Exterior chrome

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Joined
Jun 10, 2016
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Location
England
My Car
1971 Mustang Grande
At some point this year i will have to replace the rear bumper as it has split right hand side where it bolts on. It looks like the car has reversed into something. The rear valance has a slight dent too so i was thinking of replacing that too.

So, as I am going concourse i need to know the quality of the reproduction bumpers and fixings/brackets as a quality replacement? Is the chrome that's applied to the reproduction bumpers as thick as originals? If the quality isn't available i will go down the re-chrome route

I will also be looking to replace all other chrome items on the exterior of the car along with the front grille and attachments. Are the reproduction items available good enough for a concourse restoration?

 
At some point this year i will have to replace the rear bumper as it has split right hand side where it bolts on. It looks like the car has reversed into something. The rear valance has a slight dent too so i was thinking of replacing that too.

So, as I am going concourse i need to know the quality of the reproduction bumpers and fixings/brackets as a quality replacement? Is the chrome that's applied to the reproduction bumpers as thick as originals? If the quality isn't available i will go down the re-chrome route

I will also be looking to replace all other chrome items on the exterior of the car along with the front grille and attachments. Are the reproduction items available good enough for a concourse restoration?
I got a rear bumper from dynacorn that works well. I got one from Scott drake and the fitment was bad. You pay more for the dynacorn. Chrome is ok or a show car but if daily driver i don't know how long it will hold up. The trim around the grill is stainless steel and aftermarket is nice is Danial Carpenter. The grill itself might need a little polishing as they all come with verious degrees of scratches.

 
I am in the midst of a pretty high level restoration. My car suffered tremendously in a negative fashion when looking at the interior and exterior trim items. The fact that it is a convertible and was daily driven for years in Tuscan AZ. determined it's fate... The immense heat and constant sun year after year basically dried up all surfaces, paint, interior, rubber, chrome, etc. This is new to me when restoring these cars, as where I live it is the opposite: rust on the body and the interiors, trim etc. we're in surprisingly good shape. I am struggling a bit right now dealing with all the heat and sun damage on the interior, trim, rubber etc. One day at a time. Currently, I am restoring the steering column, not to bad of shape.

I looked at a lot of the aftermarket chrome and stainless pieces. I decided to have all my existing exterior chrome and stainless pieces rechromed and properly polished where necessary. I did not do the front and rear bumpers as the cost to rechrome these is excessive and it would make more sense for me to buy aftermarket front and rear bumpers, if they fade in a few years, just replace them again... the quality of the chrome is actually quite good for the price of these repo's.

I spent $2300 can., about $1600US having everything done and I am glad I did it. The original pieces turned out fantastic. My 429cj engine comes with factory aluminum valve covers, these were done also, so the cost would be less if no valve covers...

IMO, Try to save the original trim pieces where you can and have them re-done by a proper shop. Nothing fits like factory original...

 
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I am in the midst of a pretty high level restoration. My car suffered tremendously in a negative fashion when looking at the interior and exterior trim items. The fact that it is a convertible and was daily driven for years in Tuscan AZ. determined it's fate... The immense heat and constant sun year after year basically dried up all surfaces, paint, interior, rubber, chrome, etc. This is new to me when restoring these cars, as where I live it is the opposite: rust on the body and the interiors, trim etc. we're in surprisingly good shape. I am struggling a bit right now dealing with all the heat and sun damage on the interior, trim, rubber etc. One day at a time. Currently, I am restoring the steering column, not to bad of shape.
I can fully understand the condition of cloth and rubber perishing on your car. My car spent its life in Phoenix AZ. IMO replacing cloth and rubber makes far more sense than cutting bad metal out and welding new metal in place.

I think your right regarding retaining existing metalwork and getting it polished and chromed where possible and replacing rear bumper with a used one and getting it re-chromed. Time to find a good chrome workshop that offers a thicker coating.

