You learn something every day (that’s the whole point of CC, of course). At the 1960 Rambler post the other day, Stumack left a comment with a picture of Chevrolet’s fleet option, which deleted the standard grille for…a cheap piece of expanded steel, as can be seen on this ’57 LCF.
Here’s the picture he left, which for 1958-1959 also deleted the quad headlights for singles on each side.
Well, I suppose it’s really not that much different than the grille on the basic Chevy pickup. Actually, it’s remarkably similar, in texture: that expanded steel look; it’s a classic!
I like the base grilles on most trucks old and new, that new Silverado one is one of my favorites, the texture reminds me of the walkways in wet environments where the metal sort of “claws” into your soles.
Never knew you could get expanded metal grilles back in the day. They look so… cheap.
Makes the stamped and punched grille on the Studebaker Scotsman look downright luxurious in comparison.
I believe you mean expanded steel, not extruded. Extruded parts are created by squeezing material(plastics, aluminium, etc.) though a die. Expanded metal parts are created by cutting slits through a sheet and stretching the metal to open the cuts.
You’re right. Fixed now. Thanks for expanding my awareness on that. 🙂
Thanks for that bit of knowledge. I had wondered how that stuff is made, though not quite enough to take the initiative to learn what it is called and look it up. It is cool that they can make it so uniform just by cutting and stretching.
The complete screen on the COE would at least be protective. No gravel or birds could hit the radiator. But the version in the ad wouldn’t protect, wouldn’t save any material, and wouldn’t be a few pounds lighter.
I preferred the basic black grille on my ’15 RAM Tradesman over the chromed-up ones used on higher trim levels. The grille itself is the same, though.
So did ordering the “fleet” grille save money? If not, what was its purpose?
Me, I like the fleet grille better, although the quad headlights work better than the duals.
The modern Chevy and Ford pickups seem to each have about five grille options now with each trim level getting their own.
If 115 sports a factory cost-cutting piece, it looks like another example of spending more to give the customer less. After all, once the press is already up and running anyway, what can be the true net cost of stamping another grille opening filler from simple flat sheet? Compared to tooling for a separate “thrifty” expanded metal grille?
Myself, I suspect that the real motivator was some practical benefit. Protection? Better cooling? Notice the extra rectangle shaped cut-out above the thrifty grille?
The Toyota Tacoma is available with a “Utility” package which decontents a few items, and substitutes a black front bumper molding for body color. In the Tacoma world, this is known as the “bearded” Tacoma, due to the shape of the bumper.
Many a Toyota car and pickup has worn black plastic bumpers over the years, but they usually aren’t so…jigsawesque.
No fleet grille on father’s company truck, and with white wall tires.
Oh, that is just wonderful!
Nifty.
Was Father a product specialist or so also? Or driver only?
There’s the rectangle cut-out again.
I wonder if that truck had AC?
Big fleets can basically force manufacturers to provide options that the fleets want. Give us what we need/want or we will take our business elsewhere. I haven’t looked closely at UPS heavy duty trucks lately but I remember the GMC Astro’s they purchased back in the day had no GMC badging on them anywhere. The top section of the grill that had GMC on it was simply left off. Yellow Freight’s White/GMC/Volvo’s used a plug in place of the aero headlights that held a 7″ sealbeam bulb. That would be one reason for the two bulb vs quad bulb set up, less parts and possibly cheaper. A lot of this is driven by the low bid process also. You do have to be careful because the non-standard items can come back and bite you in the butt, replacement pieces may be difficult to get. Back in the day one local TV station had a tractor trailer set up for televising football and baseball games. The tractor was a GMC Astro, an air tank was damaged from hitting a curb, part was back ordered. Checked into the back order after about a months wait. Vendor said they would not build the part until there was 50 needed. Our part was the only one waiting. OK I guess its time to check junkyards or figure out something else.
I’ve seen some UPS Ford F250-550s in recent years which have the Ford ovals left off and just a blank oval-shaped pad with holes for the mounting screws. They still have the molded-in “Super Duty” branding across the top though. Too bad Ford doesn’t still use the same front sheetmetal for everything too small to get a wide front axle anymore, they could use those knockoff Raptor grilles with “OOOO” instead of “FORD” in them.
And since 115 has an automatic transmission, skimp may have not been the top specification.
I think the grill delete would be for trucks with front-mounted equipment, such as a concrete mixer with a front-mounted hydraulic pump, or a snowplow setup. The standard grill would just have to be removed or cut up.
I was contrasting this (and the 1960 Rambler) selection with Jim Klein’s recent reviews of new vehicles and their option packages (particularly the pricier vehicles).
For the Rambler and others, I guess 2 headlight models were cheaper to build/sell than 4 headlight ones after they became legal in 1958….the function is still there, it is more of a style thing. Ditto with the “stock” grill delete, one can argue that the function needed was something to protect the radiator (and if it had A/C, I guess the condenser) from rocks and debris thrown up from other cars and the road. I guess I side more with the 2 headlight modification, to me the grill itself seems necessary for function and once designed for a vehicle, you might offer non-chrome, painted, or otherwise passivated surface (for corrosion resistance) as less expensive options, but the expanded metal seems to be more of something I would put on the vehicle after it had been in a front-end accident and I didn’t want to pay a wrecking yard for the original grill…though these are not just flat expanded metal sheets, there’s some 3rd dimension to them (beyond the slits in the metal itself), this seems to be something I’d buy at the hardware store to cobble up something good enough after a front end accident, rather than something I’d choose to buy on a new vehicle.
Lest you think me spendy, contrast that with many of the option packages Jim mentioned on the Ram and Mercedes, granted those vehicles list close to 6 figures with some configurations, but some of the options cost more than my (primary) current vehicle (2000 VW Golf), which I would charitably say would be worth $2000 at most for trade in or a bit more maybe if I sell it myself. Well, for some the options might be more necessary than for others, but it is hard for me to say some trim package on a new vehicle would be worth more than an entire (albeit used) car.
Well, if you extend this thinking back to the 1959/1960 new vehicle buyer, I might think if they’re trying to save money by configuring 2 headlights vs 4, and cutting down on the cost of a grill for a new vehicle, they might look incredulously at the option costs on these high end vehicles. I’m sure such a buyer would eschew things like air conditioning, radio, and of course power windows/locks….they might even not buy a heater (which was also an option back then which we take for granted now, I guess in the interest of safety, so windows can be defogged, not ust for personal comfort). Ditto electric wipers (vs vacuum operated ones)…We talk about stripper models now, but forget that the strippers of 60 years ago would make some of our cheapest models now look extravagant, in equipment, but of course not in sheer physical size.
Not usually a picky person, but the old timey fleet grills on those trucks look kind of ugly.