Rechrome originals OR buy new?

[firstgear]

I know we talked about this before, but I did some pricing and it seems that I can get my existing parts rechromed (they have pitting and are not in bad shape otherwise) for about the same amount that I can buy "new" from Paragon. I was prepared to buy "new" from Paragon, but after seeing the difference in pricing since I am getting the bumpers rechromed I thought it would make the most sense to get the other pieces rechromed too....then I know that they fit and that there aren't any other problems.....what do you all think?

I realize if I bought the new, that they are probably imported from china or other and that I could offset the cost of the new by selling the originals....this is not going to be a car that is NCRS, far from it...this will be my hot rod that will have plenty of bling bling on it....comments?

 

[richscorvettes]

If you have bumpers that are in decent shape and know of a good chrome shop I'd go with the re-chroming. As you point out you know they will fit and they will likely be a better looking bumper when finished.

Rich Lagasse

 

[John Mcgraw]

Herb,
I know that others will disagree, but I will never send of another piece of pot metal for plating unless it is not available in the repro market. You will almost allways end up with more in the plating then new parts cost, and the quality of most of the parts now days is excellent. I have seen many people send parking light assy's off for plating and end up with parts they are not happy with and have more in them than a brand-new set of trim parts assy's sell for! About the only parts that I would ever send off are the windshield posts and door posts. People have made much fuss about the grille pieces not fitting correctly, but I have allways bought from Corvette Specialties, and have never had a fit problem. I had a real nice set of NOS mouldings that had a little shelf wear on them, that I sent out for chroming last year, and I should have known better. The plater worked on them 3 times, but the finished product was not fit to use on my resto-rod! Pitts just kept coming to the surface after the final plating. I ended up putting a set on the car from Corvette Specialties, and have sworn off ever sending a set of them out for plating ever again!

Regards, John McGraw

 

[IH2LOSE]

Herb what parts are you talking about?

Any pot metal purchase reproductions,with the exception of the windsheild post and the door window post.

Any other parts you send out I would engrave,notch,drill a couple of hidden holes to marc your parts for identafication.Also take more then enough pictures of the parts you are shipping to the chromer along with a detailed packing list.

Just my luck when I was doing the 62 that another fellow was having his 62 parts done. Our fist names started with an L and our last names were 1 letter off Mine was spelled with an A and his was spelled with a E,Dont you know I got his windsheild post.I never realized untill after the windsheild was all put together and I realized the tabs were missing and broken. I posted a picture of them and John McGraw suggested they were not mine.

I have been driving the 62 on the week ends for short trips as soon as the first snow flies I will be sending some of the engine bay parts out to be chromed my self

 

[firstgear]

Herb what parts are you talking about?

Any pot metal purchase reproductions,with the exception of the windsheild post and the door window post.

the teeth, the left and right eyebrows the top and bottom trim pieces around the teeth.....in addition to the bumpers.....I think the other pieces are all pot metal....what do you think?

 

[IH2LOSE]

the teeth, the left and right eyebrows the top and bottom trim pieces around the teeth.....in addition to the bumpers.....I think the other pieces are all pot metal....what do you think?

I am new to C1 ones and get confused on the terms.

The center grill surround,2 peices top and bottom I purchased repro and they fit fine. The bottom peice had some fine work marks in it under the chrome and I sent it back for a replacement.There was some repair work being done to my header panel so the top peice was actually used to fit the repairs to top peice.

The left and right bumper surrounds top and bottom I also got reprocuction and the passenger side of the car was virgin and the parts bolted wright into place,the driver side was being repaired and the repair were done to fit the surrounds.

I did see a car at a show this fall that had the reproduction surrounds on it and the fit terrible but after talking to the owner it was because of poorley repaired body panels not because the surrounds were off.

This is from my personal exspereance.

 

[richscorvettes]

the teeth, the left and right eyebrows the top and bottom trim pieces around the teeth.....in addition to the bumpers.....I think the other pieces are all pot metal....what do you think?

Herb,

In my earlier response I was speaking about the bumpers and the preference to use the originals. For the pot metal trim the key is finding a chrome shop that really knows what they are doing and has experience with pot metal. I do prefer to use the originals as we've found the need to fit the pieces to the body and the originals may be a better fit. That said, the price for rechroming pot metal is quite a bit more than regular steel such as the bumpers. You might find quite a difference in the price between rechroming and buying reproductions.

Rich Lagasse

 

[studiog]

My 2¢:
The chrome parts I had the most difficulty with were the front bumpers and the center grill that all get bolted together. I used my original front bumpers and replaced the center grill bar with a repro bar and it did not fit anywhere near as nice as the original bar. I would definitely keep the original front corners and the center bar to guarantee a good fit.

I also replaced all the front mouldings (as John McGraw recommended to me) with repro parts and fine tuned the body work to insure a good fit. Don't just expect to bolt them on after the car is painted or you may be disappointed.