Today I drove my '63 Imperial to my body man for an estimate on some work. I
mentioned to him the ongoing discussion about Imperials having chrome plated
stainless steel trim parts. He is familiar with polishing stainless, but his
shop would normally send this type of work out to be done elsewhere since it is
too time consuming. He said that he didn't remember this about Imperials, but
he hadn't worked on very many Imperials other than mine.
He inspected the chrome on the '63 and concluded that in his opinion, the
stainless steel trim probably was not chrome plated. He gave three reasons why
he believed this.
They are:
1) Highly polished stainless trim will exhibit a sheen when examined under
certain lighting conditions and at certain angles. Chrome plated parts
typically do not share this characteristic unless they have been rubbed
(incorrectly)with a fine abrasive and, even then, the sheen is noticeably
different. On chrome plated parts this would look like fine scratching rather
than a sheen. He added that this sheen produces reflective qualities that
contributes to the beauty of the trim pieces. This sheen will always be present
in polished stainless.
2) In areas where there is damage, a plated part would exhibit splitting or
cracking of the plating depending on the type of damage, where as polished
stainless would simply bend, and possibly become scratched. The difference
between scratched stainless and split plating is obvious and easy to see.
3) After years of weather, plated surfaces show evidence of spider webbing. The
extent of this is dependent on the amount of exposure to the elements, but is
almost always present in some degree in older chrome plated parts. Polished
stainless does not age in this way.
After inspecting various trim pieces on my '63 he determined that the stainless
trim on my car was not chrome plated. He felt that he could be about 75% sure
of this without taking the parts off the car and inspecting them closer. He
also believed that chrome plating stainless would be unnecessary in most cases
since it can be highly polished anyway, and actually the plating would be more
susceptible to weathering.
One area where he thought that there may be plated stainless on my car and he
has seen it before on other makes, is on the rocker panel molding. This would
help to provide extra resilience to damage that could result from small stones,
although marks would still be produced, it would take longer to become dull
looking. Polished stainless that has been pelted with stones a great deal will
become very dull and look almost like tarnished aluminum. Chrome plating could
delay and possibly prevent the part from becoming completely dull.
He also said that if the parts are removed from the car, the back of the parts
would usually look "plated" and this would be easy to see. This coming summer I
plan to remove some of the trim from my '60 LeBaron. It will be interesting to
see if this plated look will be visible.
Paul
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