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Time to plate the bumpers for the 56 packup. Does anyone have a recommendation for an east coast driver quality plater?

Ross, The plater I used is N.E.L Metal Restorations at 2127-35 Margaret Street in Philadelphia 19124. Phone is 215-289-4944. By the way,they charged me $180.00 to do my trunk handle. The shop is not difficult to find but tricky for someone who does not know Philly real well. From what I've seen it seems to be a full service shop and the staff seems to know what they are doing. They had a lot of stuff on the shelves waiting for pick-up or shipping every time I've been in. Have not been there for a couple of years but I think they still advertise in "Old Cars Weekly" at least they did when I was still getting "Old Cars" in the mail

Thanks Bob. Any other suggestions?

Ross, there is another plate shop up in the Frankford section of town but have not done business with them yet. When I get the contact info for you I'll send it. N.E.L is not that far away from the shop I'm referencing now.

there is another plate shop up in the Frankford section of town

You're perhaps referring to Frankford Plating on Orthodox Street in Phila, just a bit north of the Betsy Ross bridge. I've used them many times over the years. They do SUPERB work and are often used by the restoration shops doing ultra-high quality restorations. Their repair services especially for pitted pot metal are among the very best. But they only do one quality of work - top notch - and are quite expensive (what plating isn't?). Also expect very long delivery times. But the quality of the finished job is nothing short of the best you can get anywhere. Ross, I don't think this is the kind of place you're looking for.

Owen, you are correct; that is the shop I'm referring to just could not remember the street name offhand. Been by many times, just never went in.

For a driver quality shop, if there are any contacts in the body shop business, most of them would have ideas of who would be a good choice. Out here, there were (are) some shops that worked only on bumpers. If any cars still use steel in their bumpers, a few might be still around.

I'm using Frankford right now for one of my driving light bezels and a center grille piece. I figured I would see how they do before giving them more work. I'm somewhat disappointed however.

I dropped the pieces off March 4th. They told me that it would be 3-4 weeks after looking at them and what I wanted done. I figured I'd be getting a call by April 10th or so (giving them 5 weeks). I called them on the 12th of April and the guy said they were almost done, itd be maybe Friday (the 15th), then I called back on Thursday the 21st and was told its almost done, the guys had a bad week or something and they were working on my piece at that exact moment, even working on Good Friday to catch up. No call on Friday. So I called first thing yesterday and was told that it just has to be nickel chromed and its almost done, but the chrome plater guy wasn't working yesterday, and it would be ready Tuesday (today) or Wednesday (tomorrow).

To be fair, there was a minor bit of Pot Metal repair on one of the 3 tabs that holds the threads for the parking light, but they knew this back in March when I dropped them off. I have events coming up very soon and I'm worried I won't be making some of them now, plus I'm very anxious to get this car out on the road!!

Based on my own experience with Frankford and that of most of my friends, meeting their own schedules for completion is NOT one of their virtues! But we put up with it because of the high quality of the work. I suspect that "rush" jobs from large customers like restoration shops tend to get slipped into the workflow and we small-time guys pay the price in scheduling. Though that can really be annoying, I suspect that if we owned and were running the business we'd be doing the same thing.

Thanks Owen! I'm trying to be patient here and not blow up on them when I talk with them by phone.