..to rechrome this piece? Ballpark is fine. Yes, it's somewhat pitted potmetal. I realize it will vary some with the shop who does it. Trying to figure out if I'm being BS'ed or not. Part is Hamb-friendly (61-63 Mopar).
I'm not a chromer, but I'd guess at least $200. Maybe $400. Pitted potmetal is the worst. That's why I make repro Stude taillights (see below).
A bunch!! Seriously though, you need a plater that does acid copper. Your money is spent filling the holes and metal finishing. Time is money. My approach would be to have it stripped 1st. Take it home and sand it smooth with maybe a 150 grit disc, BUT DON'T GET GREEDY. You'll see all the holes, then the time starts to add up. You have to gently drill every one. Not too deep, not too big, maybe 1/16. After that, take it back and get it coppered up. Get it back home again, and you'll need some tinning fluid, some solder (50/50 tin/lead is best), and a small torch. Yep, you guessed it, fill in all those drilled holes with solder and sand it smooth again. Take it down to like a 400 grit, and againdon't get too greedy with it. From there, the chrome shop has to simply re-copper, buff, then plate. By doing the fill/finish part yourself you save hundreds of dollars. Chrome part labor/restoration can run anywhere from $75 to $100/hr. Worth it? Sure, if they're good. If you can manage a torch and a disc sander you're damn near making money on the savings. And yes, it's best to do as many parts at once as possible. Rare part or is it repro'ed? Quick edit...I looked at it in full size, it may strip nicely w/out too much pitting.
If it were my old mopar, I'd be rubbing some type of polishing compound on it and see how it looks. Odds are I'd run it as-is. But I'm not a high buck show car guy....
I sold it, and the guy first complains it doesn't fit his car, then says it will cost $500 to have rechromed. I told him it needed rechroming in the first place. Rare, but not super rare, probably 40,000 cars came with this thing on them. I've no idea what rechroming stuff costs, so I thought I'd ask, sounds like he could be exaggerating some, but not a lot. If I had the car it fit I'd just polish it up, clearcoat the pits, and let it be.
My guess is that there are plenty of chrome shops that would be happy to get $500 to fix it. I guess you just can't please some people....your best bet is probably to give the guy a refund after he returns the part to you. Or tell him to stuff it.
It's a plate surround for a '63 880; which is the same as '62 880 and '62 Chrysler (and should be '61 Dodge except Lancer too). Hard to believe in that shape it's not worth $26, but I didn't even try to see what one sells for. I'm just confused because either it doesn't fit and he can't use it, or it's too rough for his taste and he can't use it.. he said both... I don't see how it's both things.
hope this wasn't an ebay sale. they have that 100% satisfaction garantee no matter what policy that is driving the place into the ground. buyers don't even need to send back the same thing they bought, all they need is a tracking number showing delivery of something to your zip code..
Actually, that's the amusing part... he paid me with a money order so his wife wouldn't know what he was spending on his car. My guess is the wife saw the package show up. Anyways, that gives me some education into chroming. I thought about getting the bumper from the same car as a core, but resisted as it needs a lot of small dings and a couple of bends from being pulled on with a chain, worked out of it. Same deal, it fits the same cars - I found this interesting article online that explained how Chrysler redid the '62s on a budget by using most of the '61 Dodge body with new upper quarters, then because the Dodge dealers wanted a full size car they cobbed up the '62 880 literally out of the parts bins, using the same altered body shell with the '61 nose. The '63 is the same shell with these goofy new taillights that fill the same opening, and a new nose that shares the bumper with the new '63 Chrysler. (station wagons got '61 Plymouth quarters, too). Thanks -
I would bet every bit of $ 500 would be spent to do a quality chome job on that. I had the roll bar hoop on my 27 done, it was brand new steel, and it is only about 34 inches wide and a couple of feet tall, and the tab was $ 300. I just talked to a guy at a car show last week who had a Brewster grille shell chromed and it was $ 3500. 23 years ago I had Advance Plating do the steering arm on my 56 Ford pickup box done and it was $ 100 way back then. Chrome plating is not cheap. Don
I wouldn't doubt it's the same*****head that bought a '62 Chrysler tail light bezel from me, paid a ton and then was upset that it wasn't worth what he paid. I tried to explain to him that I started the bidding at $9 and that he was the one who decided what to bid, and how the part was exactly as I described it to be, but that didn't seem to matter. I'd put plating cost on that piece around $150, maybe $200. I think a problem here is that people aren't getting a true scale of how big it is, it's a license surround and it's not that large. It's also fairly flat faced, making it easier to grind smooth.
Impossible to say unless you can hold it in your hand to see it "up close and personal." It won't be cheap.
There's different ways of chroming things. I have a shop that will do a bumper for $400. There's another shop that charges double or more. The difference is the use of copper or soft nickel. Copper and acid copper, and it's toxic fluids are very expensive to run. Diecast has to be done with copper, and has to be stripped in it's own solutions. Those are also pricey. For steel, brass, bronze and select castings I can use the lower priced shop. The rest, ya gotta pay. FWIW, I'd tell that buyer to get the part back to you in the shipped condition and refund all but the frieght. He got to see it in person for a few bucks in order to make a choice. WTF is wrong with some people...
The reason I said I would expect it to be $ 500 is that it looks in the pictures like it will require some filling of the pits and from what I understand that is the expensive part. It takes time to fill in each pit then buff it smooth enough to start the actual plating process. That prep work is labor intensive and drives the cost up. But it will be interesting to see if any chromers on here can give some kind of quote, even though they haven't seen the piece in person. Don
I'd guess approx. $200-250. Then again, a size reference in the pic is always nice. Also a pic of the backside will reveal a lot more in regards to its true condition. Sometimes, there are spots of corrosion on the back that, once stripped, turns into a rotten hole. $500 is ridiculous. If you plan on doing your own sanding and soldering, make sure the shop you are using is OK with the solder you are using. We don't use lead in our shop anymore. We use lead-free silver-bearing solder. Also, when drilling out the pits, make sure the discolored metal is drilled out as well. This stuff is usually on the perimeter of pits. We call it dead metal. It will plate, but will also blister. When drilled out, it will turn to powder instead of metal shavings. Pot metal is junk by nature, but still workable.
I'm not in the chrome business but would guess $150.00 or better is what they want to make it look new.
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