Radiator Screen

JohnB15632

JohnB15632

Well-known member
Do you gentlemen and ladies,run you Model A's with or without a radiator screen?

Please recommend why or why not. Thanks!
 
You must be asking about a "stone guard"
I don't have one, right now.
Those are a aftermarket item, and not original to the car.
But I do like the way they look and will get one later down the road.
 

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I understand that it is not the best looking item, but at the blinkity blink cost of the radiator, with this much an investment, I think that I will go with the guard. I am going for touring not judging, so.........
 
If you drive on dirt roads with loose rocks, and follow other cars closely, it might save the radiator. I have driven mine for over 40 years without one, and no trouble yet.
 
Are you looking for a fine mesh bug screen? I see them in the summer on Model A street rods. I have had one for years, think I got it at Bratton's.
 
I will say a stone guard recently saved my $500 radiator. My brother was driving my car down a rather busy street in our area around 45 MPH. There was a truck that was just ahead of him but in the lane next to his. A piece of his bumper flew off and flew up directly into the stone guard. It completely dented the stone guard, pushing it back into the radiator shell denting that as well. It knocked off some radiator badges. Had the stone guard not been there, the radiator would of been destroyed. Freak accident, but I'm glad it was there.

After towing my car on a couple of occasions, I noticed some damaged fins on the radiator from what I assume to be stuff thrown up from the tow vehicle which is what caused me to invest in the stone guard.
 
Didn't know they had these.
Can find no pics of them on model A's
Half the price of a stone guard.
 

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Stone Guards are a 'dress up' cosmetic item that are primarily intended to 'gussy up' a plain-Jane face - much like a woman uses make up to enhance her appearance. No real value, other than enriching the image of the cheapest car made in America. Nothing wrong with that. Some like a 'classy gal', others appreciate the honest plainness of the basic platform.

But like a great many other 'improvements' these accessories were primarily made to make the makers and sellers rich. Secondly to make the buyer happy. No real loser here, only winners.

While I enjoy the 'Up-Scale' look of the Stone Guard on my Deluxe '31 Coupe, I would find the Stone Guard on my '28 Phaeton an obnoxious eye-sore, especially as they were not available in the '20's & '30's.

35 years ago when driving the many miles of dirt and gravel roads in Alaska and Northern British Columbia, I installed a wire mesh screen in front of my '30 Coupe's radiator, and had my original 1930 Stone Guard in front of that. In that case it was not about cosmetics, but about a real need. But I think few of us drive those kinds of roads anymore, and the need is more about our own desires to fulfill our sense of aesthetics.
 
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