Hi and thanks for the add. I live in Western Australia and in the early stages of building 1934 Ford 3 window Coupe. Thee body will be composite fibreglass one as steel ones are way too expensive in Australia and very rare as is a 34 Grille. I am currently looking at fitting a Nottingham 33 Grille wth a 33 hood and sides. Can any of you guys advise if the above combination will work in the 34 as I believe the 33 hood is 3/4" logger that the 34. Thanking you in advance. Cheers.......Neville
Years ago I got this idea at 2 AM, got out of bed, got dressed, went down to the garage, marked a couple '36 front door garnish, next thing I know, with the garage door open, the chop saw starts singing to the neighbors … I cut the flat armrest section off with a cut that matched the '34 grill's angle... took the 2 curved upper sections and welded the ends together with the pointed ends down... makes a '34ish grill... the garnish molding's inside edge is flat where it would rub the glass... this surface was perfect for pan screwing in a sheet metal grill insert... I had a local plasma cutting wizard cut the stenciled words "hot" and "rod" into the insert... we stretched the outer edges of the letters to follow the grill's contour... raffled it off to fund a rock band for our next rod run... got $1500.00 for it... about any pre-vent window door or tudor rear window garnish should work... coupe and fordor garnish make shorter grills than a tudor… save the flat sections of the garnish as they can be trimmed to make model A style door garnish... pre computer... no pix.
Neville As you are in Western Australia then telephone Phil Pav at Magic Metals in Malaga. He can tell you everything you ever wanted to know about 33/34 Fords and then some. He has built plenty.
Thanks Mate, I have spoken to Phil and he is going to get back to me some info. Sounds like a really nice guy
'33 hood and grille will fit a '34 no problem, only body mod would be to fill the latch hole on th elower cowl and add the '33 catch angle. Be aware that you may have to "fit" the hood to the Nottingham grille. The front of the hood on my friend's didn't fit so we fixed it as shown in the pictures. Fit was tight at the center and shy at the outer edge, we cut a wedge out that brought the front back and then we could move the grille back so the side gap was right. Don't think it is a one time deal as my kid bought another Nottingham from a restorer who didn't want to mod his hood.
The 33 and 34 hood tops are also different where they wrap around the radiator cap. Look at the pictures posted above. You’ll have to modify it like done above, but without the reveal line that that hood has. If I remember correctly, the 33 hood bends down forward of the radiator cap, the the 34 hood is flat. There is also the 3/4” length differences. Just an FYI, on my 34, I have 34 hood sides, and got a 33 rootlib hood tops from someone selling them in the classifieds. It only took me a couple of days to modify the 33 hood top to become a 34 hood top. Cannot remember for certain, but I think I had to modify the front and back center hinge mounts also. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
The Jalopy Journal
