I'm just starting to build a roadster for myself. One of the key elements the design is based on is the grille shell. The shell needs to be shortened 11 inches from stock, and I want to add a flange at the rear of the shell-this will add strength, and provide a convenient mounting surface. I also want to fill in the bottom portion of the shell (the original was notched out to fit over the frame), and eliminate the apron that hid the front crossmember and spring on the original '32 Ford.
Brookville Roadster makes an excellent reproduction '32 shell in steel, and I considered modifying one of these shells to meet my requirements, but in the end, I decided to make a new shell from aluminum. Most of the body of my roadster will be aluminum, and I want the grille shell to match!
Although I've spent most of my life shaping sheetmetal, this job brought some real challenges to the table. The '32 grille shell has a tightly radiused lip that surrounds the grille, and this detail would be very difficult to form freehand. After considering several options, I decided to make a combination buck/hammerform, which accurately models all the contours of the shell, and which has hard steel surfaces I can hammer the aluminum against to form the grille recess and the rear flange.
As you go through the photos, you'll see how I went about making the buck/hammerform, how I shaped the aluminum pieces, joined them together, and did the finish work. Although this is a fairly advanced project, the techniques used here could be adapted to many street rod projects.
