Need Pics of 72 GMC Grille

[Baby John]

OK, so I'm studying pictures to try to figure out the resto mod on Tyler's truck. I'm torn with this grille we have. He has a 72 GMC so we have this chrome trim "wrap around" the grille. I really don't like it. We bought a good used (driver quality) grille for it and I was planning on deleting the trim. I found out that I can't do this because there'd be a gap at the top between the hood and the grill.

The best looking trucks that I've seen don't have this trim. I'm guessing those are older trucks before they added this trim piece. So, since it looks like we're stuck with this I'm looking for some pictures of nice looking trucks with this trim in place. Can they be made to look good?

Here's a picture of his truck now with the old bent grille and the black painted trim piece at the top. We'll be replacing the trim piece at the top. Oh, and disregard the photoshop red thing.

[Thealien]

Try this

[Baby John]

Thanks, that's very nice. Hope we can get ours looking fairly close to that. It's not likely with used chrome but we'll polish it up as good as we can.

[Thealien]

To be honest that is a repop grill from GMC pauls that I removed the black paint with acetone (in a well ventilated area). It was at carlisle and he didn't have the correct one so he cut me a decent deal. I want to have my original rechromed but I am hearing well over $1000 which is more than twice the repop cost.

[Big J'72 GMC]

These are what I've been dreaming about, tryin to figure out the same thing, think I may have thought up a way too fill the gap and make it look decent tho, might give it a shot, if anyone KNOWS this wont work, plz save me from myself lol

[gmcdude]

Thealien I have new one that I want to go like yours and take the paint off was there polishing after the paint removal?

[Baby John]

Correct me if I'm wrong but the black one isn't a '72 is it? I don't see the trim that we're talking about.

On a side note, I wonder what it would look like if we painted the trim black to match the truck but left the grill chrome?

I had originally planned on painting the grille black and having chrome bullet hole inserts to match my Denali and leaving the headlight bezels chrome. My paint guy tells me this'll look good, but the paint is going to be easy to chip in the grille. I think he's right...the chrome is probably far more durable than paint.

Or

[Baby John]

Here's a pic of the Denali just for S & G's

[Thealien]

Originally Posted by gmcdude

Thealien I have new one that I want to go like yours and take the paint off was there polishing after the paint removal?

I had to use a little chrome polish and a soft rag but nothing more than if I was polishing a chrome grill. I like the all chrome look and the only place it says GMC on my truck is the tailgate (and the steering wheel). I like the smoooth look.

[Thealien]

Originally Posted by Baby John

Correct me if I'm wrong but the black one isn't a '72 is it? I don't see the trim that we're talking about.

On the 67/68 there is a smaller filler piece above the grill to fill the void between the grill and the hood and they also don't use the eye brows. I like that look, that filler piece is hard to find and not reproduced. You would need the 67/68 hood to complete the look.

BTW you can buy just the top piece (riveted on) and the eyebrows seperately. Probably not worth buying seperately though as it will make the other parts look bad.

[mikey531]

What I want to do with mine is get some 1/4 inch hardware cloth and paint it black then fasten it to the inside of the grille. That will fill in the space. I bought a used one so I can play without hurting my original one. Maybe I can try it this weekend and post some pictures.

[special-K]

I have some ideas for dull GMC grilles.69-72s with the surround could be painted a shade of grey,like torque Thrust wheel centers.The 71/72s could just paint in accent painted areas.
I have another idea that I`m keeping in my head for now.It wouldn`t be for most trucks anyway.

[nicolas72gmc]

Baby John, you can do just like Thealien said, the trim piece on the 67/68 rivits in just like the chrome piece on the 69-72's. If you can find an upper grill bar from a 67/68 you can install it, take the eyebrow trim off, install a 67/68 latch, install a 67-68 grill support, and a 67/68 hood it will leave you just a grill and no trim. It will basically look just like a base model 67 chev except with a GMC grill. You'll have to fill in some holes if you're not using eyebrow trim or hood lip trim also. Wow that sounds like a lot of work now that I typed all of that.

[nicolas72gmc]

Originally Posted by Thealien

I had to use a little chrome polish and a soft rag but nothing more than if I was polishing a chrome grill. I like the all chrome look and the only place it says GMC on my truck is the tailgate (and the steering wheel). I like the smoooth look.

X2, that is exactly what I did on mine. Thealien, I saw yours on that other post a while back about this. I like the clean look also, I even changed my 72 hood to a 68 so no GMC on the hood. Just got to get the hood painted now.

[Thealien]

Did you have to cut/modify the 68 hood to work with the top bar?

[blue 72 gmc 4x4]

Here's mine. Just took all the black off and polished it.

[nicolas72gmc]

Originally Posted by Thealien

Did you have to cut/modify the 68 hood to work with the top bar?

Oh yeah, what I did is cut the latch bulkhead out of the donor 72 hood. Then cut the latch bulkhead out of the 68 hood. I welded the 72 bulkhead in the 68 hood and you get what you see in the pic. That was the short version here is the linky to what it really took to do it. http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=360725

[special-K]

Hey blue 72 GMC 4x4,you live in Flagstaff?I lived in Mountainaire back in 81/82.I sure miss that place.

I`m not sure that "clean look" is the right way to describe the grilles with accent stripped.I think the accent freshened up looks "clean".It really brings out the contrast.
That hood must be a`67 if it didn`t have letters.It seems to fit at the top bar pretty well.