Packard Forum Index » General

It has been 30 years since I had any plating done for a restoration. Back then it was held that if the pot metal was pitted, one would have to strip the item and dig/drill out the offending corrosion before you could copper plate the item.

I am wondering if there is new technology that allows good plating without tedious restoration.

I have a Studie 4 Seasons roadster that had extensive pitting in the pot metal windshield frame. Kevin Klockman of Smitty's replating Oshkosh
NE replated all the chrome on my roadster. His work is reasonable and of high quality. His phone is 308 722 4301.
I highly recommend him i have spent over $ 6400.00 with him and it was worth every penny

I am wondering if there is new technology that allows good plating without tedious restoration.


None that I'm aware of. The shops that excel on pitted diecast parts still do it the same; strip, drill out the pit, fill with a compatible alloy, copper plate, grind/polish to re-establish original contours, etc.

Although I've not tried it myself, I've heard that Muggy Weld, which melts at a low temperature, does a good job and can save money if you have any skills and want to do the tedious work yourself. You would have to have the chrome professionally stripped down to the bare metal, then work on each pit individually. Tiny pits will probably not be a problem and can be hidden by the copper plating but larger ones would definitely need filling.

Personally I don't care for the jewel-like plating that the better shops do as the cars were never like that to begin with but that would be up to you. Factory plating even on luxury cars was never perfect.

"Muggy Weld" (muggyweld.com) makes "super alloy 1" which is a low melting (silver) solder for pot and white metals. I have used it to repair broken pieces, but it's very expensive and I doubt you'd save much time and money DIY vs $3/# copper. If you have your own plating bathes/DC power supply, then it might work, but to send out, have it stripped(solder won't stick to chrome and chrome is removed before replate), ship back to repair the pits, and ship back to the plater is not enjoying much savings and takes a great deal of time/overhead. Some of the good shop turn arounds are on order of months. And there's the risk of failure/loss and you have to have the grinding and buffing tools to prepare the surface for plating to save shop cost.(what is your time worth?)
You're better off looking for better chrome cores to use as is or replate, if yours are really bad. They normally charge based on condition/appearance/detail. The base metal was probably not that good to begin with and once it's all corroded, there's not much to stop it from going further with heat and after it's rechromed. We touched on this subject before as preservation.
I guess this is not a low cost part of the hobby, if you're into restoration. (I refer to it now as "automotive alchemy" - ie, turning junk into gold!) They weren't meant to last a long time but we persist.
You can try a local low cost quick turn around shop and maybe accept some surface defects.
Once 3D scanning/printing gets to be real good and cost effective, then the ball game might change by making a copy in some low cost alloy and plating that. It's easy to smooth the surface in the computer prior to printing. But printed part is not there yet from what I understand. Some of the big shops have made cores for castings by this technique when no originals exist. Drawings are needed. You can print an oversize wax or poly core, smooth as needed then cast a new part by lost wax technique. But you won't have an "original" part.
There is the "spray chrome" spectrachrome.com that is a faux metallic paint finish that is being used but still surface condition dependent. Also costly for the paint and equipment. Mostly suited for custom as non original finish results.
Regardless, technology cost is throughput dependent, and for one or two parts, not much incentive to drive change.

Thanks for all the input.
Of course I was hoping for a more positive answer, but just glad to know what the score is.

Fish'n jim
A very nice critique on metal finishing. Rechroming the "old time car" parts has now reached the level of cost formerly reserved for, interior, sheet metal and paint, engine/trans/suspension work. A neighbor has two quotes for his 1953 Packard. The quote covers RR all chrome, make ready and chroming, removing all the SS and polish which is charged by the inch. Estimate $12,000 to $15,000 K. GULP!

10 years ago I had my 39 pot metal parts done in Sydney using a process called "plastic chroming". They are still gorgeous today!
You need to sand out all the pits then coat with epoxy before it can be done, but it sure works!

I'm sitting on $6K of rechromed parts for the '49 and haven't got to the bumpers. I intend on paring those down to non-bumper car size, more for aesthetics(custom) than cost. I know what Ouch! means. There's another similar figure in interior materials.

The dilemma: Market price.
There's a '48 P custom club sedan that's been recently restored to high standard for sale, asking price ~$65K, which is probably about what they have in it. Compare to a '50 P Victoria conv, all original(the high end), asking $35K?
So the value/cost gap for restoring these fine post war autos remains too wide. One needs a crazy uncle ATM to stay in this regime.