Hi there, Im thinking about installing a 53 Desoto grill in my chopped 50 Merc. This is the 11 tooth grill. Along with the teeth, it has the lower panel and upper support. I can also get the front bumper. Im wondering if it is worth getting the bumper? Has anybody on here done this type of installation? and did u use or would u recommend retaining the Merc bumper or Desoto bumper. Have any pics? Thanks for any help.
Here are a few different samples: Desoto grille with a 49-50 Merc front bumper, one with a 51 Merc bumper and last one with the Desoto grille and Desoto bumper. Of course, there are countless variations with bumper boards and over-riders, so pick what you like.
I you can get the bumper then take it...if you don't use it then someone you know will, they are a nice fit for many customs.
I agree with Charlie, get the Bumper, If You don't like it, sell it, they look good on a lot of Cars and they're becoming scarce.
I have a '52 grille in my '53 Ford car and I'm going to rework it to use the DeSoto pan and the bumper. I think the DeSoto bumper is a perfect match to the grille, they have the same shape and seem to work well with each other. Just looking at the pics above, the last one with the DeSoto bumper just looks so much better to me.
Thanks for the help and the pics. I agree, I think the last one that has the Desoto bumper on it looks really nice. Ill get the bumper as well. Thanks again all.
I have a similar project going. My two cents to add is to pick up two Desoto front bumpers. Use a front Desoto bumper on the back of the Merc to tie things together. The curve of the Desoto bumper is similar to the Merc back end. Looked to me that a few cuts and a little bending would get them to match. The rear bumper for the Desoto looks to work on a '51 Merc. Neal
Using the 53 Desoto front bumper on the Merc gives the front of the Merc a "heavy" look which pulls your attention away from the grille teeth as it has more mass. In anycase, buy the bumper also. It's like money in the car bank.
the desoto bumpers do look ok, but like Fordy said, their kinda heavy looking. they remind me of a snow plow.. the merc bumpers look better to me up front. but if you do run the desoto bumper i would definately do what Neal through in there for the back bumper..couple more pics too.
well, i just got the grill and the bumper. Decisions, decisions. Thanks for the pics slddnmatt. And thanks for the help everyone.
are those desoto pan's hard to make/find? I 'm working on a '49 and recently bought some teeth of ebay. Crappy quality, lots of sand pits which will make the chrome process really expensive. Anyways, these teeth are not flat at the bottom thus i need to make (or buy) a metal pan.... who can help?
Gene Winfield makes/sells fiberglass pans that are made to mount a 53 DeSoto girlle in a 49-51 Merc. There was someone on the HAMB that was making pans from metal and selling them...not cheap but not FG either. You may find his post with a search.
Floor, depending on what you have already invested in your Desoto teeth, you might be better off to keep searching for a complete Desoto grill with the pan still attached. A decent grill pan with teeth can run as much as $950. But, it might save you money on chrome plating a badly deteriorated teeth. If you can find a grille already chrome plated, buy it, as chrome plating is very expensive, as much as $300 per tooth for show quality chrome.
I have a desoto grill and I was going to use it in my merc, it is a 11 tooth grill, I had bought 2 pans incase I needed to cut them to make them fit mycar, asin bening around the fenders and such. I have since deided to round my grill shell and build a custom stainless grill for my car. I just dont want to fight with getting theteeth chromed and deal with the headaches of making the teeth nice enough, the last chroming I had done came back with the pits chromed...Here are the pick of the grill when I was fitting it in my car...Jim
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