I think the parts i am going to have a big problem with replacing are the plastic trim items that run between the top of doors and the roof space. My trim is totally trashed

 
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At some point this year i will have to replace the rear bumper as it has split right hand side where it bolts on. It looks like the car has reversed into something. The rear valance has a slight dent too so i was thinking of replacing that too.

So, as I am going concourse i need to know the quality of the reproduction bumpers and fixings/brackets as a quality replacement? Is the chrome that's applied to the reproduction bumpers as thick as originals? If the quality isn't available i will go down the re-chrome route

I will also be looking to replace all other chrome items on the exterior of the car along with the front grille and attachments. Are the reproduction items available good enough for a concourse restoration?
I got a rear bumper from dynacorn that works well. I got one from Scott drake and the fitment was bad. You pay more for the dynacorn. Chrome is ok or a show car but if daily driver i don't know how long it will hold up. The trim around the grill is stainless steel and aftermarket is nice is Danial Carpenter. The grill itself might need a little polishing as they all come with verious degrees of scratches.

100% On what Jim has said here. I took his advice and bought a Dynacorn rear bar as well. The over riders fit quite well on the bar itself, and the chrome is passable in quality and not too bad. I bought a cheaper brand repro rear bar a few years ago and the quality was very poor. The over riders did not fit that bar at all. I say, go Dynacorn and forget the rest. Remember, you can't buy repro over riders yet.

Lastly, yes, it's true - good quality chrome costs a fortune these days to get done. I was quoted around $600.00 Australian just to have my original '73 Vert rear bar re chromed. You need deep pockets there.:whistling:

Thanks,

Greg.:)

 
Most are not familiar with how what we call chrome is done. To rework and old bumper requires man hours with someone that is skilled at what they are doing. They will straighten the bumper in a hydraulic press. Weld up any cracks or unwanted holes. They strip the old plating off in tanks and also with belt grinders. The back side of your original bumper will never be nice and smooth like the repo will be.

For plating to be applied evenly you have to have an anode with the reverse shape of the bumper. If a plating shop has been doing this for a while they will probably already have one if not they have to make one. This allows an even flow of current to the surface. So after they have straightened and welded the bumper the grind and sand to get the imperfections out, rust pits and dings. The bumper now goes to the copper tank and has a heavy layer of copper laid down. Then back to the sander to even out that surface. Back to tank for another layer of copper if needed and sand / polish again. Depending on how bad the bumper is this can happen several times. Now the finish you have coming out of copper is the finish you will have coming out of chrome so it has to be perfect here. The next layer of plating is Nickel which is for protection from the rust and durability. If everything looks good then on to the Chrome tank and few millionths of an inch of chrome is put on. The chrome only changes the look from a not to shiny and bright nickel to the shiny chrome everyone wants. Regardless of if you go with repo or re-chrome paint the back side with silver rust preventative paint. The plating operation is only trying to make the front look good and the back will rust quickly.

When they repo the bumper it comes out of the die goes to polish and then copper and polish, nickel and the chrome. That is why most platers refer to it a triple chrome plated.

I do not remember if your car has the aluminum strips on the side but it has the vinyl I think. A good shop that does those can make them look better than new.

On the rear valance panel be careful there I think there might be three versions. The 73 is definitely different. They sell them on eBay all the time and say 71 - 73 but not so the shape is different due to the different bumper on a 73. I think they hit Pastel with a 73 for his 71 and the shop had to beat it into shape. A good original not NOS is your best bet. Make sure it is like yours before you purchase.

When Ford went to service with some panels they use a version that would work for all years but not necessarily correct for all years. They are cheap on how they service panels. China actually sued most of the car manufacturers for a monopoly on automotive body parts and all had to drastically reduce the cost in China. Heck today a front fender does not cost Ford $15.00 to buy but you go buy one and see what it cost.

If you want it perfect good used parts re-chromed will beat any repo part but the price is up there.

