Grille (car)

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Gravel shield installed on 1930 Packard Eight Roadster Packard Roadster 1930.jpg
Gravel shield installed on 1930 Packard Eight Roadster
1930 Packard Standard Eight roadster without gravel shield 1930 Packard Eight Series 734 Speedster Roadster, Greenwich (front left).jpg
1930 Packard Standard Eight roadster without gravel shield
1952 Rolls-Royce Phantom IV with the emblematic Parthenon style radiator grille. Top and front surfaces look dead flat but are actually a few thousandths convex, so they will look flat in accordance with design principles learned from the ancient Greeks. Rolls-Royce Phantom IV, 4AF18, detalle.jpg
1952 Rolls-Royce Phantom IV with the emblematic Parthenon style radiator grille. Top and front surfaces look dead flat but are actually a few thousandths convex, so they will look flat in accordance with design principles learned from the ancient Greeks.
Crown Victoria Police Interceptor black honeycomb grille CVPI Police Grille.jpg
Crown Victoria Police Interceptor black honeycomb grille
Stylized "crown" grille on a Toyota Crown Toyota CROWN 2.0 ATHLETE S-T (DBA-ARS210AEZXZ) front.JPG
Stylized "crown" grille on a Toyota Crown
The front design of this Tesla, Inc electric vehicle lacks any functional or cosmetic grille Tesla Model Y Front View.jpg
The front design of this Tesla, Inc electric vehicle lacks any functional or cosmetic grille

In automotive engineering, a grille covers an opening in the body of a vehicle to allow air to enter or exit. Most vehicles feature a grille at the front of the vehicle to protect the radiator and engine. Merriam-Webster describes grilles as "a grating forming a barrier or screen; especially: an ornamental one at the front end of an automobile." [2] The word 'grille' is commonly misspelled as 'grill' which instead refers to the cooking method. Other common grille locations include below the front bumper, in front of the wheels (to cool the brakes), in the cowl for cabin ventilation, or on the rear deck lid (in rear engine vehicles). Grilles evolved from previously installed gravel shields that were designed to protect exposed radiators typically used on cars until the early 1930s.

Contents

Design

The front fascia of a motor vehicle has an important role in attracting buyers. [3] The principal function of the grille is to admit cooling air to the car's radiator. However, the look of the vehicle "matters a great deal more than whether the design features actually serve any function." [4] As one of the main visual components on the front of vehicles, "an inspired grille design makes a car attractive and shapes its identity by tying it to the carmaker's history and reputation." [3]

Currently, big grilles are primarily cosmetic. [5] The grille is often a distinctive styling element, and many marques use it as their primary brand identifier. For example, Jeep has trademarked its seven-bar grille style. [6]

Rolls-Royce is known for arranging its grille bars by hand to ensure that they appear perfectly vertical. Other makers known for their grille styling include Bugatti's horse-collar, BMW's split kidney, Rover's chrome "teeth", Mitsubishi's forward swept, fighter aircraft-style grilles for their cars 2008 Lancer and Lancer Evo X, Dodge's cross bar, Alfa Romeo's six-bar shield, Volvo's slash bar, Nissan's trapezoid shaped chrome surround, Mazda's rotary engine shape, Audi's relatively new, so-called single-frame grille, Pontiac's split horizontal grille and an egg-crate grille on late-generation Plymouths, and Lexus's spindle-shaped grille. The unusual 1971 Plymouth Barracuda grille is known as a cheesegrater. Ford's three-bar grille, introduced on the 2006 Fusion, has become distinctive as well. Porsche, a long-time manufacturer of air-cooled cars, continues to minimize the prominence of a "grille" on the marque's modern water-cooled vehicles in keeping with that heritage.[ citation needed ]

The contrary styling pattern also occurs. Starting from the late 1930s, Cadillac would alternate its pattern from horizontal bars to various patterns of crosshatching as a simple way of making the car look new from year to year, for this make did not have a standard grille form. Sometimes there is a sort of fashion trend in grille bars. For example, in the early years after World War II, many American car makers generally switched to fewer and thicker grille bars.

A billet grille is an aftermarket part that is used to enhance the style or function of the original OEM grille. They are generally made from billet, solid bar stock aircraft-grade aluminum, although some are CNC machined from one solid sheet of aluminum.

Active Air Flap System was developed by Hyundai Mobis on June 17, 2021. [7] Based on the existing radiator grille, the grille itself has evolved to move according to the cooling water temperature. When the engine coolant temperature is high, the air flap is opened to increase cooling efficiency through air suction. On the contrary, when the temperature drops, the air flap is automatically closed to reduce air resistance to increase fuel efficiency and electricity consumption.

Customizers would alter the grille as a matter of course in personalizing their car, taking the grille bar from another make, for example. Even sheet metal with patterned holes for ventilation grating sold to homeowners for repair has been found filling the grille opening of custom cars.

Electric Vehicles

The emergence of electric vehicles (EV) in the automotive market has prompted a fundamental reevaluation of grille design, as electric motors need little to no front vent cooling compared to a traditional combustion engine. [8] Still, customer expectations of grilles dominating the front of cars have proven strong enough that companies like Nissan have reincorporated cosmetic grilles into their EV designs in response to mixed consumer reception of early grilleless models. [9] Designs that fully do away with any visual reference to traditional front grilles have tended to come from new auto makers that exclusively produce EVs, such as Tesla, Inc. or Rivian, as these companies do not have an established historical brand language of grilles. [9]

Grille types

Per mounting location on the car body:

Per style

The American aftermarket restyling industry defines two major grille styles:

Per fastening method

In this installation method, [10] the billet grille simply bolts over the existing OEM plastic grille. This method does not require drilling or cutting of the OEM grille shell. Hidden bolts, brackets and clamps are used for this simple installation. The downside is it may not look as clean as the replacement style, because you can still see the OEM grille underneath. Bolt overs should take no more than 30 minutes to install.

