Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

My 1928 Packard 526 is one of the Nickel era cars. As polished nickel appears very similar to chrome but is less durable I would like to know if there are demerits in judging for use of chrome on a nickel era car?

I would disagree that the nickel is less durable, looking at many untouched survivors from the 20s and 30s those with nickel have survived the ravages of time far better.

Your judging question may depend on the venue. CCCA does not deduct for chrome replacing nickel, clearly stated in their judging guidelines. Not sure what AACA and PAC standards are but if I had to guess I'd say that AACA standards are less flexible. All I see in the PAC judging for plating is to "check for correct plating" with no statement that substitution is permissible.

I agree with Dave, the nickel on my 1922 126 that was re-plated around 1980 still looks superb. It will dull off a little after a while but the shine is easily restored with a light clean with a metal polish.
The slightly golden appearance of the nickel is distinctive on the pre 1929 Packards and chrome does not look right, its the first thing I notice! Keep it authentic

I think there is a way to chrome-plate nickel so as to retain the nickel color. I don't know what they do, but perhaps they allow it to tarnish slightly before dipping it into the chrome tank. Or, possibly they do a dip into another type of tank to get it to tarnish evenly before dipping into the chrome.

I can't say that I've ever heard of this, but if it's possible I doubt its done by trying to apply an electrolytic plating over a tarnished surface - that would most probably interfere with the adhesion of the plating.

I think all that chrome versus nickel stuff is a Turnquist legacy. Everything under the sun was chromed on his 443. If left out in the weather those nickel radiator shells will deteriorate badly due to heat so they need to be looked after religiously. There is the option of clear coating the stuff to help prevent such problems. If the objective is to present an "as delivered" look then tarnished nickel just doesn't work.

As well, back during the over chroming era if you started nickel plating bumpers, snap rings, and everything else you would have a major maintenance headache.

However, Packard restoration is full of "but it looks better that way" logic so these things happen.

I have this 1920's style banjo and when I placed the order chrome had to be special ordered because it is not authentic. I didn't give it any thought and took nickel. It is impossible to clean that nickel so I just leave it tarnished.