I went to an auction and got a bunch of tube grilles for about $15. They're stainless. Most are for late 90's to early 2000's trucks. They are already spaced and have mounts and could be easily trimmed. Has anyone adapted these already made grilles to an early traditional custom?
At our now defunct '50s nite in San Jose (CA) back in '78, a longtime custom builder (Jack someone) showed up with his '50 Merc, cool new tube grille. He was boasting he had the ONLY tube grille around, because the tube grilles available....weren't available any more. So, he made his from 1/2" EMT. (electrical metal tubing, or 'conduit') Then he bent the tubes in their centers with a 'hickey', (ala Joe Bailon) and trimmed the ends to fit. He had Gary at Reliable Plating do them up in 'Show Chrome', then attached them to brackets behind the tubes...metal screws! It was sharp... Same night, old cool Rex Kuuns scrapes in the low driveway (showed 'class' if you were low enough to scrape) with his severely dropped '50 Ford coupe. Rex was sporting a new grille, nicely 'frenched' opening, and a horizontal bar grille, almost identical to the one in Jack's Merc... Jack asked who chromed the bars. Rex said the grille was for a pickup or van...he just trimmed it down! Got it for $20... Great idea, and a nice job fitting it... By the way...When Dennis Moomjean closed his fabulous shop (and wreckers) he had many miscellaneous parts left, I went thru and filled my F100 bed full! Some of the stuff was weird, there were many pieces wrapped in brown paper, freshly chromed. One had a word electra-sketched on the inside, 'Datsun'. They were newly chromed early Datsun bumper guards! 40 of them. Took them to the Turlock swap, opened 3 of them, some custom guys came up and asked what they were, I said 'Barris had these made somewhere, they're grille bars for Mercs...' The guys bought every one of them, asked if I had any more.....
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