Stainless Molding Repair and Polish

[Danny]

Does anyone know of a person/shop that repairs dings/dents/scratches and polishes stainless moldings and trim?

[tsenecal]

It is a time consuming job, so even if you find a shop it can get expensive . Eastwood sells a tiny little anvil and hammer to straighten mouldings with, and other posts on this forum talk about hand made tools made out of hardwood that fit the profile of the trim. As far as shops go, I know Ogden Chrome will repair mouldings but there should be a shop closer to you. Google might find you one that would work for you.

[wdills]

I have never tried to post a link before, I hope this works. Anyway, this is a guy in Georgia that has done a lot of beautiful work for me. I can't say enough good things about him. If he is still doing it, he would be my first choice if I had a piece of stainless that needed attention right now.

https://forum.studebakerdriversclub.com/forum/your-studebaker-forum/general-studebaker-specific-discussion/106538-stainless-restoration-vendor-highly-recommended

[rockne10]

Most reputable chrome shops also do stainless repair and polish but, as already mentioned, it never comes cheap.
There are also these excellent tech tips that the late Dale McPhearson put together and shared with us all fifteen years ago.

https://www.studebaker-info.org/Tech/Stainless/stainlessrepair.html

[bensherb]

Any GOOD metal worker should be able to do it.

About 32 years ago I drove my '54 Chevy to work. Across the street from the machine shop I worked at was a Hot rod / custom car shop and the owner saw my car parked across the street. He came in and asked me "who did your trim?" I told him I did. He hired me on the spot. I worked for him after my regular job straightening stainless trim. He sent it out for polishing, but I had polished my own. Some of the stuff I straitened for him was total trash, after I did what I could with it I still though it was crap; he thought it was great and I guess so did the customers. There was one particular '57 Chevy I did the trim for, some of it was trash and still crap when I was done with it as far as I was concerned. Many years later I saw that car at the Grand National Roadster Show, it still had that same trim on it; I could tell; I guess it was better than I think.

This piece was mashed totally flat when I got it, the car it was on had been side swiped. I actually like working on trash. First rule, do no harm, right? If it's already garbage you can't make it any worse! Yes, I know it's not C/K trim, it was on a '53 Sedan, but I like it better than the one without the wing.

(Yes, there are still a couple pieces of trim on my GT with small dents. They're just not worth the trouble to remove, fix and reinstall. The rest of the car is not perfect either, its a driver, as are all my vehicles.)

Long story short... it's usually less expensive to replace a bad piece if you can find one to replace it with. But with the right effort even garbage can usually be repaired if replacements can't be found.

I could likely straiten your trim for you, but being on different sides of the country shipping would be astronomical. Talk to people at local car shows, and ask about their trim. There has got to be a local panel beater or meticulous machinist around who can work with you.

[Danny]

Thanks to all! I called Karl Bartholomew in GA. He has reasonable prices and his lead time is about 30 days.

[wdills]

good move. I think you will be pleased.