Cost effective new. But if you want quality fit and finish with nice long lasting chrome a quality rechrome of the originals will out shine and out last any Chinese reproductions.

Rick

 

Those parts you want are not too tough to find good originals of. I think if I were you, I'd leave the pitted one on until I could find some other nice originals that are not pitted. I'm sure you have some Mustang parts guys around your area. You just need to start looking on Craigslist, find a parts guy, maybe he isn't selling what you want be he usually has Mustang stuff for sale every week. If he doesn't have what you're looking for then he probably knows someone that does.

 

If you buy ScottDrake chrome pieces, they are pretty nice. I wouldn't buy anything other than his or older ProProducts labeled. As for the bumper, definitely rechrome them.

 

Drake chrome is one of the things he does get right. I bought many chrome parts of his, and the door handles were great, even though I heard a lot of horror stories of the pivots needing to be swapped. Mine work great right out of the box.
His GT gas cap was clocked just a little off though. Not by much.

 

Unless your building for show fastback65 has good suggestion. Look for nice original.
Small parts like handles and outside mirror Scott Drake is usually good.

Badly/deep pitted zinc castings like vent windows may not be worth replating. Bumpers unless you are positive they are OEM may be a case of replating a repo bumper you could get new for $90.

Lastly Taiwan is not China and some fine repro bumpers are made in Taiwan.

For the most part IMO replating is not cost effective.

 

+1 on rechroming original bumpers. A good shop can take care of most bumper damage and make them look better than new.

On the door handles, a good one costs about $25 new, to get original ones rechromed it usually cost me $50 each. Same price for having marker light bezels and other small parts rechromed, about $50/ea. Becomes a trade-off between cost, quality and originality.

 

don't know. my car is in paint now and the front bumper is OK but the original rear is straight but shot. contiplating a rechrome but I have to ship it out to PA as no one does it around here . cost about $375 plus the freight vs a repop for $99.

im figuring iffin I can get 10 yrs out of each imported repop in 40 yrs id break even and I wont be here to worry about it any more.

 

Re-chroming your original stuff will be enormously expensive, in comparison...

All of the quality stuff is being made in Taiwan, not China, and most of it is very nice quality that should last you a good long time. That said, I always wax new chrome items prior to installing.

In many cases, the chrome quality of NOS Ford pieces is horrendous compared to current reproductions. Ford wasn't making show cars, and the service parts could be pretty ugly, even though they fit great.

 

Thanks for all your input, looks like new parts is the way to go.

 

Re-chroming original parts definitely results in very nice parts. But I'm wondering if people who recommend doing this have priced re-chroming services lately. As Blues Power pointed out, you're talking 400% over the cost of reproduction parts. And as EPA regulations become more and more strict, chroming services will become more and more expensive.

 

so true. no one does it around me anymore. but my body guy is really pushing the rechrome route. maybe hes getting a piece of it who knows but if I spent the flat $99 I can put the other $300 towards something else that i need more. like a new guitar amp lol

 

Say what you want . . but there is not a good repro bumper option. They are crap to me. It doesn't take but a few seconds to see the difference.

 

+1

I can spot a repop '69 bumper from 20 feet away.

 

For cars where very little (or nothing) in the way of reproduction trim, bumpers or die-cast is available, you're forced to re-plate everything.

If you were, for instance, restoring a 1956 Continental Mark II, the plating bill alone would be in the neighborhood of $20,000... Don't ask me how I know this..

 

For cars where very little (or nothing) in the way of reproduction trim, bumpers or die-cast is available, you're forced to re-plate everything.

If you were, for instance, restoring a 1956 Continental Mark II, the plating bill alone would be in the neighborhood of $20,000... Don't ask me how I know this..

He would know!

 

I bought a set of front and rear bumpers at the Columbus swap meet from The Bumper Shop out of LA. I guess they go to all the bigger shows. Anyways, they were originals that they rechrome and I think they look great. They do a core charge for the old ones and take them back with them. I have some repos that I picked up in some package deals, and they seem a lot thinner.

 

naaa I don't believe him...show me the paid bills

 

Not a good repro bumper option? Bah.

I've had several reproduction bumpers- some better than others and most have looked quite nice.

Are they the same quality as the original bumpers? No. Do they fit well and make a very nice presentation on the car? Yes, they do. I mean, you can tell them apart when you study them- but 95% of the people who look at your car will have no clue, another 4% will notice them and have no objection, and then there is the 1% who have the "classic car snob" stick up their butt (but they don't matter).

I worked over most of my chrome parts till I manged to get them quite presentable, but as far as the bumpers go it is a no brainer... $100 for a repro.

 

I'm with you. I have an original barely pitted bumper and a repop. I really couldn't find any real difference - 'cept the new one wasn't pitted. Same weight, thickness, fit. I'm sure some stuff is crap, but on my third car and I have yet to rechrome over repop.

Now speaking of rechroming, I have a 66 park lane convertible queued up next and there are NO parts for it. I will have to rechrome some and not looking forward to it.

 

Some stuff is OK repro...other stuff, well Ford stuff just fits better. Replated some stuff and NOS for most. You are correct, NOS is nowhere near perfect. But hey, it fit!

 

Ha, look what I stumbled upon up in the attic. I bought it 30 years ago and truthfully did not remember it was up there. I was in there moving around box's of attic type things for SWMBO and saw it over on the side under some old valence panels and things which I had seen there over the years, but never noticed the bumper. I don't remember putting it there and I think my oldest son did it many many many years ago....

 

That's a nice piece, a service replacement. It's like Christmas

 

I bought a repro rear bumper from 69 B-9 even after 2 years in an open-air carport it still looks like new...just saying...

 

So I pay for it twice? Lets have some perspective here, most of us are building drivers not show cars. No offence but this is the real world. Bumpers get dented. I don't want to worry about my $400 bumper every time I drive my car.

 

So what didn't you understand about me saying that's why there are menus? Do I have to explain that? Or do you realize it's your choice to make your decision? As for paying for it twice . . pleeeze

 

Check these guys out. My dad and I have used them many times. For his British cars.

Ogden Chrome

LJ

 

I have Nordans on my 66 I used to own. Even though the restoration is 23 years old, the bumpers still look great. I can't comment on the quality of the current repros. New project has NOS bumpers on it. They fit great and actually look really nice. Hand picked them from three sets the guy had for sale. Bought them a long time ago so paid less than $500 for the pair.

 

Nordans were almost decent But they are the company I was speaking about earlier who I said are now gone.

 

I've completed a few concourse type restorations. One of the biggest decisions people have to make is the chrome. Drakes stuff is excellent and passes concourse judging. The one area that I haven't found a really good replacement is bumpers, particularly rears. I have replaced 2 with over seas repops and the cars have won awards. The others chose to pay for rechroming and it was about $400 a bumper.
Honestly, I think it comes down to personal preference to a degree. Most of us are anal retentive when it comes to this stuff.