I'm trying to decide which grille to go with on my 73 crewcab project. I've got this 79 grille which is pretty clean, but could use a cleaning up for sure. Or I could go with the original 73 grille. I found a place that sells NOS M880 grills, which are painted of course, for a decent price. I'm not sure if I want to strip the paint and leave it bare like dodge originally did or paint it black. I'm leaning towards the black grill. This will be on a marroon truck. I've already decided that the trim around the tail lights will be black. The door handles will probably be black too so this would just blend in better probably. I was bored today so I just pulled the grille off my 92 to see what it would look like hanging up.

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I could get a better comparison if the photos were a bit farther away from the truck, with the rest of the truck in view to see how it looks.

But for now, Im gonna go with the second one...with the headlight bezels from the first...

 

Anything but black unless the truck is painted black. It's your choice so it's whatever you like!

 

NOT the 79 I thought they were UGLY. I like the 73 plain. The black looks good too. How about a 77/78 grille.

 

I'de love to get a 77/78 with the quad headlight setup, but they are kind of hard to come by.

 

you mean the '79 dual square headlight set up? I thought the 78/79 where the round with the turn signal set in toward the grill like Moparmax. I think those look the best....

 

I thought 78/79 was the quad headlights. Personally I never really cared for the grille with the blinkers like that. I did consider it for this project though. I would have kept the 73 bezel with the turn signals below and deleted the turn signals in the grille. Then I would have covered them in some semi-fine mesh and made them air intakes for the engine, but it was just an idea.

 

i believe 77 grille is round headlights clear turn signal, 78 grille is round headlight amber turn signal, 79 is quad rectangular and i have no idea where the turn signals went lol. the first one you have i have no clue what year it is from. i have in my family a '73 pw a 76 2wd and a 78 2wd and a grille from a 77. i almost think that they went back to the single rounds for one more year in 1980 but im not sure. i personally like the blacked out one. i am looking to put the 78 grille in myself just because even the upgraded halogen rectangle lights suck!! the highbeams are about as bright as the lows on my plymouth and my other trucks. im sure it has something to do with the projection of the lens. good luck with the project!! keep us posted!!

Moparmax, what type of lights are in yours?

 

Upgrade to H4s instead of those halogens. I put them in my 84 ramcharger a few years back and it's really bright now. You can find the H4 kits on ebay for about $20. The bulbs they send with them are usually cheapos. Go to autozone and get some good quality H4 bulbs then.

 

the original 73 was a cleaner grill. i had a 72-1/2 club cab, 74club cab pwr wgn, and 78 crew cab; with each passing year the grills IMO became more and more cluttered.

 

i would leave the stock 92. just my 2 cents

 

It's a 70s truck so I'm going to go with a 70s grille. I think I'm going with the blacked out 73 grille.

 

good choice and i think that one grille that is kind of a mystery grille... is off a plymouth trail duster

 

The lights are stock.. this type of grille is only for th e77/78 trucks... the valance is different than the other trucks.

In 79 they offered 2 grilles. Quad and dual head lamps.

As for the turn signals they were offered in the cleat and the amber.

If you are asking about the headlamps they are JCwhinteys. Had the Hella replacements that are glass, just got tired of having the replace them after rocks crack them. They take H3 bulbs


The trailduster had the same grille in 77/78 just no name stamped in it

MM

 

That could be a possibility. When I bought my 73 crewcab the previous owner threw in a bunch of old parts that he no longer wanted and that grille was one of the parts.