Some Unfortunate Radiator Grille Designs

In the early 1900s, automobile configuration became essentially standardized -- front axle, radiator, motor, transmission, drive shaft, differential / rear axle -- in that order, front to rear.  Radiators soon became packaged using sheet metal or heavier cast or stamped metal surroundings.  There was also the need to protect radiators from damage by flying stones and other objects, so grilles were placed in front of them.  Because radiator grilles were part of a car's "face," a main recognition element, radiator grille designs were created so that a car's brand might be identifiable at a glance.

Those designs varied in quality.  Some became iconic.  Others were nondescript and changed periodically by the marque's designers.  A few designs were rather odd or even ugly.  This post presents three examples of the latter kind.

All the photos below were taken by me at the Nethercutt museum in June.  Click on them to enlarge.

Gallery

1932 Rolls-Royce Phantom II Croydon Victoria
Perhaps the most iconic radiator grille design is that of Rolls-Royce.

1932 Packard Twin-Six Convertible Roadster
Also iconic is Packard's theme.

1931 Daimler Double Six 50 Royal Limousine 
Rolls-Royce's main English rival was Daimler.  Its radiator grille design was distinctive, but never really attractive.  The link here mentions that the shapes at the top were derived from tubing on early radiators, though a quick search did not turn up an example of this.  To me, Daimler grilles always seemed odd, awkward.  Not in the same league as the Rolls grille. Nevertheless, Daimlers were often favored by the Royal Family.

1928 Diana Light Straight Eight Sedan Deluxe
Diana was a minor, "assembled" American car.  Its radiator grille design is soft and lumpy.  It might have been inspired by the design used on a Belgian luxury car.

1928 Minerva AM Convertible Town Cabriolet
That Belgian luxury marque was the Minerva, shown here.  Its radiator grille design is soft, not as strongly shaped as Rolls and Packard grilles.  To me the result is a weak looking front end, not an optimal design/marketing solution.

Minerva: Belgium's Luxury Car

Belgium does not come to mind as a factor in the automobile industry, but until the mid-1930 a significant builder of luxury cars was based there: Minerva.  Some background can be found here.

In this post, I present some images of Minveras over the period 1927 when car styling was becoming an established practice and 1934 when Minerva was merged with another Belgian car maker.

As the link mentions, Minervas were imported to the USA.  A striking Minerva bodied by the  New York state Rollston firm can be seen below.

Gallery

1927 Minerva AFS Roadster by D'Ieteren, Gooding auction photo.

1929 Minerva Type AE cabriolet in a photo I took at Autoworld Brussels a few years ago.

1930 Minerva AL Three-Position Cabriolet by Van den Plas, Gooding photo.

1930 Minerva AM Dual-Windshield Convertible Sedan by Hibbard & Darrin, Gooding photo.  This car in need of restoration sold at Pebble Beach in 2017 for $484,000.

1930 Minerva M-8 Type AP Sedan.  I presume this is a factory body: please correct me if I am wrong.

1930 (ca.) Minerva 40 CV Cabriolet Impérial by D'Ieteren.

1931 Minerva AL "Windswept" Convertible Sedan by Rollston, Bonhams photo.

Same car, side view.

1933 Minerva M-8 25 CV Rapide.  The traditional Minerva grille seen in the 1929 Type AE photo is slowly being modernized to suit evolving body design conventions.

1934 Minerva M-4.  Due to the Great Depression, it seems that Minerva launched this smaller, cheaper 2-litre sedan to boost sales.  As the link above mentions, sales were disappointing.

1934 Minerva M-4 that I photographed at Autoworld Brussels.