I don't know. Didn't Willys receive their bodies from American Central
Body? Did they even produce their own stamped grilles? If this is
the case, whether Willys themselves had the capital tools to produce
the grilles is moot. Sure one could weld up their own slat grille, but it
is a very labor intensive process. (And l would imagine during this time
skilled labor was at a premium.) It doesn't make sense to me that
Willys would start producing stamped grille models and then decide 8
months later "Hmmm. Let's take someone off the line and have them
make up a slat grille for old time's sake." Whether or not your
grandmother could weld one up is questionable. There are pretty
intrique bends for bars around the headlights and the top bar of the
grille itself that would require some sort of jig to get it right. (Even
the side pieces are hard to make correctly and even the people
repro'ing slat grilles now are not getting this detail correct.) Also,
the same brackets for the blackout lights on the stamped grille need
to be welded on. Not saying it was not possible. There just needs
to be a little more evidence.
Todd Paisley