Holiday Grillin’

Just in time for Labor Day, what’s better than grilling? Not the barbecue kind, but the iconic grilles on cars. The distinctive front of a car canhelp make it popular

Leroy Burnell
The Post and Courier

The front grille of the 2008 Cadillac CTS has an imposing look. This car was at Miller Cadillac in Mount Pleasant.

It's Labor Day. Time to kick back, grab a drink and stoke up the grill. Er, should we say, grille?

Probably both are right. The Monday holiday is a good time to cook out. But it's also a time where car enthusiasts check out their rigs and perusers look for deals. Chances are that at some point, they'll take a close look at the front, which often gives the vehicle its cachet.

"It's historical," said Colin Clarke, new- and used-car specialist with Palmetto Jaguar. "If you go on the Internet, Google 'Jaguar in 1960' and find an old E-type, guess what, it's going to be an oval grille," he said.

The headlights, bumper and other parts may be distinctive, too. "It's the effect of the front," he said.

Car shoppers don't necessarily buy a vehicle solely because of the front end. But the grille in many cases includes the insignia. And it usually makes a statement about the vehicle, whether sports car, coupe, minivan or sport utility.

Sometimes, Clarke said, the grille becomes iconic.

Alfa Romeo, a sporty import from Italy in the '60s and '70s, had a red, heart-shaped grille. BMW, when the brand came into prominence in the late 1960s, was known for its beaver toothed front. Chevrolet has the classic bow-tie logo on its front end.

In some purchases, "I think it comes down to grilles," he said.

Jaguar long was known for its leaping cat hood ornament but chose in the past couple of years to go with a different look.

On the 2009 XF, the carmaker embedded a metal medallion of a jaguar face in the criss-cross grille that somewhat resembles a Bentley. Jaguar kept the cat insignia while showing off the logo on the front of the car.

Car buyers come to associate vehicles with their logos and certain characteristic features, notably the grille. Clarke said it would be like a Jaguar rolling out with soft leather, exotic wood and luxury appointments but with a long nose cone without emblem or personality. "They (car buyers) would go, "What?' " he said.

As an analogy with footwear, "it's like Nike without the swoosh," Clarke said.

Reach Jim Parker at 937-5542.