I am about to buy a 1940 Chevy bus. coupe. The car is fantastic however all the trim has been painted over. I like chrome and stainless. The car looks great like this, my question is when ddi this trend start. The car is Purple so the color makes up for not having chrome. Is it difficult to remove the painted trim and replace it with new parts. is there a procedure? How many of you have painted your trim? Does it look good?
That **** started in the 80's, right after the drugs from the '70s had worn out and left extensive damage to people's brains... Painted trim IMO looks like **** and very cheap. It says to me the owner was too lazy to do the job right and just leave everything on the car during painting. You can offcourse replace trim, but stainless trim can be restored again by taking the paint off (paintstripper/sanding) and then polish it again. Actual chrome can be harder to bring back if the painter has rough sanded the chrome surfaces before painting. I also have the same painted trim-**** on my '57 Chrysler when I bought it, which also happens to be purple by the way. I'm slowly working on bringing back most of the original chrome now.
I really can't stand to see good chrome or stainless trim PAINTED over because someone was too damn lazy to either remove it or tape it up . The one that really gets me is why the hell does someone take a really nice muscle car and paint the fuc**n bumpers the same color ! That is the ****tiest looking thing people do to there cars ! I guess the drugs from the 70's must have been better than I thought they were because we would have never painted any bumpers or stainless trim ! Take you time and clean the paint off the trim ! BTW , purple isn't that bad unless you have a AMC hornet ! That was just plain wrong !! RetroJim
Far predates the seventies or eighties, in the old days they were called Kentucky bumpers. They were used on used cars that were painted quickly for resale and had rusty bumpers that would be too costly to replate. If you can't afford to do it right, paint it.
I just threw up in my mouth... The 80s were an awesome time. Viva la Streetrodders! You know whats better than painted over trim? Trim thats been shaved and then airbrushed back on. Now we're talkin!
Purple? Painted trim? Yea I am starting to remember that era.That was the same time they were shaving the firewall bead off of 32 Fords. I can't wait for Alzheimers!
I'm afraid it DID predate the '70s & ''80s. In the '60s, I know guys would use muriatic acid to etch chrome so it would hold paint. Sorry for the news there, but that's the way it was. Bumpers, TOO.
porky - There will be a lot of messy work to remove all the paint on the stainless and chrome. Take it all off the car and strip it with paint remover and review the damage to the parts from sanding for paint adhesion. Take the parts to a very good polisher, who can workout the damage done. The stainless should come out better then ever. The chrome items need great prep work for good results in the chroming process a good smooth finish is the key here. Good luck with the clean up. All of this process will be expensive but worth it in the long runs. I hate painted chrome and stainless with a p***ion........ CRUISER
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