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A couple of years ago at a Vette show, I got into a conversation with a guy who claimed there was a difference between an original and a repro on the C1 front and rear emblems and he showed me the difference. The Chevy bowtie was extended and closer to the V on one than the other, but don’t remember which is original. Anybody else notice this?
A couple of years ago at a Vette show, I got into a conversation with a guy who claimed there was a difference between an original and a repro on the C1 front and rear emblems and he showed me the difference. The Chevy bowtie was extended and closer to the V on one than the other, but don’t remember which is original. Anybody else notice this?
Check out the R in Corvette. The upper photo looks more like an A than an R. I would think the lower photo is an original.
The top is the repro. It is very noticeable just look at the letters. Look how sharp are the letters on the bottom one versus the top one. The top one letters are rounded at the corners, the original are very crisp and sharp.The original flag does touch the V. The repro flag does not touch the v. I almost made the mistake of buying repros when I was restoring my 59 but after a lot of research is was very obvious that the repros are very bad quality. I have seen C1 vettes in with repros and they look awful. Once you have seen both you will be able to spot a repro a mile away.
I spent three hours refurbishing each one of mine that were original and I very happy I did.
My experience is that any repro part that has letters the letters look awful. They are not crisp with sharp corners. I bought the wheel cover bow ties repros and the lettering is awful. Luckily you can hardly see the letters. Unfortunately my original bow ties were too far gone and could not be restored. In the future I will buy some NOS bow ties that I have seen in Ebay.
Look at post #5 how ceip are the letters and the flag is touching the V, definitely and original.
I don't know any differences, but I believe that my emblems are original to the car. It's a 60
You have a GM replacement. If you remove it and check the thickness of the plastic, it will be thinner than the originals. Letters and fleur-de-lis are crisper than reproductions. GM replacements have silver lettering, GM originals have gold lettering, but not as gold as reproductions.
Post #8 is correct the dealer replacement emblems were silver but they were original or I guess you could call them NOS. They are the same quality as the gold originals but silver. So if back then for whatever reason you had to replace the emblems you would get the silver ones from the dealer. Of course now you can not get neither the gold or silver originals.Unless you find a pair of NOS in Ebay. I have not seen them. All you have is the repros.
Post #9 when I restored mine they had cracking similar to yours, not sure how deep are your cracks. But I used rubbing compound followed by polishing compound and was able to restore the plastic almost perfectly. It took me three hours per emblem. I was very meticulous and patient polishing the plastic with Q tips and making sure not to damage the letter plating. Mine are like new know. If the cracks are too deep they might not completely disappear. However I think you can get them to a finish that will be acceptable. With our cars some times you can not restore the parts to like new condition but you can to a level good enough. If you get most of the cracks out and have some superficial ones left you still are going to have a much much better looking emblem than a repro. Rubbing compound followed by polishing compound and a lot of elbow grease should do it. Be very careful not to damage the letter's plating.Oh and yes yours are originals worth doing anything to restore them. If you give up on them I will be interested to get them from you.
I will keep them as they are probably the only things original to my car anymore. Thanks, I will try your method to remove the crazing, got nothing to lose.
It takes patience and careful polishing. I used Turtle Wax rubbing compound and polishing compound. You can use any brand. When you are polishing anything plastic, steel, glass it takes a lot of rubbing time. Rub clean rub again. You can use a cotton ball for outside a q tip inside. You have to carefully maneuver around the letters,inside, to prevent damage. I have polish a badly scratched watch plastic face with tooth paste. It just takes a lot of rubbing. Just get your compounds and cotton tools, and go at it, disregard time. It takes what it takes. I have polished steel parts to mirror finish with rubbing compounds, of course with diamond dust in the compound. But is takes many hours of polishing.
You have to look at it from the perspective that you have an original part that can not be replaced with another original. Looking at your photos I think you can get a very good clean surface if you take your time. It took me three hours for each emblem. They are like new.
Good luck
You can PM me if you need to discuss the polishing, let me know how it comes out.
I assume you removed it from the car and worked both sides, right?
Well after reading all of these posts I got curious and I went out to see if my emblems on my 1957 Corvette were originals. I must say that I have not given them much thought, they looked nice and I am not real concerned about original. I know this car has had a fair share of bubba work done on it, (which I am slowly but surely correcting) but I did not expect what I found. I saw what you would expect, some light crazing on the plastic and some sunburned finish on the emblem itself. On closer look/touch, it was loose! And rattled around a little. I opened the trunk and found that the bezel was held on(loosely) with a sheet metal screw and in place with pin on the perimeter of the bezel. Being concerned that the whole emblem and bezel would bounce off and never be seen again, I removed it .
The front bezel seems to be on tight and looks pretty good. Probably a repro. So I opened the catalogue and saw that they were available, so I will order by on-line tonight.
The '56-57 emblems have a nice script/ cursive " Corvette" on the bottom which follows the curve of the bezel which I like. The top " CHEVROLET " is block lettering that follows the bezel curve as well.
So on to the internet for replacements, and in the future a search for some originals.
Dennis
I assume you removed it from the car and worked both sides, right?
Norm,
Yes they were removed from the car and I worked both sides. The inside is where you will spend most of the time with a Q tip to insure you do not damage the letters paint. I have a garage with an efficiency attached with central air conditioning where I do all my car work. I made myself comfortable on my work bench and went at it. A few hours later I had brand new emblems. Take your time and be meticulously with the polishing. It is a great satisfaction when you finish and have a new looking original emblems.
05-09-2020, 10:59 AM
Front & Rear Emblem
