All I Need is a Grille!

[LBJ]

Got all the other parts put on today. The local Chevy House "somewhat" promised me my grille today. Hasn't gotten there yet. Pretty disappointed. Means Monday at the earliest. The plater got my headlight trim buckets yesterday. They look pretty good. He said pot metal is tough to get correct. Took him 3 tries to do it right. There is a gap between the stainless trim pieces and the headlight buckets. I think this truck was mal-assembled from the beginning. It has always had a fittment problem on the driver's side front end. Thus, there is a gap between the pieces. Not much I can do about that. I evened up the spaces and made it look as good as possible. The hood needs to come froward about 3/4" to cover the trim and headlight buckets. May have the paint guy do that for me. He missed a few things LIKE BUFFING THE ENTIRE ROOF!!! hahahaha.

Hand painted the arch trim and hub caps. There are 60 little black divisions on each cap. Made a little Bowtie pattern out of plywood and scribed around it and painted within the lines. I just widened the yellow circle that was stock. The Bowtie decals fell off years ago. They want a LOT of money for those little stickers. Paint is cheap and lasts longer. Look a lot beeter for pics with the tires scrubbed and dressed, but maybe later.

[ed3196499]

Looks good but you could clean up the edges on the blue tap covering the license plate.

[77 350 Shorty Wide]

That gap your talking about looks about right to me. I'm not sure but I can't think of one that I've ever seen that was perfect. Yours appears to be just like mine. Maybe it's because on mine I used aftermarket upper & lower stainless and bezels.

Merry Christmas & God Bless, Terry

[LBJ]

Got it out in the sun for a while to take some shots after putting on all the wheel arches and hub caps. Drove it to put some gas in it and it drives really nice after I replaced all the cab bushings with polyurethane jobs. Needs some sound deadening and a few adjustments on the left door to eliminate some rattles. Still no grille from the Chevy House. Maybe on Wednesday. Needs a good wash too.

[LBJ]

Got the call from the local Chevy house this morning. He said the grille had come in. I picked it up and it was even CHEAPER than he quoted!!! $200 out the door. Man, that's a nice surprise. There are a few left, I don't know how many, but if you want a genuine 1977/78 CHEVROLET grille at a price cheaper than some repros, then better get on the stick. I bought some Rustoleum Nickel textured spray paint and gave it a good going over this afternoon. Looks pretty close to factory color and finish. Should be dry by tomorrow and I'll get it installed. The trim is just laying on top of the grille and I'll get it snugged down tonite. I have the GM part number if anyone wants it.

By the way, that's my old trim I hand painted. Doesn't come with the grille. The Bowtie is not available anywhere, as far as I know. Junk yard maybe.

[N2TRUX]

That's freakin amazing! You can not beat a deal like that. Too bad they don't have any 73-74 grills.

[old Rusty C10]

all i can say is the truck looks awesome great job and congrats!

[Malo83]

Originally Posted by ed3196499

Looks good but you could clean up the edges on the blue tap covering the license plate.

Attention to Detail!!!

[mhicks]

About 6 months ago I got an NOS 73-74 grill for mine for 49.00. I know, I got lucky but I do see them on there occasionally for around 100.00. You got a good looking truck there.

[LBJ]

Makes a lot of difference!

[Pyrotechnic]

You did a great job on restoring that truck.