[DeTomaso] De Tomaso grille material

MikeLDrew at aol.com MikeLDrew at aol.com
Tue Dec 9 22:44:50 EST 2008


Hi guys,

I've recently been parts-chasing for a Pantera owner in New Zealand.   His 
front valance is all smashed and rusted, so he did the smart thing and ordered a 
replacement from Johnny Woods (he's actually an airline pilot, so he flew 
from New Zealand to London, then travelled three or four hours down to Devon to 
visit Johnny's workshop and pick it up in person--saved a pile of money on 
shipping charges, but he sure had to work for it!)

His mesh grille in his valance was also thrashed.   Although you can buy 
replacements for the radiator grille (Wilkinson's website lists them for $331 in 
either the early (with studs) or late (screw-in) style, nowhere can you find 
just the material to fill the opening in the valance.

Some time ago, Mangusta owner Tom Galli found a source for that stuff (since 
this same material is used on front and rear grilles on a Mangusta), and I 
reached out to him for help.   Turns out there's a company in Hayward, CA (east 
bay, a few miles from San Jose) called the Howard Wire Cloth Company that 
specializes in just this sort of thing.

Tom wrote to me:

What I found was a 1/2" sq. mesh inter crimp with .080 wire. Available in 
steel, stainless, brass, galvanized and electro polished stainless. Comes in 4 
foot wide rolls with a $50 minimum order from Howard Wire Cloth in Hayward, Ca. 
1-800-969-3559 (contact was Tim) There is also a 5/8" sq mesh that has a .542" 
opening that may be just as appropriate.


I ordered a sample yesterday, and it arrived today in the mail--gotta love 
fast service!

It came with a surprise.

I didn't know that early (1971-72) cars and late (Aug-72-on) cars used 
different materials for the grille!

I have adapted a later-style L-model grille (which screws to the car from the 
outside) to my car, which originally had an early (July '72 Pre-L) grille 
(which had small studs affixed to it, which passed through holes in the body, and 
were secured with nylock nuts on the back side).   I still have the early one 
as well.

So, it turns out that my early grille has a perfectly square pattern, and the 
later grille's material is squashed ever so slightly, resulting in a very 
mild diamond pattern.

Interestingly, the material in the front grilles is turned at a 45-degree 
angle to the ground; the same material is used on the rear grille (for the A/C) 
but is oriented parallel to the ground--I wonder why the difference?

The spacing on the early grille is also slightly greater.   The wires on the 
early grille are exactly 0.51" apart (inside-to-inside, not center-to-center, 
on both my front valance and grille, and rear A/C grille), whereas the later, 
diamond-pattern front grille is a bit closer, at 0.47".   The sample that I 
got from Howard Wire Cloth is 0.42".   I've posted a photo of this material atop 
my early .51" grille to show the difference:

http://www.poca.com/index.php/gallery/?g2_itemId=2028

Now, the reality is that nobody is ever going to tell the difference of 
5/100ths or 9/100ths of an inch in your grille spacing.   But if you're going to 
buy new material, you might as well be happy with it.   The stuff pictured is 
called 1/2" mesh; they also make a 5/8" mesh which has a 0.545" distance between 
the wires.    In fact, they make a whole lot of different options:

http://www.howardwire.com/square_mesh.html

The sample that I got is called "2 Mesh, .080 wire", and the website claims 
that the opening is .420 inches, which my digital micrometer indicates is true.

If you have a mangled valance, usually the mesh itself is in decent shape.   
It could probably be cut out, gently hammered flat, sandblasted, powdercoated, 
then attached to the inside of the new valance, and you'd be good to go.   
But if yours is really demolished (or missing entirely), then this is probably 
the best solution.

Supposedly their minimum order is $50.   The stuff is sold from a 
four-foot-wide roll; a two-foot length gives enough material to do both the lower 
valance, and the front grille, and costs exactly $50, conveniently enough.  (Well, 
actually, I told him I needed a two-foot length and he quoted me $50; I didn't 
think to ask if three feet would have cost any more?   It's possible that this 
stuff is substantially cheaper than $25 a foot, and I just was quoted the 
minimum order price).

Ordering info etc. can be found here:   www.howardwire.com

SOBill--one for the database! :>)

Mike


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