30 Model A grille shell on 28 body?

A pre-cut pic.

 

Then I made a couple of recessed plates and welded them in. Brought is down about an inch.I then trimmed out the shell to fit. Over all it is about and 1.75" shorter. It helps the proportions a lot. It is STILL a bit higher than a 28-29 shell, but it creates a downward slope from the cowl to the shell which is the most important thing you need to achieve to make it look right. I had to push my radiator forward a bit for my 427 clearance in case you were wondering why I cut where I did.
In no way am I saying that this is the way you should do it or that it is the only way, but I hope this helps!

 

I've been thinking about this for a long time too, that looks good.

 

Whichever way you go,good luck with it.It's off to a nice start.

 

Cant you just cut 2 and a half inches off the side like you do 32 shells

 

x2? Seems the obvious thing to do.

 

You shouldn't have any problem getting rid of the '31 Shell you have ....the 28/29 looks better to me......I guess I'm partial since I have a '29 Truck and building a '29 Woodie.........just an opinion....I'd let the guy paying for the parts and build decide...hehehe

 

Here's a quick Photoshop:

 

It depends on what radiator he goes with, I had to do some goofy shit to make my 30-31 aftermarket radiator work with my shell

 

thanks for the photoshop, that does change the look of it.

 

Thanks for all your feedback! I'm still brainstorming... i just try to avoid the "standart" 28-body with 32-shell look

@Tbird: Great car! Please keep us posted!

 

Hi there Entlebucher. Here are some photos of mine. I didn't choose to do this, I just made my car with what happened to come to hand. When I find a shorter radiator, I'll probably put a 28 grille shell on or I will lower the 30 grille by cutting the sides away as on a 32.

. My chassis is a 31, by the way, and I have been told, although I don't know if it is true is that the radiator mounts are slightly more recessed than on the 28 29 chassis. This might mean that the "uphill" hood that results from running the later grille with the early body may be more extreme when using the earlier chassis.

I found that the 28 hood sides sloped up too much to use so I fabricated a hood top out of scrap aluminium. The upward slope is very slight and almost invisible when running without a hood and it kind of works if you run a lot of rake (I have fitted 5x 16s on the front and 7.50x16s) but it does annoy me. I couldn't bring myself to move the radiator forward to lower it. It just looks too long in the nose to my taste.

Anyway. My car is just a rough jalopy and, historically, I have seen similar rough, nose-high cars made out of bits and pieces, just as mine is, so I'm in good company, traditionally. Cheers -Ed

 

One I found on the net somewhere...Maybe elsewhere on the Hamb

 

Looks a lot better,

http://rides.rodandcustommagazine.com/ride/1204869/hotroddisorder/1929/ford/model-a/index.html

 

Out of the ordinary changes should not be made just to be different, use what is on hand, or some other made up reason to try justify it. IMO

 

This is the shell that (need louvers) is talking about cut down a '30 commercial I think its a model AA <TABLE id=post7455894 class=tborder border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%" align=center><TBODY><TR><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #e5e5e5 1px solid; BORDER-LEFT: #e5e5e5 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #e5e5e5 1px solid; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; BORDER-RIGHT: #e5e5e5 0px solid" class=thead><!-- status icon and date --><!-- / status icon and date --></TD><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #e5e5e5 1px solid; BORDER-LEFT: #e5e5e5 0px solid; BORDER-TOP: #e5e5e5 1px solid; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; BORDER-RIGHT: #e5e5e5 1px solid" class=thead align=right></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #e5e5e5 0px solid; BORDER-LEFT: #e5e5e5 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #e5e5e5 0px solid; BORDER-RIGHT: #e5e5e5 1px solid" class=alt2 width=175><SCRIPT type=text/javascript> vbmenu_register("postmenu_7455894", true); </SCRIPT>


</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

 

That's the ticket! God I miss that little car!!!

 

Wow, neat little car.

 

Ive never paid much attention to this stuff one these cars but I have to admit, I REALLY like the combo!

 

Thanks again!
@Len: Nice combination! I think it's the same grill they used for the Gaz-A in russia:

 

I plan on doing this same thing to my 28-29 (with a 31 grille shell).
Going to go the route the previous poster said about cutting it down a couple inches to fit.
In fact I'm not even using a Ford radiator...it was acquired off of Craigslist, and advertised as ford, but it appears to be a Chevy, and I knew that when I bought it, but the price was right, and I will "make" it fit.
I'll need to do some tweaking, but that's the point of hot rodding, or so I thought...
I mean, if you are just collecting all of the usual parts and bolting them on, trouble free, aren't you basically doing the same as a street rodder?
I was under the impression that "traditional" rodders used whatever they could afford or was available to them, maybe I was wrong?
Do we really need another A with a Deuce grill?
Sure, if you can get an ORIGINAL one, but they are getting pretty hard to come by.

Can't believe all the naysayers.
Actually, scratch that...can't believe there aren't more.

 

When I was mocking up the tub, I started out with the original '29 shell on it. I hated it. I could see the front spring clamp and a small amount of the crossmember from standing in front of the car. All that stuff is hidden by the splash apron on a stocker,but mine is a hiboy now.

I felt the need to cover the ugly with something. I grabbed a '30-'31 commercial shell that I had hanging on the wall and propped it up on there with the top of the shell at the correct height. It worked out great I think. It's about three inches taller than the earlier shell, which was just enough to cover the ugly.

So I went ahead and built the car with the taller shell. Made a custom aluminum radiator and fan shroud. I don't take a lot of pictures...this one is a couple of years old. Since then I've chopped and leaned the windshield and a bunch of other stuff.The disc brakes have been replaced with chrome '40 drum brakes. She's just a few days away from being fired up for the first time.