50's Bumpers Get Prepped for Rechroming...

Well, thanks to President's Day, I had the day off. So....I took advantage of the time to take the bumpers of my 1950 Chevrolet over to my friends at Custom Metal Finishers in Hagerstown, Indiana. The place is a real family business. Jim and his three oldest sons, Jimmy, Josh, and Jordan are the backbone of the operation.

Well, the first bit of business was to grind the rivets holding the 50's three piece bumpers together. Josh is pictured above working on the rear bumper, Ol' Scruffy took care of the rear bumper.

Once the rivets were ground, it was a simple matter of punching out the back of the rivet to get the bumper pieces apart.

Once the bumpers were in pieces, it was time to work out some of the dents that had accumulated over the 50+ years the car has been on the road.

After a brief "training" session, Jim turned me loose on the belt sander. The purpose of this procedure is to remove any pitting in the metal and to smooth out any small dents that remained.

It took me most of the day to get the 6 bumper pieces ready for their acid bath. A wire was placed through each of the six bumper pieces as well as the front and back bumper guards. All the parts were placed in the acid bath and will remain there overnight.

The acid will remove any remaining plating, it will also remove the rust and overspray on the back of the bumper pieces.
Well, Jim and the boys will be removing the parts from the acid in the morning. Hopefully, I can get back over to Custom Metal Finishers this weekend to continue working on my bumpers. Thanks to Jim for giving me my "Chromeplating 101" training and allowing me to spend the day at their shop. I'm looking forward to returning and learning about the plating steps.

I have seen a lot of finished pieces that come out of the Custom Metal Finishers shop and I can say they do fantastic work. They are real perfectionists, and take great pride in what leaves their shop. Several members of the Righteous Rodders have had parts chromed for the rods and bikes at Custom Metal Finishers. If you would like to learn more about their operation, you can email them at: Chromeplater1@yahoo.com Or you can call them toll free at 1-866-489-4089.

Indy Autorama Post #6

My two-year old son thought his little pull car was pretty kool. If a guy had a fiberglass body, this think would be pretty easy to make.
I took several pictures of this flat blue pickup truck at the Road Rocket Rumble last summer. Dull-gonnit if I ain't lookin' forward to this year's event! Ol' Scruffy is going to try to get the '50 done there this year.

This little Bantam was pretty sweet. I can't even imagine what it's like to get behind the wheel and push the accelerator in this one!
One VERY sweet Impala!
Who doesn't like a Flathead!?!?

Indy Autorama Post #5

Those of you who get the weekly edition of Indiana Auto and RV will recognize the coupe pictured above. It is the background picture of a weekly advertisement.

Man.....slung low and kool. VERY nice!

This tudor sedan is AWESOME! I love the flat paint and scallops.

Can anyone say "American Graffiti"? This recreation would make Milner proud!

Would love to take a spin in this "Hotrod Lincoln"!

This hotrod was featured in an article in the last edition of Hometown Hotrods. If member serves me right, it's owner built it from leftover parts from previous projects.

I'm not a big fan of the YELLOW, but this is still a very kool rod.

This '53 Chevrolet had a '50 front end on it. I like the shaved hood.

Man....I think I remember this kool little hotrod being up at the Cobo Center in Michigan last March. If so, I bet I'll see it again in a couple of weeks when he head up to the Detroit Autorama.