Chrome and Stainless Steel

The Front Grill

 

I got my grill back from the Chrome Pit and they did a beautiful job on it. Nelson took it all apart and chromed each piece separately and put it back together with bolts so that it would be adjustable when I attach the fenders. I found out later that this grill is actually from a 1946 Chevrolet and was put on my car before I got it in 1963 (along with 1946 fenders and hood).

 

The 4 holes in the front are for the "Chevrolet" emblem which is currently at the Chrome Pit getting chromed.

        

 

The top part of the grill was already a separate piece.

 

I mounted the grill high up on my wall since it will probably not be installed for 6 months (after i wrapped it in plastic). My garage is double at the front and single at the back (to make it a 3 car garage). I usually put up plastic in the winter to separate the front from the back and only heat the back part. The sloping ceiling here is almost 20 feet high which made it very challenging to install the drywall by myself.

 

Miscellaneous Chrome and Powder Coating

The picture below shows the pieces that I have had re-chromed to-date. They include the sun visor pieces, inside door panel pieces (4), inside door handles, trunk base and handle, and emblems (2).

 


These pictures show the box of chromed pieces and the box of powder coated pieces

        

 

I was very impressed with the powder coating results. If I had to do my car over again, I would definitely get the whole frame powder coated even if it meant transporting it to a different city to find a jobber that had a large enough oven!

Stainless Steel

The picture below shows the stainless steel trim for the inside door panels. The piece in the middle is a spare piece that I got from my upholsterer Omar from one of his parts cars. I was missing about 8 inches on the piece on the right hand side. I took it along with the spare piece to SCT Welding and they cut and welded a piece on my original (see circled high lite). They did a great job and didn't charge anything.

 


The picture below shows all the external stainless steel trim that I took off of my car about 30 years ago. Missing from the picture is the 2 pieces of upper belt moulding (6 1/2 feet each) and the 2 lower rocker moulding.

 

I was not very careful in taking off the stainless and as a result I had to find replacement stainless for my front windows and rear window. I got better quality pieces from my upholsterer Omer Gautron (with a bit of trading). I also got 2 pieces of upper belt trim from Omer. Each piece was about 6 1/2 feet long and extend from the front doors to above the middle of the trunk. Each piece had a metal strip on the inside. As far as I could tell, the metal strip was installed on the body first and the stainless snapped over top of it. These metal strips had 17 metal screws and 6 bolts and nuts holding them to the body. I will have to use moulding clips that use screws and the 6 moulding clips that use bolts (which I already got from Omer) to install the belting back on the car.

        

The pictures above and to the left show the belt moulding strip with the metal inserts (screw attachment to the body) and the end piece without the metal insert (bolt attachment to the body.

 

 

These pictures show the width of the belt moulding. I will need 1/2 inch clips for these mouldings.

 

        

These pictures show the molding clips for window surround chrome. Note the one on the far left is slightly damaged.

 

        

I have 84 of the smaller clips on the left and 22 of the larger clips on the right. Some may be damaged and some may be missing. I think my car requires 96 of the smaller clips. I have seen these (original-used) for sale on EBAY for $7.99US each! I may have to purchase a plastic alternative.