rear grilles! pics and howd it get done??

so, i have a 59 Edsel Villager... im going mild/full custom on its ass... literally... so im trying to get an idea for a rear grille. i may throw up a build thread but, im at a stand still with the eff'd up oregon weather.. anyhow, what im lookin for here is pics of rear grilles. maybe ones YOU'VE done and pics of how you done did it. Or equally helpful, if you have an old mag that has a "how to" article in it or scans of said articles. Perhaps this can be an homage to that seriously sick custom style that was the rear grille, and an awesome collection of famous cars that had one on its ass end!


any how, i'll kick it off with one of my favorites... the adonis.

 

no one?

 

I think the Custom crowd is thinning out....

 

wow... how sad.

 

As a die hard Kustom Guy I will agree not alot or rear end treatments done anymore other than a tailight or bumper change. One thing to remember people love chrome when you lose it and do a grill you dont want it to look like a painted bumper and the grill should have some shiney stuff in it to offset the additinal paint of the new sheetmetal. The Blue Truck at the LB Motorama was bitchin and I think Mcphails new truck will get ya going

 

check out this thread. getting done at gambino's and its looking awesome. still a lot more chrome than you might have in mind. i think its around the end of the thread where they are talking about it.

http://jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=498514&page=24

 

I would like to see some pics too.
here are a a few that i found on the internet.






Now that you guys bring it up: there arn't as many rear grille treatments done now-a-days. It's time someone start bringing it back.

 

im with ya, gonna do one on my cadillac to match the front

 

its already got the lines for it. jus french the tailgate and add some tube floaters to it.

 

what bumper is that on the rear of the barris car under the starbird custom???

 

oh and yea, im planning on molding all the tailgate trim in, but it will still need something where the bumper should be in order the rear to have a finished look and not just simply a roll pan finishing off the body.

 

Great thread. I always loved the 60's show car rear grill treatment. I hope to see some cool examples posted up.

 

2 things; 1st as an edsel owner I would be stoked to see some one build a rear kustom out of one, say like A bros circia 62? 2nd I for years now have loved rear grilles and have always wanted to do one, my 54 kinda took a course of its own and wound up being a mid 50's tasteful kustom but god knows deep in the core of my loins I LOVE a canted quad, rear grilled, drawer knobbed, tubed, chrome reversed steelied, trumpet tipped, angel fured, pearl shod kustom!!!

build away my brethren!

 

R&C dream truck

 

Sy-gregorich-1955-ford-victorian

One of my favorite customs.....one of the front for good measure

a link for more info: http://www.kustomrama.com/index.php?title=Sy_Gregorich's_1955_Ford

 

Some damn cool pics posted so far. I love this era of custom, not that the smoothed off look is bad, but the far out finned and grilled stuff of the 59-63 era is easily my favorite. That's the era and look I'm going for on my '62 Chrysler, although I've never even considered a rear grille....

 

Two Stude pans with some mesh of some sort made a lot of rear grilles. The Adonis, in the second pic, adds a '58 DeSoto bumper to the mix.

On the back of an Edsel, though, shouldn't you have a continental kit with a toilet seat mounted on the cover, to match the front? a horse collar also works.

 

You should post a pic of the edsel so people can see what you have to start with and what you have done with the taillights.

 

Here's my 57 Ford ----Stude pans 59 Chevy bumpers
Enjoy -----TwoChops

 

one of my favorites is the Alexander Bros Golden Indian, DirtyDixons 4th pick, looks clean and I like how they included the verticle grilles over the tailights

 

Ians rear grill on his Caddy...

 

Rear grilles rock. I gonna made one on my O/T lowrider car.
Pontiac had it from the factory in 63, and its real sharp too.

 

does anyone have more pictures of this one ??

 

so here is what im working with... taillight openings are still unfinished... and im on the fence with molding in the trim on the gate and back end...

 

here is what the rear looks like stock...



and here is the taillight treatment, removed the stock ones which leaves one large oval cavity and also caps the fin... thought i was going to just extend the fin, but decided it would look pretty sharp with hooded taillights that had a point to kinda flow and match the extended fin.. they still need work and fine tuning but... theyre close...





heres a close up of the left side wich is about 80% done..

 

Yep. That back end looks like its made to have a grille in it.
What lenses are you gonna shove on those buckets anyway?

About the back end, definiteley mold the trim.
Then, closing the gate completely would be awesome, but as practical as shoes w/ no sole.
I would keep it operational but hide the hinges and maybe find a way to hide the gaps as well, althou if its nice enuff nobody will care about the gaps.
I see expanded steel, is that what sheet steel w/ round holes is called right?, and plexi tubing in its future, or simply drawer knobs. Fantasy is the limit.

 

here's one I built for my 51 Victoria..Built from a 53 Stude front bumper pan...A more subtle approach compared to the others shown here...

These pics are terrible, I need to take a better one..

 

foppa, its the Aztec, a Barris built 55 chevy..

 

bonez, yea i am planning on using some perforated or textured aluminum of some sort... would like to do something like on the Adonis and have clear plexi rod that has the tips milled down to fit snug in to stainless tube end caps.. maybe some pontiac stars thrown in the mix... we'll see..

im making the lenses my self... but.. thoughts on having 58 chev taillight bezels in there??????

also................ front bumperettes will give way to a flipped 60 chevy truck hood