After seeing how mine turned out, a friend asked me to redo the grille for his '71 cutlass. His moldings were trashed so he ordered a new set from OPGI. From reading previous threads we were all set to cut off the tabs and attach them through either screws or double sided tape.
To our surprise, they fit perfectly. The tabs lined up exactly with the predrilled holes. The only thing that I can figure is that his grilles were not repros, but the original metal '71 cutlass' not the plastic 442's.
Could that have been the problem all along for everyone? Are the repop moldings on the market designed more for the Cutlass and not for the 442 grilles?
I plan to continue the experiment. The moldings on my '71 Supreme are in pretty good, but not great shape. I'm going to order a set for myself and see if the tabs line up for mine also.

We'll just have to wait and see.

 

I would be interested in knowing for sure,I need a set of the moldings for my oem plastic 71 Cutlass S grills.
When you say metal 71 Cutlass grills,I'll assume your referring to the Supreme grills.

 

Yes I meant the Supremes. Sorry I was not more clear on that. I have just ordered them from OPGI, so hopefully I'll have some more data for my little experiment by the end of the week.

 

Thank you Chip

 

Just got my new grille moldings in from OPGI and they were a perfect fit for the metal grille on my '71 supreme. No drilling needed. The only thing that makes sense is that these repros were made for metal grilles. Every person that I have read on this site that tried to use them for their plastic ones has had to drill new holes for the tabs or use some other way to adhere them.

 

Thank you for the update Chip.

 

This is good to know.