35-36 truck grill lacing

[KCTA Chris]

I thought this would be an easy find but not having much luck.
Does anyone have a couple detail pics to show the correct way the truck grill lacing fits? I assume its tucked into the "slots" and the mounting screws hold it in place? also a lower pic where the inner fender bolts to the grill would be helpful. Thanks!

[Don Rogers]

Here's some photos that might help. The lacing is held to the grille shell by metal clips. The clips are fastened to the lacing by split rivets.

[KCTA Chris]

That helps! We're missing the clips so there is some confusion.

[DavidG]

Don,

Judging from your photos of original lacing installations, the clips appear to be the same as those used on the radiator shell and cowl lacing on all '32s. I believe that those have been reproduced, although perhaps they are not available separately from the lacing. In the past A&L Parts Specialties in Canton, CT sold them separately.

If I were asked to judge the red vehicle in your photos to Early Ford V8 Club standards, I would deduct one point for the eight incorrect rivets (and two for the lacing not being the hard core type). The lacing on the blue vehicle appears to be original and as with the clips is attached as was done back on the '32s with tubular rivets, head down, and opened with a special tool that splits the walls of the tubular portion of the rivet into segments while simultaneously folding over the segments. It leaves what almost resembles the head of a flower with its petals splayed outward.

Yes, I know that few are interested in such minutiae. Further, if you had not shown the lacing photos of the blue and red vehicles side by side, the light bulb in my head would have remained off.

[ford38v8]

Originally Posted by DavidG

Don,

Judging from your photos of original lacing installations, the clips appear to be the same as those used on the radiator shell and cowl lacing on all '32s. I believe that those have been reproduced, although perhaps they are not available separately from the lacing. In the past A&L Parts Specialties in Canton, CT sold them separately.

If I were asked to judge the red vehicle in your photos to Early Ford V8 Club standards, I would deduct one point for the eight incorrect rivets (and two for the lacing not being the hard core type). The lacing on the blue vehicle appears to be original and as with the clips is attached as was done back on the '32s with tubular rivets, head down, and opened with a special tool that splits the walls of the tubular portion of the rivet into segments while simultaneously folding over the segments. It leaves what almost resembles the head of a flower with its petals splayed outward.

Yes, I know that few are interested in such minutiae. Further, if you had not shown the lacing photos of the blue and red vehicles side by side, the light bulb in my head would have remained off.

David, Don't apologize for being an eagle-eyed judge! It is exactly the attention to correct detail that makes or breaks a great car, not the big dollar body/paint jobs.

[DavidG]

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Alan,

I agree, but not every car owner appreciates third party observation of details that they were unaware of. Having said that, there are some who very much appreciate it and understandably get upset when one set of judges misses the details in one outing (and therefore figuratively put their stamp of approval on the car) only to have different set of judges the next time around point out things not as built that the owner was led to believe were fine based on his previous experience. It is a knotty challenge as we're always going to have different levels of knowledge and experience among groups of judges.

[KCTA Chris]

So true... nothing wrong with knowing the details. Thanks guys big help.

[DavidG]

On further reflection, I should point out that there seem to be two varieties of reproduction clips for the hood lacing that have been produced. There are the "good" ones that have the straight section where the rivets are attached curved to fit the oval profile of the '32 hood lacing material and the stamped-in depressions in the radiator shell and firewall. Those would not be the best choice for the subject application where the surface of the radiator shell is flat and the lacing has a bar bell profile. The "not-so-good" (for '32s) reproduction version where the straight section is flat would work best for this '35-'36 application as well as the '33-'34 commercial/big truck radiator shell/grilles which have the same type of lacing and clips. In fairness, maybe whomever is making them have the '33-'36 application in mind and not the '32 application.

[totto]

I like to listen to David, He knows "his stuff"!! Thanks David for helping us all out on the "right" stuff for out cars/trucks!