Technical Who to use for Pot-Metal Restoration ?

Hello fellow Hambs. I'm looking for advice on who to send some 1953 Chevy car "pot metal" items to for rechroming. They'll have to have some pitting fixed but I figure most replating co.'s can handle that. I'm located in N East Arkansas & don't mind shipping them off. I know it's not a cheap process but since it's a 5 generation car "150" my great grandpa bought new in 1953 I don't mind stepping up. Thanks for any & all suggestions! Flux

 

From experience I can recommend Wright's Custom Chrome in Grafton Ohio.

 

Chromeplater Josh used to be here on the HAMB. http://www.chromeplatingin.com/ They did a beautiful job on my 50 bullet. Price was not crazy.

 

One of the best, be prepared to pay for the quality of work.
KK

 

So far these look like outstanding suggestions. More are welcome. Thanks guys! Flux

 

Graves Plating in Alabama is also outstanding on pot metal and anything else.

 

Advanced Plating in Nashville will do pot metal and do a great job.

 

Nice to have all these options. More still welcome. Thanks again guys! Flux

 

I used Pauls Chrome Plating for some of my diecast, costly to do, but they did a great job They are an advertiser in Hemmings

 

Advanced Plating,Steve did a excellent job with my pot metal. HRP

 

I used 3 or 4 different places for die cast restoration Advanced also did excellent work. Also used Vintage Vehicles from Wisconsin. They are a complete restoration shop that does their own plating. They got me out of a bind on one of the quarter window frames on the convertible. I had sent it to California to have it repaired, one was broken. When it came back, I sent it directly to the plater, was broken in the box, sent it back they repaired it again. This time it didn't break, but was welded so bad you would never get a piece of glass into the frame Vintage told me they would check around, and came up with a good used frame, which they plated for me After that they did all the rest of my die cast. I just felt they went above and beyond the call.

 

I need some lancer flippers done soon, watching with interest...

 

I used smitty's chrome plating in Oshkosh NE for an OT '71 Torino. The work was amazing. Worth every penny.

 

Is Smitty's still in business? I had heard he pulled the plug on his operation.

 

With soo many great responses it's gonna be hard to choose. I've got some calling to do tomorrow & hope to send them out asap. Thanks everybody for all the great input. HRP that's an impressive before & after of that handle ! I can't wait to see these old pieces we've got once they come back. I've looked high & low for nos & better used ones but the 53 stuff hasn't quite caught on yet, besides each piece has a "made in the USA" cast into their backsides". I'll be sure to follow up with before & after pics. Flux

 

You ought to check in Hemming's, too

 

There is a shop in Chicago called The Finishing Touch. I heard about it on one of the Cadillac forums. They do fantastic work, not cheap though! You can Google them to view their website.

 

A little over a year ago I heard he was stepping down but had an apprentice he was training to take his position. The shop I used to work for sent '57 bel-air parts to them and the apprentice actually did them. Turned out every bit as good.

Hope they are still keeping it going..

 

Another vote for Advanced. They repaired and re-plated a grill for my 49 Sedanete and it was perfect. They also do a great job on reviving SS trim.

 

Anybody want to post some prices for what they had done? I understand that they can vary depending on what you send them, but having a rough idea could help with sticker shock. HRP's tailgate handle would represent a somewhat 'worse case', how much for just that?

 

I have dealt with Graves since the '60s but they will not give an estimate for pot metal until they can see how much prep time is needed before plating. The last stuff I sent was the pot metal for a '53 Studebaker. That was 11 years ago and it still looks like it did when I received it.
I knew I was not going to have them return it to me un-plated but wanted to prevent sticker shock upon arrival.

 

That will be the toughest part. I'm sure each plater will need to have them in hand first. I'm totally guessing here but I bet the hood or trunk lid bezel will be from 200-300 potentially each due to the pitting work involved. Hope I'm wrong & it's less..... Lol . As soon as I choose a plater I'll post estimates with pics of each item to give others a good idea . As Crazy Steve said anybody with before & after $ chime in please. Flux

 

The problem with pot metal is that much of the pit is hidden under the chrome layer. Not sure if a plater would up the charges, if he found a bigger pit than expected. But I can guarantee you he'd want to hold the part before shooting a solid price.

 

I'm not looking for a 'solid' price, just a rough idea and some voices of experience. So if a part is worse than thought, how much does the price go up? 10%? 50%? 100%? Nobody seems to want to admit what they spent on plating, but it'd sure be nice to be able to at least make a horseback guess before boxing/shipping your maybe irreplaceable parts and finding out the cost is far beyond your budget....

I've had plating done in the past, but my last experiences with a couple of local outfits were less than satisfactory, both on quality and price. But is this only for the 'cost is no object' gold-chainers, or can mere mortals participate?

I've also been experimenting with rebuffing old chrome and had some success.

 

This was who I was thinking of, but for one reason. Talked to him this year and he said he'd be happy to "work with" anyone who wanted to repair their own and send back for plating. It has to be stripped and then sent back for drilling of all the holes. Back it goes for the 1st type of copper which gets into those drilled holes and back again for filling with solder and metal finishing. Send it back for the last time for final finishing, final copper, bright nickel, then chrome. Those hours to drill/fill/finish are the main cost. At $80+ per hour it adds up fast, and that's an average. Some are over $100/hr. That work may not be for everyone. It's tedious and time consuming and also requires the ability to really "see" what you're doing. Any shop that just lays on the copper and doesn't fit stuff together before plating (one of them was mentioned above) can cause more grief than good. Shine and bling are the smallest elements, fit and finish wins the day, lasts the longest. Your results may vary, ask your doctor if metal finishing is right for you. Side effects include severe wallet shrinkage, crying like a spoiled child, loss of affection from spouses, excess high volume cursing and abuse of alcohol and pain relievers.

 

The worst thing that can happen to me is to spend a lot of $$$ re-chroming and not get quality. That is the reason I have sent my stuff to Graves. It takes a company that wants their work to meet all your expectations and they have. It is ALWAYS more than I hoped but the results have always been worth the price.
I am NOT recommending them......just giving my personal experiences.

 

Anyone use NW Chrome in Idaho?
http://www.nw-chrome.com

 

Two belt moldings, two quarter glass moldings and two small "Torino" emblems on a '71 sports roof were $1200 and change

 

Check services section of Hemmings Motor News

 

So if you are doing this on pot metal, what do you fill the pits with, silver solder?