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Expert
Posts: 1348
  
Location: Valley Forge, Pa. | I sent out my "PLYMOUTH" tailgate script to Pauls' for a rechroming estimate. The peice approx 9" by 4" is shiney and looks decent with 3 small pocks and the barely noticible little black spots all over it. Basically I would call it a "3 footer". As I described it to her she said parts that are similar usually run between $150 and $185. So I sent it out for a better estimate. Even though I felt that was a lot of money, I was prepared to pay that IF it did come out that high. Just got the total of $319. I have been told that their work is very nice but I can't afford that.
Any suggestions where I might try looking for a real nice peice or an NOS peice #2196 147 or a more reasonalbe place that does good pot metal work?
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 873
Location: ALABAMA, HEART OF DIXIE | Quality chrome plating dosen't come cheap, but Pauls is over the top. You might give Ogden Chrome a call.... 800-453-3007. They did very nice, show quality work for me and in a decent time frame. They will also pay for shipping your part both ways. Tell them Will in Alabama recommended them to you. |
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Veteran
Posts: 175
Location: The Netherlands | I had my bumper wings done by Frankford Plating and was very pleased with the quality of their work. Price was $350 and I thought that was a fair price. The address:
2505 Orthodox St, Philadelphia, PA 19137
Ron |
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Expert
Posts: 1348
Location: Valley Forge, Pa. | Bumpers are steel and fairly easy to repair and fill but pot metal requires a lot of work to do it right. Unfortunately this is a small peice of delicate pot metal and I was expecting it to be expensive for good work but sadly, that just puts it out of my price range.
I sent a peice of my bumper to Franklin years ago and was dissapointed. They asked if I wanted top quality or lower as it affected the price but would still look great. My car had nice bumpers but for this one corner peice so I went with the lower grade to match. It came back with copper showing through and they just tried to buff out the rust pits and plated over it. It looked bad but they would not redo it.
The interesting thing about that was that when I shipped it to Philly, the UPS guy delivered it to the wrong address. 2 days later, I got a call from some church in Philly and emmediatly thought "here we go". She explained that she had a package for me. I'm just about to hang up and then she says that she ment that she had a package accidentally delivered to her address and when she opened it, she realized it was not for her church. The nice thing is that she delivered it to the correct address and took it inside and explained what had happened. This was 2 miles away and in the heart of the city. What a great lady! |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 873
Location: ALABAMA, HEART OF DIXIE | Four of the pieces I sent to Ogden chrome were pot metal and somewhat delecate. Two of the parts were moldings with very minor pits and aged original chrome. The cost was $75.00 each and they came back to me in perfect show condition. I will be sending them the pot metal scrip emblems off my 61 when the time comes.
Edited by rockerarm 2012-12-20 2:35 PM
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Expert 5K+
Posts: 8947
 
Location: WHEELING,WV.>>>HOME OF WWVA | i raved on and on about pauls chrome as long as it was stashed under the bed . once i installed the back bumper on red and after about 4 weeks or so ,,,,,,,,,,,, and after waxing with good carnuba 5
times , the chrome looks like hell . for those 4 or so the car sat out and everywhere the rain or heavy dew rolled off the body , over the bumper , the chrome has come off to show the nickel under , leaving
it dull . the cost about 8 yrs ago was @ 750$ . i told myself that after years of raves on pauls , i'd never tell this story , got me feeling like a real dumbass about right now but i figured it was about
time to lay it out . while i'm here i might as well tell ya that to get the reveal correct on the top left edge i had to put in a 1/2" aluminum spacer to bring it out even close to correct and the wrap around
on the same edge is @ 1/2 too low . what i'm thinkin happened is that while they straightened the bolt holes , they warped the left side . there were no other dents of any sort to deal with only rust . right now it
looks like a bumper that's been used for 25 yrs . i chose them for one reason only , it was a nice little ride from home and about as cheap to pick up and deliver as shipping . never ever would i even think
about pauls chroming for any reason , even thought they at least at that time had a lifetime warranty . i'm just too pissed to even remove the bumper and return it !!!!!!!!! ------------------------------later |
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Expert
Posts: 1348
Location: Valley Forge, Pa. | I also have a 67 GTO and a 61 Galaxie. These are my cars or "toys" and, as sad as it seems to some, relieve my stress and are an important part of my mental and physical well being. I enjoy and drive my cars. They DO take a good percentage of my income to keep them nice. Honestly, I am barely making it because of my enjoyment of my "toys".
Please don't get me wrong, I AM willing to pay more for quality and the guarrentees that the peice is nicer, but $310 is much more than I think even a wealthy person should pay for a Plymouth script. I wrote back to Paul's and asked them to ship my item back. I explained that I am on a low budget and without using any names, I also told them that I did a little research and went to a few different car forums. You are not alone about the quality of their work and as far as I found, EVERYONE that replied agreed about their prices.
Think of it, $310 for 1 peice of script. Other than the hood letters on my 60 Plymouth[how much at Paul's, $100 a letter?], thats all the script on my Suburban, how do you do it if you have a car with a lot of name plates and lots of chrome? These are the people that make our hobbies/pleasures so expensive. They will say "if you can do it, you do it" or pay me a lot. Like doctors that charge $5000 for an ointment to save your life but only $20 is it relieves your jock itch.
I believe that you USUALLY get what you pay for but we all know there are companies that take advantage of their status, monopoly, and of our trust[the cable company is my favorite]. IF you believe that Paul's is the best than you find, than you are probably one of those that happily gives them the money they ask and you don't even ask, "why"? They will take what they want as long as you'll give it. Sometimes we forget that they exist because of us. They work for us and because of us they have work. Quality work and care is a premium and will cost more but that does not give someone the right to take advantage. I don't know but I bet they could tell you about their brand new multi-million dollar facility that's "state-of-the-art" and it's lot of overhead so they can produce better quality faster. Weren't they doing quality work before they spent that money and now that they are "state-of-the art" why don't their production cost go down? Just a guess to what they would say cost so much.
Bottom line, please do the research. Call other places, get written guarrentees, save yourselves some money. MAYBE Paul's is the "best" but there HAS TO BE other companies that do the same job for less! |
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Expert
Posts: 3889
Location: Northen Virginia | http://www.ogdenchrome.com/
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Expert
Posts: 1348
Location: Valley Forge, Pa. | Sorry!!!
I am going to check out Odgens.
Thanks so much and to all-
HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!! |
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Expert
Posts: 3889
Location: Northen Virginia | As Chuck and others said in here and others threads paul's is not warranty of outstanding job as it is of top price. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 500
Location: Upper East Tennessee | I've had a lot of work done by R&D Finishing in Elizabethton, TN. They have done a great job, decent price, and stand behind their work. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 873
Location: ALABAMA, HEART OF DIXIE | Also in Elizabethton Tn is Tri City Plating..... One of the best and finest platers of bumpers and all things steel. I think R&D focus on die cast, (pot metal) plating. I'm not sure if the two platers are related and I have no experience with R&D but Tri City Plating does recommend them. |
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Expert
Posts: 1231
Location: York County, PA | It's a shame that the original owner of what is now Paul's Chrome is no longer around. He was good and reasonable - I picked up and delivered a lot of machined parts and sometimes old car parts for my boss in the 1980's to this place. Since it was sold, it must have gone to hell in a hand basket. |
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you weren't kidding about Paul's chrome prices.
