1950 grille chrome

[Jimmie]

On one of my 1950 champions the grille has chrome plating under the paint which matched the color of the car.

On the parts car that I bought, the grille appears to have never been chromed but only painted to match the car.

Were any of the 1950 Champions ever sold with the grille chromed and not painted over?

I have cleaned the paint off the chromed set and am considering using it that way unless someone can suggest why this is not a good idea.

Jimmie
Orleans, Indiana


1950 CHAMPION -ORANGE COUNTY, INDIANA

[StudeRich]

The only thing that makes any sense to me, is they did not want to distract from the main design of the front end by letting that lower chrome grill show.

[Dwain G.]

At the start of the model year the grills were chromed, but only the leading edges were polished. Inside parts were painted body color, probably because it was too difficult to polish inside the squares.
The chrome was discontinued during the model year, possibly 'gone to war', and the entire grills were painted aluminum. Serial numbers for the change are in the parts book.

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Dwain G.

[53k]

quote:Originally posted by Dwain G.

At the start of the model year the grills were chromed, but only the leading edges were polished. Inside parts were painted body color, probably because it was too difficult to polish inside the squares.
The chrome was discontinued during the model year, possibly 'gone to war', and the entire grills were painted aluminum. Serial numbers for the change are in the parts book.

I just sold two NOS grilles on eBay, the early was completely chromed and the other (later) was completely painted aluminum. It would be interesting to know if they laboriously painted the chromed ones that went on the production line.

Paul Johnson, Wild and Wonderful West Virginia. '64 Daytona Wagonaire, '64 Daytona convertible, '53 Commander Starliner, Museum R-4 engine, '62 Gravely Model L, '72 Gravely Model 430