Here are some pics of my grill. This came on the car when I bought it in 1999, and I have no idea how long it's been on the car or how old it is. It is immaculate, so I'm guessing it's a replacement at any rate. As you can see, the fin tips are silver. I know this has been a frequent topic of discussion.

Dan, for a 69 SS the only parts that are silver (including the extensions) are the center bar and lower bar.

I'm with Don. For a 1969 SS the grill should be black.

Dan, for a 69 SS the only parts that are silver (including the extensions) are the center bar and lower bar.

I'm with Don. For a 1969 SS the grill should be black.
X3 :yes: FWIW, about 8 or 9 years ago I purchased my '69 grille at a local GM dealership, it came that way out of the box. I blacked it out before installation.

Ah, let the debate heat up....my friend Bob Spade has a '69 300 deluxe with the SS option (some of you guys have seen it). It has the original grille ( we strongly suspect since most of the car's past was racing). It had the front edges of the fins silver and it was put back that way when restored. Bob took his car to CB '06 and there was some debate there about the "correctness" of those fins. Not sure how it ended up but he is leaving it as is (as was??). Maybe different plants did it different. Were the grilles painted when made and then shipped to various plants or was it done on the line, using some kind of mask. I know this has been beaten to death before but as we all know, some plants did it "different" than others. Just one car and one result.....

both my 15K mile Malibu and my 19K COPO had their original grilles..broken but original..both had silver tips

Aren't the two grills, the plastic portion at least, entirely the same aside from color? If so, isn't possible the factory simply failed to install the correct all black SS grill in some instances? Maybe a mistake, maybe a supply problem.

A quick review of the AIM would tell if the grills were detailed at the factory or at the supplier. I believe there are two part numbers so I'd take a strong guess the grills were detailed at the supplier and simply installed when appropriate on the assembly line, thus the increased likelihood a few got installed incorrectly.

both my 15K mile Malibu and my 19K COPO had their original grilles..broken but original..both had silver tips
I also have a late (june 69) balt. built 54,000 mile car that has silver too.

On my 1st week april kansas city built '69 300 deluxe 2dr coupe w/SS option chevelle,the original grill/extensions both have the silver fins.I'v often wondered if this was due to the results of weathering or was this correct.All '69 SS chevelles I'v seen in photos or in person the grill/extension are black.I bought a NOS GM '69 grill about 3 yrs ago and the fins were black,but the NOS extensions that I see here and there they have the silver fins.I like the look both ways,but as for my '69 300 SS I'm leaning towards silver fins on the grill/extensions,since it seems thats the way it came.

Our end of July COPO Chevelle built in Baltimore had the blacked out fins. I don't think I can recall seeing an SS or COPO back in the day that didn't have the blacked out fins. Others may have been different. I just never saw any. The blacked out front and rear were the signs you looked for in these cars. You could see them a long way off. Other year SS cars used the blackout treatment as well so I would kind of assume that they should be black. There were inspectors at the end of the line who checked for the right parts and didn't miss a whole lot, but they could miss things once in a while.

My 69 is a 2nd week July and when I bought it from the original owner it also had the silver tips on the grill. This picture of my original is the top, and the bottom one is the incorrect style the kind that has no bottom trim.

http://s193.photobucket.com/albums/z238/1badss396/69%20Grill/th_735b.jpg
(http://s193.photobucket.com/albums/z238/1badss396/69%20Grill/?action=view&current=735b.jpg)

Here is a picture the day I went and looked at the car before I bought it.
http://s193.photobucket.com/albums/z238/1badss396/SS%20396%20Convertible/th_577a.jpg

I have to agree with Keith, never seen a real SS with silver tip grilles. I have heard of some COPOs (Alss) having the silver tip grilles, but not a 300 deluxe grille. The correct SS grille will have a number of 3938180 moulded into the back side of the lower horizontal bar. The Malibus will also have that part number moulded in the lower bar, but with silver tips.

My unrestored 69 SS has the letters "SS" in white grease pencil on the filler panel, just below the grille. Presumably to identify the grille to be installed on the car.

Woj.

I'd agree with Rich. Probably some SS's slipped through with the wrong grille (silver tips) because of a supply problem or mistake on the production line. Once they're installed, bumper and trim on, etc., it's not a 5 minute fix to swap grilles and extensions.

All the ones I used to see as far as the original ones had the black grill no gray tips. I got some pictures of my old man's new L-34 69 SS the day he brought it home and there were no gray tips or his slightly used in L-78 69 SS bought in 1971.

Here are two pics I dug up from my other '69 SS that I bought in 1992. Fremont built car. This appeared to be the original grill, as it was pretty broken up when I bought the car. The center fins look to be silver, but the ones in between the headlights are definitely black.

You can see it better on the actual pic, but the silver tips appear to stop under the inner headlight, and then become solid black.

If I read the Assembly Manual correctly, it appears there were actually five different grilles for the 69 Velle. According to the notes at the bottom of the applicable page, it seems two of them were removed as of December 11, 1968.

There was a recent thread over on Chevy Talk wherein a guy stated his car had an "all Silver" grille and thought it was original. That's the first such reference to such a grille that I can recall.

Here are three scans from the 69 Sales Brochure. It is important to add the following caveat - Not all things in the brochure actually made it to production.

This first picture shows an all Silver grille. This almost appears to be a carryover of the 68 colouring in the 69 style. Could this have been like the one mentioned over on Chevy Talk? Could this have been one of the ones removed in Dec/68? This might have been an early base 300 Deluxe grille for example :confused:

http://www.pbase.com/don_lightfoot/image/107020973.jpg

This second picture shows the Black grille with the Silver fins. My opinion is this would have been the standard Malibu grille and the replacement base 300 Deluxe grille after Dec/68 (if the assumption in the previous paragraph might be correct).

http://www.pbase.com/don_lightfoot/image/107020974.jpg

This third picture shows an all Black grille. My opinion is this would have been the one used for all SS and COPO models.

http://www.pbase.com/don_lightfoot/image/107020975.jpg

Let's face it, for a line worker you could assume "A grille is a grille is a grille" and they would reach for one that was on the shelf which perhaps was not the correct one or they were out of the correct ones at that time. As was mentioned by others above, if the final inspector realized this error, it is highly unlikely the car would be held up as was also mentioned it is not a simple procedure to replace it. Considering all that has been relayed in this thread, it does not surprise me at all that we have several original grilles which may not be what was suppose to be on the car in the first place (if the above assumptions are legit).

These are my personal opinions guys and are obviously still open for debate. So, how's that for a story :)

Nice detective work Don.

When my brother wrecked his 69 SS Chevelle in 1971, he bought a new grille from GM, it had the silver tips and holes for center grille moulding.

He paid $60 for it back then. He never used it and we ended up giving it away about 25 years ago.

Woj.

Nice pic of the headlight washer option also, (on the second pic), thanks for the information, I plan on semi-cloning my Malibu in the next couple of years, so all the info. I can collect is appreciated.

Here is an old pic I dug out of the box, it is of an orig. SS. ( my first car )
Pic was tacken in 1977, you can see the color of the grill. Hope this helps.

http://i37.tinypic.com/2wqfokl.jpg

Here is another angle

http://i34.tinypic.com/dp95dy.jpg

one more
http://i35.tinypic.com/i2n30i.jpg

Here is the rear, blacked out

http://i36.tinypic.com/2lcqjv4.jpg