There are areas to spend money on a low-dollar restoration, and areas not to spend money. Some of our chrome, aluminum and stainless trim were in pretty decent shape. Other pieces, like the bumpers, were a mess. The bumpers could barely be considered of daily driver standard. While we faked some of this restoration to keep the budget from going too crazy, there were places we paid up and did it right. One place we did not skimp was on body and paint. Another area was on the chrome.
We have gotten cheap, crappy chrome work and saved a few bucks in the past, but we were sad that we did. We sent our Tiger’s chrome out to Graves Plating and everything came back looking better than new. This time around we would do the same thing.
Again, when the chrome came back from Graves, we were blown away. We had true show-quality chrome with nary a blemish. Considering the mess we had sent them, we were very pleased. Perfection does not come cheap: To chrome the two bumpers and their overriders, the grille surround, the headlight surrounds and the strip of chrome that goes between the taillights, the price was over $5000. Concours-quality chrome work has gotten quite pricey over the last decade, but chrome and paint are the two things that really show on a car and we put our money in these two areas.
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Update by Tim Suddard to the
