It’s been done before and it’s about to be done again. According to historians, the practice of grille swappin’ for old Fords goes almost as far back as old Fords themselves. For the old Tin Lizzie, aftermarket radiator shells were available and/or included with the purchase of a new Peerless radiator. These shells could be had in different styles. Some closely resembled Henry’s original, while other Peerless offerings featured a gracefully curvaceous upper filler panel as an elegant enhancement for old Lizzie, the T.
1 For the purpose of illustration, we will require a real wrecking yard, well stocked with late-model salvage of the ’50s. Today such yards are as rare a find as a ’53 DeSoto grille, but we’re not without resources. If the old red barn could talk, we’d gather around and listen.
Later, as our little pages personal libraries attest, many a T ’n’ A owed enhanced aesthetics to Deuce shells and grilles, which were, as we know, a popular choice of hot rodders. Here we don’t need a historian. The proof is in print; just as it is throughout the years that followed—it’s a documented fact that old Fords were often subject to facelifts. By the time the Shoebox-series Fords had caught on with customizers, there were options, which were varied and plentiful. Arguably, the greatest grille to ever grace the face of the Shoebox Ford was that which came from the ’53 DeSoto—The Holy Grille.
So, who do you suppose might have been the first to recognize the untapped customization potential of certain Ford and DeSoto attributes combined? The answers vary from historian to historian, and unfortunately there’s no known documentation in print, however I’ll hazard a guess that in one capacity or another, a wrecking yard played a significant role in setting what would become a long-running custom trendition. Here, through dramatization, we will now illustrate just how that previously undocumented historical event may have played out.
2 Today these doors are kept tightly locked, but from the mid-’50s and through the years they were open for the business of auto dismantling. So, know that the setting for our dramatization is 100 percent real.
Now that the quest for The Holy Grille has rendered the object of many a customizer’s desire, we’re done grille shoppin’ and we’ve begun grille swappin’, but not without professional help. If any part of the following procedure looks quick ’n’ easy, allow me to clarify that right up front—it’s not. In fact, it’s anything but. For this to be a legitimate step-by-step how-to, the installation of 24-hour surveillance cameras would be required, as doing this job justice would honestly take more time and pages than any magazine tech writer could manage to secure. However, we can monitor the progress and provide an over-the-shoulder view of a true artist at work.
