Seriously, we assure you we are running out of things to blame on The Previous Owner (TPO)
The ChevyBaker came to use with only the bullet nose done in chrome. ALL of the other parts where either painted with "Shiny Metal" paint, that turns a dull grey over time, or where missing.
While we did repaint the rear bumper and trunk latch black this was meant to be temporary and maybe it is.
The front however needed to be address in a more proper way. We did strip the paint from the hood trim and they bright work is really bad. The headlight bezels where never chrome nor where the new front push style bumpers. Casting about for a company to rechrome left us with only a few choices and the cost sounded like it would be not worth the effort. Then we found a company that could Spectra-Chrome. This is a multistep method that applies a sort of plastic chrome layer. We contacted them and they are BUSY. We were politely asked to call be next MONTH. This was not a problem because we were busy as well and hade other projects underway.
We recontacted the company and arranged to send photos of the parts that needed addressing.
| Headllight Bezels |
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| Hood Trim |
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| Bumpers |
 |
.
We sent off the photos with some basic measurements and discussed the prep work, the cost, when we could deliver the parts and how long the work would take.That is where the conversation stopped. We reached out by calling and leaving messages. Nothing! It was then we looked again at the front of the car. We had the front bumpers off, after the lisense plate project, As the paint is easily removed we added more via a gloss black rattle can. If the Spectra-Chrome guys called we would just remove all of the paint anyway. We then move on to the mushtaches and painted them black as well. The headlight bezels gave us some pause however. While the other items are small and the paint could easily be removed the bezels are large (in comparison) and maybe more delicate.
We made an offer on a chrome set on Ebay which are in OK condition but the price was more than fair While not perfect (read as a 20' car, "looks good from 20 feet away") we plan to use these until something happens to justify a change. It was then we thought, "Hey - we have another set on the way so why not?" Out came the rattle can.
The bezels are not grey anymore but they do look a bit out of place. OK, so the Ebay set came in and %^& - While they are the right shape and size they do not fit. It appears the "tab" at the top is shorter than the original set. As such they can not be slotted onto the head lamp body. Thinking we where paint them with a fancy chrome spray paint we decided to simply send off the bezels and hood trim for proper chroming. We found a shop in Sparks Nevada (outskirts of Reno) and shipped them off via UPS.
Upon receipt they gave us a call and stated that because we did not remove the chrome turn signal ring they can not chrome the head light bezels. More over, before we could even ask they said they would NOT remove the ring and we get it. If they destroyed the part everyone would be upset. To the hood trim (Mustaches) they explained that the 70 years of pitting will need some extra work which we expected. They explained that they would grind out some of the Previous Owners work (which was rough) and then build up mulitple layers of copper plating. Each pass of copper would be smoothed and reapplied until the build up filled the pitting. DEAL was our instant reply.
So we received a box from the shop but for reasons unknown it only contained the Mustaches, hmmmm. They do look great (see below) but what the picture does not show is the bezels.
We had to call them back the following week and they were very apologetic and professional. The bezels were shipped the same day and arrived withing a few days. We then had a choice; do we remove the insert ring and send back or use some fancy chrome paint and decide later?
The fancy chrome was the easier solution and while not perfect we will live with it for a while.