The OEM grille must first be removed and then the replacement billet grille must be mounted in place of the OEM grille. Drilling and sometimes cutting is required for this method. Installation instructions are provided by the grille manufacturer, but are still a challenging job.

History

1934 Bugatti Type 57 Stelvio radiator grille Bugatti 57 Stelvio Cabriolet von Gangloff 1934 Front - grille crop.JPG
1934 Bugatti Type 57 Stelvio radiator grille

Grilles on automobiles have taken on different designs through the years. This feature first appeared on automobiles in 1903. Several years later, the arch-shaped design became common and became the standard design on automobile grilles for many years. The "split" grille design first appeared in 1923 on the Alfa Romeo sports car.

In the 1930s and 1940s, automobile manufacturers became creative with their grille designs. Some of these designs were bell-shaped (Buick, Chevrolet, and Pontiac), split and slightly folded (Silver Arrow, Mercury, 1946 Oldsmobile), cross-shaped (pre-war Studebaker Champion models, 1941 Cadillac, 1942 Ford), while some including Packard, Rolls-Royce, and MG-TC models still followed the older arch-shaped design.

Grilles took on a new look after World War II. Following the introduction of the 1947 Buick, Studebaker, and Kaiser, grilles became shorter and wider to accommodate for the change in design.

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ford Anglia</span> Car model

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nash Motors</span> Defunct American motor vehicle manufacturer

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Renault 4</span> Motor vehicle

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plymouth Valiant</span> Motor vehicle

The Plymouth Valiant is an automobile which was marketed by the Plymouth division of the Chrysler Corporation in the United States from the model years of 1960 through 1976. It was created to give the company an entry in the compact car market emerging in the late 1950s. The Valiant was also built and marketed, without the Plymouth brand, worldwide in countries including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Finland, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden and Switzerland, as well as other countries in South America and Western Europe. It became well known for its excellent durability and reliability, and was one of Chrysler's best-selling automobiles during the 1960s and 1970s, helping to keep the company solvent during an economic downturn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Studebaker Lark</span> Motor vehicle

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cadillac Series 70</span> Motor vehicle

The Cadillac Series 70 is a full-size V8-powered series of cars that were produced by Cadillac from the 1930s to the 1980s. It replaced the 1935 355E as the company's mainstream car just as the much less expensive Series 60 was introduced. The Series 72 and 67 were similar to the Series 75 but the 72 and 67 were produced on a slightly shorter and longer wheelbase respectively. The Series 72 was only produced in 1940 and the Series 67 was only produced in 1941 and 1942. For much of the postwar era, it was the top-of-the-line Cadillac, and was Cadillac's factory-built limousine offering.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cadillac Series 62</span> Motor vehicle

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cadillac Series 61</span> Motor vehicle

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bullbar</span> Vehicle protection equipment

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A glossary of terms relating to automotive design.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Body kit</span> Optional body modifications for a car

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The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to automobiles:

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bottom breather</span>

A bottom breather is a front-engine automobile that takes in air from below the front fascia (nose) rather than through a conventional grille at the front of the vehicle. This styling can provide a more aerodynamic front end, or the appearance of better aerodynamics, or the look of a rear-engined sports car such as the Porsche 911, which also lacks a front grille.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cadillac Series 355</span> Motor vehicle

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Radiator (engine cooling)</span> Heat exchangers used for cooling internal combustion engines

Radiators are heat exchangers used for cooling internal combustion engines, mainly in automobiles but also in piston-engined aircraft, railway locomotives, motorcycles, stationary generating plant or any similar use of such an engine.

References

  1. David Scott, "World's Fussiest Car Factory", Popular Science, p. 97, (May 1960)
  2. "Definition of "grille"". Merriam-Webster online. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  3. 1 2 Lachapelle, Marc. "Hot Grilles: 10 Best Front Ends in Auto Design". MSN Autos. Archived from the original on 20 August 2014. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  4. Young, Angelo (3 December 2013). "Does Your Car Look Happy To You? Designers Talk About The Evolution Of Lights, Grilles And Bumpers". International Business Times. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  5. Severson, Aaron (10 June 2008). "The Unlikely Studebaker: The Birth (and Rebirth) of the Avanti". Ate Up With Motor. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  6. "Daimler Chrysler loses battle for injunction against GM H2 grille". 18 November 2002. Archived from the original on 23 February 2005. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  7. Lim, Chang-won (2021-06-17). "Hyundai Mobis turns car grille into LED lighting device for various scenarios". Aju Business Daily. Retrieved 2022-05-19.
  8. Iliff, Laurence (2021-06-17). "EV designers are seeing grilles in a whole new way". Automotive News. Retrieved 2023-06-25.
  9. 1 2 Bouw, Brenda (2021-06-17). "Electric cars don't need grilles. Don't tell car buyers that". Maclean's. Retrieved 2023-06-25.
  10. Andrew Demaree, SAE Certified Mechanic (May 2019). "How to Install a Grille Overlay?". Billet-Grille.com.