Thread: Grille- yea or neh

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I have the new grilles. Not sure yet. One is polished stainless & laser cut.
I'm always looking for something to separate me from the crowd.
Give me a yes or a no- but keep an open mind.

Here's the car- only difference is it has knock-offs on wheels now.


SS traditional grille


One of the new grilles- I only leaned it up agains't the other installed grille for visual. Might look better w/ other grille out.


Another view



I would probably use the outside frame of another SS grille & remove the bars- and tig weld it to the edge of the new grille. The new grille edge doesn't do a thing for me.

So??????? Be nice.

The grill with all the flames screams "rat rod".

Originally Posted by brianrupnow

The grill with all the flames screams "rat rod".

How do you figure that?

Opinions are like @#holes---everybody has one. Thats just my opinion.

I'm with Brian on this one! You have a beautiful roadster, it doesn't need something like that to draw attention to it.
Oh yeah,that's my opinion!

Mick

Originally Posted by Steves32

I'm always looking for something to separate me from the crowd.

Well, if you want your car to stand out in a crowd, the flame grille will achieve that goal, but for all the wrong reasons. Just my opinion, of course.

Bob

You are not the only person with this problem.

I just talked with one of my customers, who has a really nice red '32 highboy roadster. He just did the Goodguys/scottsdale event, and noticed that, unlike last year, when he took his flamed '32 sedan, the roadster was not getting any attention. We are now planning graphics.

The point is that while the '32 roadster might be the "quintessential hot rod", if it is too generic, it will be overlooked when around other rods. I don't personally care for the grill, as well as the original, but that does not make it wrong or right. You need to please yourself first.

Like my friend, you obviously like the classic elements on a rod. On his, the flames will include some sort of "twist" to make them unique and memorable. Scallops might be another possibility, gold leaf numbers on the doors, some sort of a 40s-50s cartoon illustration, or "bomber nose art" pinup girl. I'm not going to get more specific, as this is how I make my living, but you can keep the classic look, and still make it unique.

BTW, beautiful car! I love the Moon tank! :-)

I have both grilles so it's no sweat which I use.
When I saw the pics- I liked it- and ordered it.
I posted the question here because I want opinions from other Deuce owners & you guys know your Deuces! Your opinion matters, that's why I asked.
I could give a crap what some guy w/ a 4x4 truck at a show thinks about my flamed grille, it's the people who love the Deuce that matter. I also don't want it to become a rat rod crossover of some type either. Originally- that was my fear but I ordered it in polished stainless instead of ready-to-paint steel for the flash. Rat rods don't shine.
I have a habit of wanting my cars to stand out. Many things done on my 55 Chevy were quite trend setting. People thought I was nuts when I did them & now there are kits to do the same exact thing I fabricated from scratch. What it got me was class wins 4 years in a row at Super Chevy Shows , 3 years in a row at GoodGuys & several covers & car show T-shirts. I'm always looking for something different but I don't want it different for the wrong reasons.
Sometimes you get caught up in the new & need a wake up call. Sometimes you can't see the forest through the trees.
That Dan Fink grille may be the final ticket afterall (later-long lead time). Unless- I can get someone to fab one out of show polished one-off 1/8" vertical SS box tubing to look like a traditional grille. Did I just say that out loud?

One of these days- I'll buy a car and leave it alone. Yea, right.

Yeah, opinions are very subjective, but you asked so you must really want to know. I don't care for "gimmicky" things like flamed grilles or those grille shells that are cut out to look like flames are trailing back from it. But that is me. If you like it that is all that counts.

Don

PS, you mention a Dan Fink insert. I have one on my '27 and his workmanship is beyond compare. I had to save up a few paychecks to get it many years ago, but it still looks great after 20 years.

IMO your Deuce should be treated like any other car.... Build what you want, personalize it the way you want, and who cares what anyone else thinks???? Heck, if you have some different grilles, switch them out to match your mood of the day....

Go for it. But hang your original insert on the garage wall. You may change your mind after a while. Or not.

The truth HURTS sometimes ...

But you could not PAY ME to put the flame grill in my car.
I really like your car ... and I believe that a true knowledgeable " Deuce guy " would love it also.

Sometimes at the shows ... the general crowd walks right on by ... and that's cool too ... but when the " Deuce guy " stops and looks my Roadster over and smiles ... or gives you the thumbs up ... That's when I smile ...

Most of the general crowd does not have a clue ...



Photo taken by Don Dillard @ the LA Roadster event 2007

Deuce makes a point that we have also discussed ourselves..........to build a car to please the average non-car crowd that attend shows you would have to put some outrageous accessories on it and paint it with cartoon characters all over it. Then they would love it. But when a real car nut stoops down to study some little detail you have built into the car, that is the real reward. It's even nicer when he or she takes the time to talk with you about the things you have done.

Don

After you put the flamed grille in be prepared for questions like, "How long do you have to leave that in there to pay off the bet you lost?"

It really is difficult to do "different" things to a Deuce, especially tasteful mods. There are only so many pieces to work with, and so many have been done. As has been said, it's about execution of the details where the appreciation of the knowledgable comes. If you're thinking (out loud or otherwise)of having custom grille pieces made, look at trimming out a stock (or stock like) insert with some additional patterns. I saw a couple cars at the Roadsters Swap and Show that had a Pines Winterfront trim set (or masterful copies) on them, it really gave some nostalgic pop to the grille. I'd post a pic if I've got one in the file, but I'm visiting my mother, using her decrepid computer, and don't have my pic files handy. But you could spend some time doing online searches of pictures of similar vintage luxury cars (Lincolns, Nashes, Imperials, and so on) for inspiration. Some of their grilles apply trim in a very tasteful way. Another would be sports cars of the era (Jag, Lagonda, Bentley) for some other alternatives.

Once again, just an opinion, but I wouldn't even hang that flamed insert on my shop wall let alone put it on my car. Everyone has different idea of what the "perfect" deuce should look like, if it should have fenders, if it should be chopped, and if so, how much, what kind of hood, what kind of graphics, what type of wheels, how wide of tires, traditional bias plys or modern radials, roadster or coupe, etc... if they were all the same they'd be boring.
Your car looks awesome in the first pic you posted...sometimes changing stuff just for changes sake isn't a good thing... on the flipside of that, if you like it, use it, and tell everyone who has something smart as$ed to say about it (like me!) to $#%*-off.