 
My one issue with the body shop that did the work on my car was that they lost my original rear bumper that was in OK shape. He bought me a repop that was terrible. I ended up finding an NOS bumper still in the ford wrappings and now have that on the car. The repop chrome is actually not to bad these days, where they do fall short is fitment and gauge of the metal. The repops are aluminum foil thin in my opinion and do not fit very well. My NOS piece is not perfect and that is the way it was made. The original chrome does have some very faint lines in it where the paper wrapping around the bumper from the 70's left a mark. Mind you that you have to look really hard for it, but I know it is there and no one else probably would. Someday it will get refinished to the amount of several hundred $$. I would try and find an original or if possible get your original fixed and refinished. It would be the best investment in my opinion.

 
At some point this year i will have to replace the rear bumper as it has split right hand side where it bolts on. It looks like the car has reversed into something. The rear valance has a slight dent too so i was thinking of replacing that too.

So, as I am going concourse i need to know the quality of the reproduction bumpers and fixings/brackets as a quality replacement? Is the chrome that's applied to the reproduction bumpers as thick as originals? If the quality isn't available i will go down the re-chrome route

I will also be looking to replace all other chrome items on the exterior of the car along with the front grille and attachments. Are the reproduction items available good enough for a concourse restoration?
I got my parts rechromed by AIH in Dubuque Iowa. These guys do amazing things with original parts. They can straighten bumpers, repair rusted bumpers, repair pitted pot metal parts - you name it. I have seen them take a bumper corner off of a '57 Chevy that had rusted through from the inside due to the exhaust pipe running through the bumper. You could not tell where the repair was done from the inside or the outside.

Their work is guaranteed for life, and the warranty is transferable to a new owner. I had them do every plated part on the car - bumpers, door handles, window cranks, turn signal lever, ignition switch, trunk letters, Mustang script, center stack bezel, dash switch mount hardware, gas cap, bumper guards, hood trim, eyebrows, convertible top body trim, remote mirror knob and bezel, convertible header pieces, visor mounts - anything and everything that was plated and not plastic. This way all of the plated pieces match in terms of tone. The work is outstanding.

2yw5v7b.jpg


95zz4k.jpg


Most of their restoration work is on high end prewar cars - the stuff you see in Monterrey and Pebble Beach. They keep the lights on by providing plating services for Victory motorcycles, and they do the plating on Aston Martin keys, as they were the only plater that would guarantee a specific, consistent plating thickness so the keys would fit in the dash socket.

They are not cheap. They tell you up front, you are not paying for the plating, you are paying for the prep. Everything is stripped, straightened, repaired, polished and replated, with each replating layer polished. Pot metal defects are drilled out and filled with silver solder before polishing and replating. They are also not particularly fast. I want to say the bill for everything was around $5k.

 
At some point this year i will have to replace the rear bumper as it has split right hand side where it bolts on. It looks like the car has reversed into something. The rear valance has a slight dent too so i was thinking of replacing that too.

So, as I am going concourse i need to know the quality of the reproduction bumpers and fixings/brackets as a quality replacement? Is the chrome that's applied to the reproduction bumpers as thick as originals? If the quality isn't available i will go down the re-chrome route

I will also be looking to replace all other chrome items on the exterior of the car along with the front grille and attachments. Are the reproduction items available good enough for a concourse restoration?
I got my parts rechromed by AIH in Dubuque Iowa. These guys do amazing things with original parts. They can straighten bumpers, repair rusted bumpers, repair pitted pot metal parts - you name it. I have seen them take a bumper corner off of a '57 Chevy that had rusted through from the inside due to the exhaust pipe running through the bumper. You could not tell where the repair was done from the inside or the outside.

Their work is guaranteed for life, and the warranty is transferable to a new owner. I had them do every plated part on the car - bumpers, door handles, window cranks, turn signal lever, ignition switch, trunk letters, Mustang script, center stack bezel, dash switch mount hardware, gas cap, bumper guards, hood trim, eyebrows, convertible top body trim, remote mirror knob and bezel, convertible header pieces, visor mounts - anything and everything that was plated and not plastic. This way all of the plated pieces match in terms of tone. The work is outstanding.

