Although I have three hood sides none of what I'll call the "grilles" that go at the front were straight. In fact, after removing them and seeing some grille bars bent so badly they were moved upwards and over each other I didn't think they could be straightened.
Plus, the pieces are so ultra-thin I imagined they'd crack completely thru if I tried to bend and tap them back into place.
Surprisingly, after about three hour's work I have a pair that are most acceptable. I made a buck that just fit the inside radius, a half inch and thought I'd make a female to put on the outside but found the inner buck served my purposes once I coaxed the bars back into their near perfect position. I put the buck in a vise and tapped the bars with a brass hammer to get the radius back.
I used varying thicknesses of flat stock to push the bars reasonably straight
and then found the whole assembly was cocked and the only way to straighten it was to whack it on the top notch without buckling the whole assembly. About the best I can tell you is patience and working every square millimeter finally paid off.
Here are the before and after photos. The third photo shows the third grille still attached to its trim that I haven't straightened yet.
So the moral is don't be as turned off as I was if you come across some grilles that look beyond repair, they're not.
However, I have not yet begun to try and take the dents out of the .010" stainless side trim that goes on the hood side panels and I am cogitating on just how to approach this task. I'll try burnishing and tapping and very little filing, sanding and will report on the progress soon.
I'd wish I could remember the man's name in Indianapolis who let me store my front end in his barn and then threatened me with bodily harm when I went to pick it up. So if someone bought an Admiral Blue doghouse assembly from Indy, it used to be mine. Another character took my radio for repair and never did return it. I gave the car away and forgot about the thefts until I got it back 20 years later. Now I have well over 150 hours in re-assembling a front end and I still have a long way to go.