cut slits every inch then used clamps to press the tube into the contour and tack welded to hold the shape. The more difficult part of the process was then bending this section to follow the contour of the hood on the other axis. I got it fairly close using a hydraulic press. It will require some lead or filler to perfect the shap but it looks pretty decent.
I took some 16 gauge sheet and made a panel that would bridge the tow fenders and again follow the contour of the front hood lip. This panel will contain the type I made for the grille surround. The next task was to trim away the stock inner fender panel to allow the tube grille to blend into the fender. I used a U-bend piece of exhaust tube to create the radius’s arch at each end of the grille opening.
I then used the exhaust tube radius to mark and trim away the fender to allow the tube to integrate into the fender. The tubes were tacked in place. And then trimmed flush to the fender bottoms. The bumper filler has been rough trimmed to fit. I will need to fabricate panels That connect the filler to the fenders as well as fabricate the inner grille surround. I welded all the slits up and ground down the welds which really sucked. Would have been smarter to Use a tube bender! Then, I mocked everything up. I was originally going to use a ‘56 Chrysler grille bar but wound up picking up a rough ‘55 Desoto grille that fills the space better. I have front fender sections with headlights from a ‘55 Olds that I am considering grafting in but I kind of like the stock headlight rings frenched in. I’m on the fence but it may be good to use some restraint.
I will no longer be able to Use the stock hood latch so I need to figure out how to strengthen the fender bridge, build and align a new latch system.
I built the bridge between the fenders that contains the hood latch and connects the inner fenders.its an overlapped section that sandwiches the grille bar. I tried my hand at rig bracing with silicone bronze and was pretty happy with the results until I ran out of gas and reverted to the mig. Looks decent after some grinding.
This was a super tough decision to make. I have been ata. Crossroads with the 50 coupe. It is super rusty and really needs the whole bottom of the car replaced plus blasting or dipping to Be able to weld to clean metal. Time is a super precious resource between work and family on top of that. I found a ‘52 coupe for Sale locally for 50% less than the cost of the EMS panels alone. It has one area that is rusty which was the same location in the 50 - the beltline and rear window corner and front floor Pan needs a patch but otherwise quite solid. I feel Like I’ve betrayed the 50 coupe but this is a better path forward for sure.
This was pretty sketchy but went much more easily than I imagined. I built an a frame with 2x4s up front and used sawhorses in the rear to support the body which I lifted with a cherry picker. I rolled the old chassis out and the one I be been building in the side. All went well but the track width of the new chassis was slightly wider so I had to be pretty precise getting everything aligned. I cut out the floor for the notch but will need to Section the rear wheel Wells so the tires don’t rub. Overall very happy!
The Jalopy Journal