2yw5v7b.jpg


95zz4k.jpg


Most of their restoration work is on high end prewar cars - the stuff you see in Monterrey and Pebble Beach. They keep the lights on by providing plating services for Victory motorcycles, and they do the plating on Aston Martin keys, as they were the only plater that would guarantee a specific, consistent plating thickness so the keys would fit in the dash socket.

They are not cheap. They tell you up front, you are not paying for the plating, you are paying for the prep. Everything is stripped, straightened, repaired, polished and replated, with each replating layer polished. Pot metal defects are drilled out and filled with silver solder before polishing and replating. They are also not particularly fast. I want to say the bill for everything was around $5k.
Do you know if Lyle Whalen is still running AIH? I used them years ago for some parts and as you said they do fantastic work. I used to see Lyle out on the river a lot during the summer.

 
At some point this year i will have to replace the rear bumper as it has split right hand side where it bolts on. It looks like the car has reversed into something. The rear valance has a slight dent too so i was thinking of replacing that too.

So, as I am going concourse i need to know the quality of the reproduction bumpers and fixings/brackets as a quality replacement? Is the chrome that's applied to the reproduction bumpers as thick as originals? If the quality isn't available i will go down the re-chrome route

I will also be looking to replace all other chrome items on the exterior of the car along with the front grille and attachments. Are the reproduction items available good enough for a concourse restoration?
I got my parts rechromed by AIH in Dubuque Iowa. These guys do amazing things with original parts. They can straighten bumpers, repair rusted bumpers, repair pitted pot metal parts - you name it. I have seen them take a bumper corner off of a '57 Chevy that had rusted through from the inside due to the exhaust pipe running through the bumper. You could not tell where the repair was done from the inside or the outside.

Their work is guaranteed for life, and the warranty is transferable to a new owner. I had them do every plated part on the car - bumpers, door handles, window cranks, turn signal lever, ignition switch, trunk letters, Mustang script, center stack bezel, dash switch mount hardware, gas cap, bumper guards, hood trim, eyebrows, convertible top body trim, remote mirror knob and bezel, convertible header pieces, visor mounts - anything and everything that was plated and not plastic. This way all of the plated pieces match in terms of tone. The work is outstanding.

2yw5v7b.jpg


95zz4k.jpg


Most of their restoration work is on high end prewar cars - the stuff you see in Monterrey and Pebble Beach. They keep the lights on by providing plating services for Victory motorcycles, and they do the plating on Aston Martin keys, as they were the only plater that would guarantee a specific, consistent plating thickness so the keys would fit in the dash socket.

They are not cheap. They tell you up front, you are not paying for the plating, you are paying for the prep. Everything is stripped, straightened, repaired, polished and replated, with each replating layer polished. Pot metal defects are drilled out and filled with silver solder before polishing and replating. They are also not particularly fast. I want to say the bill for everything was around $5k.
Do you know if Lyle Whalen is still running AIH? I used them years ago for some parts and as you said they do fantastic work. I used to see Lyle out on the river a lot during the summer.
Is that a lower front valance guard I see in the last picture? Thought they only were available on 71 I have a NOS pair but do not know how they mount never found a picture of them on a car. If you have the mounted I would like to see where and how they mount?

 
That they are. They mount to the underside of the bumper to the front valance. I haven't decided if I will put them on the car yet. I am thinking I want a front spoiler, and I don't know how that might affect the installation of the bumper guards.

There is a picture of then in a promotional photo in the Mustang Recognition Guide. No real detail on installation, but it does give some lateral location information.

 
That they are. They mount to the underside of the bumper to the front valance. I haven't decided if I will put them on the car yet. I am thinking I want a front spoiler, and I don't know how that might affect the installation of the bumper guards.

There is a picture of then in a promotional photo in the Mustang Recognition Guide. No real detail on installation, but it does give some lateral location information.
I only have one of the rubber rub strips NOS have been searching for another. I understand they are pretty hard to find both the chrome and rubber parts.

 
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