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I know all of you are experiencing the same problem with the chromed potmetal parts on your Packards as I am with mine.

Re-chroming is very costly because of environmental regulations, and because chrome is SO reflective, the underlying surfaces must first be made PERFECT via handwork, which makes the cost even higher.

In addition, sometimes you want a DIFFERENT look. In my case, I want less chrome in order to focus viewers on the wonderfully conservative but elegant lines of my 52 Packard. After all, this John Reinhart design, when it came out in late 1950 as a '51 model, won a design award from The Motion Picture Academy of Art Designers.

So, I talked to my good friend Eero at Crosslink Powdercoating in PFlugereville, Texas. I talekd specifically first about the trunklid handle on my car, which was badly pitted.

Even looking first from a distance, you can see that the finish is pitted:



When you get closer, you see how bad the pitting really is:


I had a spare one too, that had a painted silver finish on it - evdiently someone had already tried to salvage it. Eero suggested I send it to him to take a look at.

He and his team media blasted it, and smoothed it a bit, and then powdercoated it in a SATIN black - not gloss black, which would have accentuated any defects, although not quite as badly as chromeplating would have. The satin finish still has a nice gloss, but it is not mirror-like. That did the trick.

Here are photos of the powdercoated trunklid installed on my Packard:


Please try to ignore the unfinished lower part of the rearend of the car. That is a separate project that I am working on which I will post separately on this forum.

Jim G

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If you want a better finish, there are various "hi temp" metal/alloy fillers available which will withstand powder coating temperatures. Having a little brain fart at the moment, when I think of a brand name I will post. The "hi temp" part is important, not all of them will take the heat.

Jim, you do know that they have "chrome" powdercoating that is virtually identical to the look and reflectiveness of the original chrome.

Alternative chrome finishes:

http://the-polisher.tripod.com/id13.html

http://www.sprayonchrome.com/index2.html

http://powdercoatingit.com/sub2.htm

Eastwood also has a kit for the do it yourselfer that has possibilities.

eastwoodco.com/jump.jsp?itemID=14712&ite ... 458%2C844%2C848&KickerID=476&KICKER

I don't think the Spectra Chrome "spray-on" product is a powder-coat process, but the end result looks more like chrome plating than the others. Kinda reminds me of the shiny bits in model car kits.

However, the system doesn't appear to be geared to the typical DIYer.