A little baffled by the grill situation

[bull]

I'm not going to bitch about this but I admit I don't understand something about reproduction grills. Why is it there are more than a dozen reproduction Mopar grills on the market right now but one of the most popular Mopars ever, actually, one of the most popular cars ever, cannot get even a center grill reproduction in any year? The center section of a 68, 69 or 70 is no more convoluted to reproduce than a 70 or 71 Cuda, or any of the other grills offered and yet not a single piece of a 2nd gen Charger is reproduced. My grill is repaired, painted and installed so it doesn't affect me personally but for those who come behind us I'd sure like to see more options out there than just hours of epoxy work.

http://www.classicindustries.com/mopar/parts/exterior-trim/grill-components/grills/?p=1&sb=0&r=15

[tan top]

you would think how popular second generations ,   there would of been a complete grill or just  centre sections  by now ,  yes Bob fist done a center section , looked an awesome product , although IMO well expensive , no offence Bob i'm sure we all appreciate how much monies/ investment  went into the tooling , before you ever sold one 
just compared to the other mopar repop grills out there !!

also i thought bob sold the tooling to a company or something  ?

[Ghoste]

I don't get it either Bull and it also happens to be a part that invariably takes a beating.

[bull]

you would think how popular second generations ,   there would of been a complete grill or just  centre sections  by now ,  yes Bob fist done a center section , looked an awesome product , although IMO well expensive , no offence Bob i'm sure we all appreciate how much monies/ investment  went into the tooling , before you ever sold one 
just compared to the other mopar repop grills out there !!

also i thought bob sold the tooling to a company or something  ?

I believe he sold the tooling and then the production of them dried up. Not sure about the tooling though as I got the impression it was not the industry standard, so who knows if it can be used in mass production.

Anyway, as everyone says you've got to follow the money which is why it makes no sense in light of the availability of all the other stuff out there. If someone's making money off Roadrunner and Duster grills they could certainly make money off 2nd gen Charger grills.

[Lee A]

They do make a repo centre grille for 69 chargers I got one 3 months ago from bob in Sweden 1000 bucks to my door

[bull]

Yeah, we were talking about that above. Limited vendor availability, nothing for '68 and '70 owners and serious price differential aside, at least someone is making something, right?

[Mike DC]

   
The only certainties in life are death, taxes, and no repro 68-70 Charger grilles.

[JB400]

   
The only certainties in life are death, taxes, and no repro 68-70 Charger grilles.

Don't give up hope.  We'll get our turn in the spotlight sometime.  Unfortunately, the aftermarket is still riding the e body wave of yesterday and have noticed the a body wave that is rising.  We're just in the trough right now.

[green69rt]

I was just thinking about 69 grills and 3d printers and so did a search.  3d printers are now available to make items up to about 36"x36" x 12".  I think that's getting close to what our grills are.  Current drawback is that it needs a 3D CAD design program to feed the printer so someone would have to generate the drawing.  Materials include two types of ABS plastic and others.  Maybe someday.....

[Ghoste]

I thought we were already the top of the wave.  

[Cooter]

Right now, working with a machine shop on trying to get an emblem repro'd which has ALOT of complex angles, and is about 15" long.....

The CAD drawing many refer to??? I began the drawing with the shop owner about July 3rd of last year......He has one portion of the back drawn. Got any idea how many points of reference there are in a CAD drawing? I didn't until I asked how it was coming with the drawing....ONE single angle can be as many as 50 different inputs.....Time is money. When a repro grill will cost over $5K, NOBODY will return the investment I don't care how good the repro is...Simple as that.


And there you have it folks, No repro grills for second Gen. Chargers.

[Ghoste]

The 70 Cuda grille isn't exactly a simple piece.

[JB400]

I'd say it is probably easier to make than say one for the  70's and up Darts or Dusters

[bull]

I'd say it is probably easier to make than say one for the  70's and up Darts or Dusters

Like this one?

http://www.classicindustries.com/mopar/parts/3574031.html

[JB400]

I'd say it is probably easier to make than say one for the  70's and up Darts or Dusters

Like this one?

http://www.classicindustries.com/mopar/parts/3574031.html

Yes, I say that one (or some of the other a body's) would be harder to make than a 70 Cuda grille.  But, I say that since they made that particular grille, one for our cars should be just around the corner.

[Fred]

It's baffling isn't it.

[bull]

I'd say it is probably easier to make than say one for the  70's and up Darts or Dusters

Like this one?

http://www.classicindustries.com/mopar/parts/3574031.html

Yes, I say that one (or some of the other a body's) would be harder to make than a 70 Cuda grille.  But, I say that since they made that particular grille, one for our cars should be just around the corner.

The '71 Cuda is a mess too and they make that one. The full Cuda grill is about the same is what they were charging for just the '69 center piece.

[JB400]

Any idea who the exact manufacturer of those grilles are?  It would be nice to know exactly how far down on the pecking order we are.

[bull]

Any idea who the exact manufacturer of those grilles are?  It would be nice to know exactly how far down on the pecking order we are.

Good question. I have no idea the answer either. Seems strange how much of this stuff can be easily traced back to places like BE&A or AMD but grills seems to come out of nowhere.

[2Luke2]

Working with technology for most of my childhood/adult life. I could look into 3D printing a grill. I wanted to get one for other projects anyway haha. May I ask if there is a certain part that would be priority? I was thinking the grey/silver surround for the whole grill.

[2Luke2]

Actually looking around for a big enough 3d printer would be the problem, but I found a ton of stuff on plastic molding. I think I might have a go at that at some point.

[bull]

Working with technology for most of my childhood/adult life. I could look into 3D printing a grill. I wanted to get one for other projects anyway haha. May I ask if there is a certain part that would be priority? I was thinking the grey/silver surround for the whole grill.

That silver surround on the 68/69 grills is part of the center grill section in the middle as well as the entire headlight bucket assembly on both ends. You can't do that surround without doing the entire plastic portion of the grill.

[Mike DC]

                
I've thought for years that somebody could reproduce the Charger grilles in several pieces.  The whole grille seems do-able in fiberglass sections except for the slatted openings.  The opening mesh could be done with a much smaller (read: cheaper) mold than the entire thing.  Pay up for an ABS mold of the slatted openings, and then fasten it onto an otherwise fiberglass grille repro.


But this hobby tends to shit a brick at the idea of anything not appearing 100% stock on a reproduction item, even if you have to wedge your head deep into the nether regions of the car to see the difference.  

[Ghoste]

Having it perfect is part of the challenge.

[Mike DC]

I think the idea could look pretty much perfect from the front.  It would just show something if you stuck your head into the front end bodywork to look for it.