What I think:
1) The material is chromed steel. On my '52 all the grille components are painted steel due to the chrome "shortage" of the Korean war.
2) No idea, good luck with that one. Many parts supplies offer repop chrome grilles for alot less than you can repair and rechrome an original damaged grille.
3) Oh sorry, no #3. My advice: If you want chrome, buy repop. Or, you can fix what you have and paint the grille. I repaired my badly damaged grille and repainted. Turned out
awesome in my opinion, but was a TON of work. Good luck.
