carl a

i had mine done when the car was restored and am not happy with them... i saw a nos set at a show and the guy wanted $400.00 for the 2 grills,,, and if i bought them he said he would get me the center also,,(for more of corse!!),he has had this set for the past few years and nobodys bought them yeat,,, can mine be rechromed??,,,then blacked out???? mine are the orgionals and have small rough spots where rocks ect have taken there toll on them... they were redone but the chrome doesnt show on the face on the sides,, just the horzintal slits..... i was thinking of sanding them or whatever to get the small dings out ,,,after there flat ,,, getting them re chromed,,,then blacken out behind the chrome,,,anyone re do theres?????

71rdster

I am working on the same thing. My 71 has an Ecklers one piece tilt front end that is compatible with 73/74 grilles only. The only thing in reproduction for those years are plastic. I got some used ones at a swap meet this year and they suffer from corrosion and rock chips. Someone posted a link on a chrome shop in another thread this week where they do top notch restoration of chromed pot metal parts. I am just afraid that the cost will make your NOS finds look cheap. I am going to see what my local chrome guy says first. If I only wanted black ones I would run the plastic ones.

Orville

carl a

i thought that only the 73 grills were chrome on the face,,and the 74's were all black

trw

Stock they were all chrome, then the edges were painted black leaving the face chrome.
Terry

LOTAHP

Correct!!! I have the 3 grills on my '73. When I bought the car (1987) it had only one corner grill (the one that was readily available, used). The center grill was still availble from GM at the time(bought one instantly). The other corner (don't remember which side) was real hard to find anywhere, I'm talking used, no one had one. Finally found one for $300 (in 1989) with the turnsignal (WOW ) . They have been reconditioned since. They are made of pot-metal, so depending upon how bad they are, most people wont touch 'em. I had mine carefully stripped and powder coated even with the chrome edges. He powder coated the black first, masking off the silver to be edges. Then he powder coated with a very shiney silver (looks chrome) edges with not much masking because powder coat will not adhear to powder coat. It's 5 years since they have been done and they are just now starting to show some wear. No complaints here.

Check with Ecklers. A few years back (maybe 10 or more) they obtained permission to reproduce a "load" of GM Corvette part numbers that have been out of production for "X" amount of years. The rocker panels are one (which are readily availble and wasn't for sometime) and I KNOW the grills are another. If they have not come out with them yet it should soon. I remember checking with them about 9-12 months ago. And I am NOT talking about the cheap plastic repos that are available.

Do not forget....Make sure you speak to someone (at Ecklers) that is famaliar with the 73-74 grills or ask them to check with someone. Not all of them know.

carl a

thanks norm,,now how about a new shirt!!! i got holes in the first one!

CF6873

I found a NOS center and one side grille for my 73 but couldn't find the other side so I had it rechromed. The chrome job came out great but I'm not ready to install them yet so I have not yet got around to blacking out the rest of it. I think I will have to scuff up the chrome to get the black to stick.

carl a

where did you find the nos center grill?? what did it set you back?$$$