RE: [Chevelle-List] 68/69 Grille questions

[John Nasta]

Thanks for the info, but now they do make 2 separate grills for the cars with or without the center trim piece. It seems to me that there were really only 2 grills, and each of them was available in 2 paint schemes. Would you say that's correct?   Why does everybody keep forgetting to mention that the El Camino Custom used the Malibu grill and the standard El Camino used the 300 grill? Us El Camino guys are feeling left out.   John Nasta       -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of yenkochevelle Sent: Monday, January 27, 2003 11:08 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [Chevelle-List] 68/69 Grille questions   There seems to be a lot of confusion on the correct 69 grill. I had a guy tell me he was working on Chevelles for 20 years and there were not different 69 grills until I told him I had Chevelles for 30 years and there are different grills. He still didn't believe me until I sent him a picture and he then changed his mind. This is what I have found out from my research. There were 4 different Grills sold for the 1969 Chevelle. One is the Malibu grill with a center bar that is about � inch out from the grill and has a flat with holes to mount a center bar trim piece. This grill is also used on the SS except was blacked out on the SS grill. The bars are silver like the Malibu. There was also what I call the "300" grill sold that has the center bar about 1 inch out from the grill and no holes for the center trim. This came in silver/black for the "300" and blacked out for the "300" SS. All 4 grills have 2 holes to mount a center emblem. The correct Malibu or SS grill has not been available for many years. When you bought a grill since the mid 80’s they give you the "300" grill and tell you to paint it for an SS and drill the holes for the trim. The problem is that the grill center bar is not made to mount the trim piece. The trim sticks out about 1.5 inches from the grill when mounted on the "300" grill. It looks OK but is not correct. Many restored cars are like this today. Chevy stopped making the correct Malibu grill and only sold the 300 grill over the parts counter somtime in the 80s. I quess this was done because the 300 grill is a lot stronger with it's thicker center bar. ----- Original Message ----- From: John Nasta     The reason is because you can always drill holes into a grill that doesn’t have them, but it's much harder to fill holes on a grill that does. Both are available now.   John Nasta       -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of NoNeck Sent: Monday, January 27, 2003 5:27 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [Chevelle-List] 68/69 Grille questions   I always wondered why they chose to reproduce the less popular 300 deluxe grille over the Malibu style grille...  Josh Gin (NoNeck) Visit my Chevelle website www.NoNecksChevelle.com ----- Original Message ----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]   To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, January 27, 2003 12:13 AM Subject: Re: [Chevelle-List] 68/69 Grille questions   Actually the grills you get without the holes in the center for the molding are correct for 300 and 300 Deluxe Models.  The one with the holes are correct for Malibu and SS models.  I'll be putting the one correct for the 300 series cars on my 69 even though it is not correct for the Malibu.  I have a Malibu Grill, but it's broke in 3 places.  I'm putting it on for the time being simply b/c it's the better of the two. Tom