I need a piece of pot metal re-chromed. Recommendations?

James Romano

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I was fortunate enough to have met an 'old-timer' recently at a car meet that really liked my 65 Sport Fury. He asked me a slew of questions about it, I think testing my knowledge as they love to do. LOL! He was a true Mopar Guy. When he looked in my car, he saw that I had the all wood center console shift cover. He asked if I wanted the chrome/black piece (which I think looks amazing and better than the wood) so without hesitation I jumped on it.

Price was FREE!! He was impressed enough with what I had done to take the car back to OEM and what it looked like, that he felt it belonged with my car. It's a nice piece, and has very little pitting. It's mostly pimpled, but is need of re-chroming and both black and silver paint. I can paint it myself, I just need a good place that will do a nice job on the chrome.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

JR

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Great score. Guys like him renew my faith in humanity.. I’m sure someone here will have the info you seek.. Hell I'm curious as well, I need somebody stuff done too.. TeeHee :D
 
I have heard more "don't go to these guys" than I have recommendations over the years, the only advice I could offer you is to check carefully, especially with a piece like that, which at least LOOKS more complicated than doing a bumper. Good luck.
 
The place I use is called Metal Brite in Dayton, Ohio. They are a family owned business around for 30 years, no website just a phone number. 937-278-9739

You should be able to send a picture and get a quote. I have sent several pieces of pot metal over they years, always happy with their work.
 
I've not personally done this, but I was told...

As that piece looks very labor intensive, see if they'll let you do the metal finish work (if you want to). They dip the part to remove the chrome, which opens all the pits. Then it's copper-plated to fill the pits. This is then sanded down to achieve a smooth finish before chrome. There may be several back/forth steps. The real labor is in smoothing the pits. A friend of mine did this with some '61 Imperial tailights he had re-done.

Obviously this also only makes sense if you're local.
 
There's these guys in Syracuse too. Sandy’s Bumper Mart, Inc.
I've had some pot metal stuff done there and it's turned out pretty good. Don't expect miracles from any shop though. The issue with pot metal is that once you remove the previous plating (BTW, they sandblast it off) there's often a lot of surprises underneath. It's the nature of the material.

That piece is gonna be real expensive though... Think about trying to find another before you empty your wallet on having this one finished.
 
Since you are on Long Island, try Don's East Coast Restorations in Lindenhurst. He is the one that keeps getting recommended to me from the locals. I have not personally had any work done there.
 
i've used resto- trim at dons for straightening and polishing a lot of the aluminum trim on my sport fury and couldnt be happier...but i believe he sends the plating to somewhere else...whoever did the chrome on my valve covers ground/polished off about 3/4 of the metal tabs that secure the wiring harness to the cover...figure i'm gonna have to spot weld extensions on to them and maybe plasti-dip them....had some pot metal stuff on a 1940 diamond T truck that i brought to charlotte auto fair and showed to various platers...went with R&D in tennessee...much cheaper than Advance and others who's names i cant remember...and happy with the results
 
That piece is gonna be real expensive though... Think about trying to find another before you empty your wallet on having this one finished.
I *may* have one of those in better shape but it'd likely take a bit of digging to locate it.
 
I’ve seen a lot of things done, where the piece is over ground, over polished, and ends up warped, with much detail lost. The best work that I have personally EVER seen done on pot metal, etc., are by these guys in the Minneapolis area. I have no connection to them, but will promote great craftsmen at any opportunity. Check out their web site ! Iverson Automotive
1-800-325-0480
www.iversonautomotive.com
E-mail: [email protected]

I would also agree on Custom Plating Specialists in Brillion, WI. I have seen their work also.
 
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Thanks for all the great suggestions fellas. I'll check them all out this week and see where it goes.

It's worth at least looking into to find out.
 
Since you are on Long Island, try Don's East Coast Restorations in Lindenhurst. He is the one that keeps getting recommended to me from the locals. I have not personally had any work done there.
Don's a good guy. He did a lot of work on my '66 Box Nova Longroof about 10 years ago. But I'm pretty sure he send all chroming out. I'll stop by there and ask... I actually grew up in North "Swindlehurst"... Lol.
 
I had some potmetal stuff for my '60 Imperial done by "Pot Metal Restorations" in Tallahassee, Florida....Unfortunately, that was 34 years ago! But they did a great job. I have no idea if they're still in business.
 
I called one of the places listed... 800-1200... yeowza!!! That's waaayy out of my range for something like this.
 
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