Stainless steel grills homemade

[old yellow 78]

Way back I tossed many a JC whitney tube grills as being "clown like" now they would be cool.

Actually, I also think the "billet" type grilles would look cool on Aspens and Volares. Kind of fits the era of the car and also takes care of the problem of having no alternative. I doubt that it would be terribly expensive to have one made up by one of the companies, but who knows. I do know I'm really glad that I was able to get my "almost" NOS '78 Aspen grill at Carlisle last year. I keep it under lock and key in a climate controlled fortified vault on a bed of feathers with armed guards on duty 24/7.

 

[Oldiron440]

This was on moparts, I don't care for some of his work but I like the grill.
Grill frame is made from aluminum.

 

[SixBanger]

That looks well made

 

[DCAspen]

That grill looks great on your car Oldiron.Was it expensive?Nice craftsmanship.

 

[old yellow 78]

Someone did a good job on replicating the Volare grille here. I like the looks of it. I would think the '78/'79 Aspen grille would be somewhat easier.

 

[Oldiron440]

That is from a build done on moparts, the guy did several custom thinking to his car.

 

[modelmakerinc]

The grill on the Green Volare is on this build thread Starting page 9

https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/2116859/11/76-volare-yes-a-volare.html

 

[BudW]

@modelmakerinc did you, by chance, save your measurements on your custom grill?
If so, could/would you post here so others could make one (if needed)?

You did a wonderful job and I wouldn't mind making one myself (not to sell) and putting my original one up before it gets damaged. I wish someone would start repopping our grills - but, sigh, that is a topic for another discussion.
BudW

 

[Camtron]

I work for an industrial and architectural steel company that specializes in expanded and perforated metals and designer wire mesh if you guys ever want anything “neat” for custom grill inserts lol

 

[SixBanger]

Grill has been made with real craftsmen. It would be very nice to make a steel grill out of sheetmetal. At work I can send cad files to laser cut stainless steel. Just to build a grill for my volare.

 

[XfbodyX]

There are still plenty of nos 76 77 grilles around for 3-400 if you bypass ebay.

 

[SixBanger]

Ehm yeah. But I am afraid that it might be cracked when it travel by plane to here. And if in one piece, it could get damage when working in the engine bay.

 

[BudW]

I wish these grills were repopped.
Sense they are not and if someone was making grills that looked decent (out of metal, or whatever) I would purchase one (or more). Metal would be more durable than the original plastic design. I plan on driving my cars daily, and I would love to put my original grill away for safekeeping. I cringe talking my car to somewhere like Wa____ where you just don’t know what would be left when you got back to your car.
BudW

 

[XfbodyX]

Gotta bust your balls a bit Bud, but you say "I would love to put my original grill away for safekeeping" for what to put on your casket? Knock on wood like 4 times and although I live in the sticks I cant recall the last time I broke a F part that wasnt intentional.

It is a bit ironic, ive 2-3x of most things just in case of a bad day and ive thought of dumping them over and over, but worry about when I do I will hurt something.

 

[modelmakerinc]

The design of the grill is very basic, I traced the original and cleaned up the lines a bit, the inserts were done over wood bucks, The frame is 1/4 " aluminum. It was a good amount of work and several steps to build ot then a bit more work to make the mounting brackets.
It is not a part that could be made to sell for anything less than $600 with the hours plus materials it needed to fabricate. So the market is zero.

Look through the pages of the build thread and you will get a good idea on how it went together.
It fits great and looks better in person than in the pics. so fellas, break out the tools and go for it.

I build all sorts of unique items for my cars, this car has a dozen custom built touches that most dont even realize.

I am pretty surprised that no one has asked about the hood and my Volare "Volatile" is for sale too.