I have a 72 GS and I would like to do a nice job on the interior. The first thing I want to do is get the dash looking cherry and complete. I have good cores for the dash bezel, radio bezel, steering column cover and chrome console insert. I have been thinking about sending them to CvVacuum Platers in Mission BC Canada for replating. It seems they use vaporized aluminum. Does anyone know about this? is there another way? Would I be better finding and buying show quality dash parts rather than plating? Does anyone plate with chrome? Thanks for any help, George
Crome Plated Plastic Parts CV does good work for reasonable prices - Chuck did the long radio bezel in my Riviera. The first attempt was not acceptable, and they redid the piece a second time no questions asked and covered the shipping costs ! :TU: Another source for plastic chrome vacuum plated parts is www.mrgusa.com, but I have never seen any of there work. This is the only process that is used to plate plastic pieces. :beer :TU:
I use Mr G's with no problems. Here is a restored dash including new woodgrain, polished lighter, wiper, ac knobs.
I live in the DFW area, and drove to Mr. G's with my parts before I sent them to CV Vacuum Platers. I looked at a dash bezel they had on the shelf, and when I asked the young man about the imperfections I saw, he took it from me and held it out at arm's length and said that if it can't be seen from that distance (which he pointed out was the same you will be looking at while driving your car), then it is the best they can do. You will also not get your parts back unless you request that, and then they will not give you a time frame since there are other customers waiting for the first available parts since the inventory is low. o No: I took my parts and left. I definitely recommend CV Vacuum Platers. I just received my dash bezel and radio bezel back from them, and they look great. If you tell them you belong to a car club, they will give you a 10% discount!! They give you a US address to ship to and take care of all the red tape for getting the parts to and from Canada. It did take three months to get them back, but you will get your parts back, not someone else's that were cracked and repaired. Like I said, I could have avoided shipping charges by using the local vendor, but chose to ship my parts to CVVP. After seeing my parts and comparing them to Mr. G's, I am very glad I did. Good luck.
I just had my dash bezel rechromed by ChromeTech. I have to say it is the best plastic chrome job I have ever seen. They also did the black detail painting. Great to deal with and you get your original part back, no questions asked. It took about 8 weeks. http://www.chrometechusa.com/
Lee, They charge $170.00 for the dash bezel, which includes the chrome process and then they are detailed with new black paint. Remeber, if you mention you are a car club member, they will knock 10% off, so it's down to $153.00. If there are cracks in the plastic that you can't see until they strip the paint off, they will repair them but they charge more for that (my dash bezels and radio bezels didn't have any cracks, but my arm rest bases did). Then you have to pay shipping both ways, but I'm sure that is going to be the case with all vendors. Give them a look, and call to inquire. Here is their website, and you can find the prices on all the different products our cars were made with plastic chrome (radio bezels, A/C vents, steering column covers, etc). In Mr. G's defense, they do have a great reputation and I know of several people on this site that use them and love their work. My problems were with the owners son who I spoke to when I went there in person. He is the main reason I decided to locate another vendor, so if you just deal with them on the phone and don't care if you get your own parts back, then they should be considered also. Just my .02 cents. Good luck!
oops, they went up! Lee, I just took a look at the prices, and they apparently raised them since I sent mine in. It looks like the dash bezels are now $200. Sorry, but it was "only" $170 back in April. :Smarty:
George/blackgs---to answer your original question--Buick also vacuum metallized the bezels originally(the "vapor aluminum" you mention)...so Mr G's etc are "chroming" these things the same way they were originally done. There is(was) someone that plates plastic with real chrome--you would need to look in Hemmings under the "Services Offered" section---I recall seeing an ad in there for a place that did this. IMO--you might price having it done in real chrome but probably a waste of $$. Keep the dirt, etc off your re-metallized bezel and it should last a long long time.
