VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 Looking for a Grille for a 38 coupe

What would you do if... My Grille is rusting up on the left/drivers side, the right side is OK not perfect but ok. I'm not wanting to paint the whole grille but have thought about painting the middle bars and leaving the thicker bars and outer piece chrome. The problemis the bottom two thicker cross bars have some rust and the others are a bit rough and some pitting. I'm not in love with the ganster style grilles. Do any of you know where to find a nice new or used original type grille at that isn't 1800.00 or is that the expected price?

typed in ***1938 CHEVROLET GRILL *** into my ebay usa search and there was 2 real nice ones on auction.

looked at some sold complete auctions and a completely restored & replated one went for $1275.00 triple plated. A bunch of others went for assorted prices for 1/2 grill and center pieces ect. Ebay is a good place to find what you need.

mike lynch......

Thanks i saw a half grille on there but nothing else.

those are exact words I typed in to search and saw the 2 full grill sides on auction.
mike

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trk...evrolet+grill&_sacat=0&_from=R40

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1938-Chevy-...ries&hash=item4d20c6c8f0&vxp=mtr

Dick Moffit Chevy Parts is an outfit (I think out of Ohio) who sells those grilles on Ebay; they usually go for less than $1000. There are two companies in LA that sell grilles and bumpers. One in Bumper Boyz; I just saw a replated 38 grille at a show, and it was selling for something like $650. These guys travel around the country to various shows, and if you can pick up the item at a show, you can save on shipping. If you google "Bumper Boyz" you will find their info. I've read some negative reviews about these guys, but also some good ones. I don't know how well these grilles fit, etc., but there are at least a couple possibilities for finding a 38 grille well below $1200

if you read to the bottom of the grill ad you will see, " 28-72 parts " IS Dick Moffitt in Ohio.

mike

Thanks for the info. I bid on the one car grille on ebay. I bid at 600.00 max and still below reserve price. I will check into the others. Called the plating shop in town for a price and they are closed my luck.

The Dick Moffitt grills do not fit. Each side is more than 1/2" too wide. I went through this and had to eat the shipping. they told me they are all that way!

Another option for consideration would be to paint it. There is a chrome, water based paint available that ends up looking amazingly acceptable. One of my buds used it on his street rod and to the surprise of all of us it turned out pretty good. Bear in mind this is in no way going to fool anyone that looks closely, but it is an option than can save the existing grill in the mean time. The preparation is the key. He spent a lot of time repairing, filling, priming and sanding before painting and clear coating.

I have seen the demos by Chrome Solutions on Youtube and they are very impressive. How much of an investment did your buddy have to put in to do it? The real kicker here is that you can use fillers on pitted metal and come up with a very nice result. I had hoped that the technology would emerge here in Canada so that I could have some of my smaller pieces done.

After some experience with "Bumper Boy's" I'd look at a lot of sources before I purchased from them.

Good Luck

He is going to send me some before and after photos that I'll post a link for later. He paid about $150 for the paint. He's gone fishing, so it may be a day or so before I can get more info.

ok great looking forward to seeing them. Thanks.