A place to re-chrome our gauge bezels

[bake315]

I think I may have found a place that can re-chrome our original gauge bezels.  When stripping the bezel out of my 74 Custom Deluxe, I noted that the entire piece had been chromed, and that it had been painted black on top of it.  I think I'm going to contact them, and see what sort of price they want for doing mine. 

http://www.paulschrome.com/index.php/what-we-do/we-chrome-plastic

[Captkaos]

Post back what you find.

[Jason S]

I'd be very interested in what you find out.

[bake315]

Well, I shot 'em an email this evening, with a photo and description on what I'm after.  Hope they get back to me tomorrow.

[nlauffer]

I had spoke with them on the phone about this.  They can only give rough estimates, without having the part in hand.  If the price is too high, they will ship it back for free.  The instrument bezel, depending on how much to be chromed, she said could be in the $350 range.  I asked about the door handle cups.  She thought about 75 each.  I spoke to her about the process and it sounds awesome, but my pickup is not a show truck.

[bake315]

I had spoke with them on the phone about this.  They can only give rough estimates, without having the part in hand.  If the price is too high, they will ship it back for free.  The instrument bezel, depending on how much to be chromed, she said could be in the $350 range.  I asked about the door handle cups.  She thought about 75 each.  I spoke to her about the process and it sounds awesome, but my pickup is not a show truck.

Ah so.  Well if that is the case, then it will definitely be too steep for some.  Thanks for running that down!

[nlauffer]

I am not sure how much she understood of what needed chroming on the bezels.  Here is a copy of what she emailed me.

Hi! I had the guy from our plastic department take a look at the pictures with me and he says that you'll probably be in the $500 range to plate it. He said if you wanted him to paint the reccess a satin black it would be about $125. Hope that helps? Good Luck!! Dawn

I am kinda shocked, it is not competitive at all with aftermarket parts.  I'm guessing the bigger market is where you just cant buy the parts anymore.

[bake315]

I am not sure how much she understood of what needed chroming on the bezels.  Here is a copy of what she emailed me.

Hi! I had the guy from our plastic department take a look at the pictures with me and he says that you'll probably be in the $500 range to plate it. He said if you wanted him to paint the reccess a satin black it would be about $125. Hope that helps? Good Luck!! Dawn

I am kinda shocked, it is not competitive at all with aftermarket parts.  I'm guessing the bigger market is where you just cant buy the parts anymore.

I got my email reply this morning from them as follows:

"The dash should run about 350.00 - 400.00, turn time now is about 6 weeks, thanks Bill"

I guess since they are performing a process close to what GM did back in the 70's, and that nobody is capable of duplicating (or won't due to lack of demand), they can command such prices.

I wonder what circumstances brought about the release of the 73-74 GM licensed grilles; I wonder if the same process would help in creating authorized reproductions of these dash bezels - including the chromed gauge rings...  How nice would that be?

[Captkaos]

Sheer demand commanded the 73-74 grilles.   They are made overseas, so it is cheaper.

[bake315]

Sheer demand commanded the 73-74 grilles.   They are made overseas, so it is cheaper.

Well heck, you'd think that demand for good replacement bezels - other than the crap ones I saw at the Goodguys show this month - would be since there are wayyy more bezels than 73-74 grilles.