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How do you feel about painting the aluminum grille? I have a green 77' F150 that I keep tossing the idea around. The top photo is mine the bottom was from an interweb search. I need some other opinions before I do it. Before you get mad at me for doing it, my grille is not in the best of shape so painting it would not be the worst thing to happen to it.
I’ve been looking online and that part is out of stock and no back orders. Mine has a doink on driver side po ran into something but I think a good metal man can get it back. I take it for moonlight cruises down here by the beach and the chrome puts off a bitchin glow in the moonlight i think they look better without paint and if u do paint it good luck finding another if u don’t like
Not really a fan of that,but I had mine on my crew cab powder coated bright silver because the anodizing was all blotchy like someone spilled acid or something on it.
I vote no because that grille shell is the foundation of the design of our trucks. I think the 73-79 generation are a beautiful design...maybe the best pick up design of all, including current designs.
Even with some dings and scratches, they look good.
Best regards,
Jimmy
Not a fan of the entire grille being painted but I do like the inner squares being blacked out along with the headlight bezels. Leaving some chrome in the grille felt like a good balance. I used plasti-dip and sprayed from the back side of the grille, that way taping off the chrome on the front side was not necessary and went very quickly.
I think your truck has the right amount of green, black and chrome. Do you want the grill to blend with the rest of the truck or stand out? I would guess you could get it paint dipped, or get a vinyl cover like a body wrap? And peal off it not liked. IMO If you are going to paint it, black is the color to go with, then the inserts green. Careful you can loose the front end and it can blend in to good.
Make it stand out.
This black out was pretty good.
I'm a fan of the bright and shiny. Blacked out trim and black rims just look like cheap and lazy to me. Nobody going to get mad at you. It's just my opinion and it's your truck.
The front end of a vehicle is probably the most recognizable part of the exterior and the key to how many people objectively identify the year of manufacture and subjectively assess its attractiveness. The 73 to 77 grille shell is the same throughout those years but the inserts varied from year to year. Thus, I would confine the question to, "shall I paint the 73-77 grille shell or not." There are also repop grille shells to consider. One manufacturer sells a chrome plated steel version which is way shiner than any NOS or repro anodized aluminum version. You can even get custom inserts for the grille shell. Then, too, a little body filler and paint will cover a multitude of sins. So there are many options to consider. A painted grille shell like the one the OP posted looks like a viable option to me. Painted bumpers are OK too.
As I pondered the question, I wondered whether anyone has reproduced the 73-77 grille shell in fiberglass. Anyone know of such an option?
Since we're considering peoples' personal opinions, I'll throw mine in. I really HATE the look of any bright metal parts painted body color or blacked out. Doesn't matter if it's the grille shell, bumpers, mirrors, windshield moldings, or whatever. I just like bright metal trim. And it looks like they have something to hide. As others have said, the grille shell on our dentside trucks is an iconic look that really makes the truck. Stick with it.
If your grille shell is scratched and scuffed, like mine is, there are specialists who can polish that stuff out (and remove dents) and make the part look fantastic. When I was restoring my '72 Mustang convertible, I had its original stainless steel windshield moldings polished by a pro, and they came out looking factory-fresh and gorgeous. Wasn't cheap, but, man, what a difference it made! Worth every penny. I plan to have my Explorer's grille shell restored when I get the truck painted.
OK, a slightly different spin: on ine the outer aluminum shell has been panted and clear coated over the anodizing. I'd love to strip the paint, polish out the aluminum, then clear-coat it - but in my experience that shell anodizing holds on through almost any treatment. Anyone ever found an easy way to strip it? (Not by "my buddy says this works" but actual experience?) That grill shell is a flaming pain to remove.
That is a sexy truck. Do what you want with it its yours. I prefer the least amount of shiny metal as possible.
The ford gods will turn in theyre sleep when or if I ever get around to doing body work and paint on mine..
I edited yout photo trying to get the color to Pop alittle
Thanks, the photo does hide a lot of imperfections. Has some bubbling on the nose of the hood and on bed in the typical spots.... work in progress. For the most part she's a good truck. Use it when it's nice out and to pick stuff up.
Not really a fan of that,but I had mine on my crew cab powder coated bright silver because the anodizing was all blotchy like someone spilled acid or something on it.
I have a set of Ford "Lacey Spoke" alloy wheels for our Mercury, really nice looking, no curb rash, etc ... they look like aluminum until one get's close, they are factory powder coated a suilver metalic. I think that would look great on grille or even bumpers. If I were OP, if I had the dark green and the black wheel flares he has, and a dented grille surround ..;.; perhaps a semi gloss black grill surround would loo great ... and a more grey looking color on inserts would look OK. Actually, his looks really good to me "just as is" .My grille surround is just washed out like to almost looking white, I'm thinking power buffing but once started .... ?
