Chevrolet grill - Not sure of year and value

[MARIA REBHAN]

I have an older Chevrolet grill and am interested in finding the year, what type vehicle it came from (car/truck) and any value it might have.   Thanks!

[trimacar]

Looks likea 1931 stone guard.  Emblem probably has more value than the guard, if nice maybe 75-100?  More knowledgable people may chime in.

[TerryB]

Could be as early as 1929.  

[Gunsmoke]

I believe the grill guards were first were offered in 1931 as a factory option on sport models, and don't fit earlier years (rad shape varies slightly each year). They were also offered as an accessory option to be retro-fitted by a dealer or owner. For the record, the badge serves as part of the top attachment mechanism for the guard and is slightly different than the standard badge which comes with normal rad shell (mounting point is higher to fit into hole in rad shell). As such an assembly like this (including the rad shell) is quite a rare find and should be worth $200 minimum. I purchased a guard on eBay a few years back for my '31, and had to modify my badge to assemble everything.

Edited July 12 by Gunsmoke (see edit history)

[wayne sheldon]

It is possible that it might be a reproduction made in the 1960s or 1970s. 

Such stone guards were available for most cars of the late 1920s and early 1930s, before stylists began seriously putting a real "grill" in front of the radiator. Many makes of automobiles from Ford to Packard offered them as a "factory" accessory (although they were often actually installed by the selling dealer!). And several companies made and sold them as after-market accessories to fit almost any car.

While they were commonly available, they weren't all that popular. Anyone studying era photographs should notice that random photos rarely show stone guards on cars. Factory and advertising photos often show them, and they can often be seen in dealer showroom photos. On the street? Not so often.

 

Hobbyists over a half century ago decided they liked the things. Originals were rare to find in good condition, and somewhat difficult to restore. Also, as Gunsmoke mentioned, many automakers made minor changes from year to year or model to model, so often finding one that fit one's car was often very difficult! So quite a number of hobbyists made a good side business of making new ones. As it happens, way back when I was in high school, a neighbor had a small shop in his garage, with all the patterns and jigs to make ones for model A Fords! He wasn't the only one, and being a "model A guy" he only made them for the four years of model A Fords. His were well made, and very well known. He sold them literally all over the world, mostly through model A parts house dealers.

However, other people did make them for other cars. One fellow (I did not know personally) was famous for the ones he made for Packard automobiles. A few people specialized in making ones for any car other than model As or Packards. I guess they liked the challenge of custom fitting each one special.

You may or might not be able to tell on the back side whether yours is an original era or later reproduction?

 

Regardless, someone should love to have that for their 1930ish Chevrolet, even if they have to alter the fit slightly.

 

 

Edited July 13 by wayne sheldon
I hate leaving typos! (see edit history)