The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Chrome or no Chrome?

Talk to me about chrome on 1951 and ‘52 pickups?
Were chrome bumpers an option? Were chrome grills an option? Were chrome window
garnish an option? Were chrome hubcaps an option?

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

well for sure they are now.........I dont believe the 52 chrome grill was an option, but I could be wrong..

Of course I'm talking about back in the day Fred. With the Korean conflict going on I thought they pretty much did away with all of it for a couple of years.

Denny G

The reason I'm wondering about this is I've gotten my last issue of G&D from the
VCCA. This issue is their big 50th anniversary issue which pictures all of the award
winners from the big get together in Flint this year.

The Class T4 Commercial 1947-55 first and third place winners have chrome grills, hub
caps and bright window trim. I didn't thing any of that was available for the 51 thru 53
years.

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

I recently sold my 52 Ford Country Squire wagon that was an all original car.

The sheet metal was all pretty good but the grille and bumpers were
kind of strange looking to me....

Then I found a little decal in the glove box warning the owner NOT to
use abrasive cleaners on their chrome ; Due to Korean war restrictions on nickel usage. Ford had flash plated the chrome
and sprayed clear enamel over it. THis in lieu of the normal copper, nickel, chrome
process. Eventually the enamel wears off and the chrome just peels off.

As far as I know the restrictions on Fords was for 52 only, but I'm guessing GM would have restricted nickel usage as well on certain models; like trucks, during the Korean conflict.

mike

I recently sold my 52 Ford Country Squire wagon that was an all original car.

The sheet metal was all pretty good but the grille and bumpers were
kind of strange looking to me....

Then I found a little decal in the glove box warning the owner NOT to
use abrasive cleaners on their chrome ; Due to Korean war restrictions on nickel usage. Ford had flash plated the chrome
and sprayed clear enamel over it. THis in lieu of the normal copper, nickel, chrome
process. Eventually the enamel wears off and the chrome just peels off.

As far as I know the restrictions on Fords was for 52 only, but I'm guessing GM would have restricted nickel usage as well on certain models; like trucks, during the Korean conflict.

mike

Denny,
From what I've been able to discern, chrome ran out of production somewhere around the spring or summer of '51. Probably had a lot to do with what assy. plant had what in stock, etc. Then you've got dealer stock, so if a fella bought a new '52 and absolutely had to have chrome hub caps and bumpers I'm sure a dealer could have tracked down a set somewhere. I've never seen a corporate edict on the issue, but most agree it was sometime late in the '51 model year that chrome was switched to paint and the grill option was deleted.
Almost everyone goes for the chrome grill nowadays,(personally I've always favored the painted variety), but in reality I've come across very few trucks in 25 years of junkyard scrounging that were actually chromed, and that was just on pickups with the deluxe cab option.

Bob

I have to agree with Bob. When I redid the bumpers on my 52 a couple of years ago I found that almost all of the chrome was previous years over run. After that the bright work was polished stainless steel or pot metal. Most of what had been chrome on the interior in earlier years got painted during the war.One oddity I found, that I was unable to confirm, was that the front bumper was painted with the rear bumper being chrome. I didn't look into whether or not the rear bumper was an option. That might account for all the chrome rear bumpers.

Denny,

"The Class T4 Commercial 1947-55 first and third place winners have chrome grills, hub caps and bright window trim."

What years and specific models were the winners?

What kind of documentation are you looking for?

Presumably only truck information? The car stories are interesting but not pertinent to what was available on cars during that time-period.

I do not have a 1952 Truck Data Book but I have the 51 and 53 books.

Also, the GM Heritage Center has 51-53 Specifications Manuals.
They show standard chrome bumpers in 1951 (3000 series only, anvil gray for all other series: 8/15/51) but painted standard bumpers (anvil gray) in 1952 (3/14/1952).

The 52 and 53 trucks had no deluxe options and minimum bright metal as standard features, and no bright-metal options.

One can, of course, correctly speculate that a dealer might have swapped 1951 parts onto a new 1952 truck.

Rear bumpers were optional on all Chevrolet regular cab trucks from 1951 through the end of the Advance-Design series.

That’s what I seem to remember Bob, but I’m not an authority on any of this. It just
seemed kind of odd to see every one of the early ‘50’s trucks that were being judged at
the VCCA’s premier gathering, equipped with deluxe bright metal. I wonder if any of
them had points deducted for incorrect trim packages. If you didn’t take your baby up to
flint Bob you missed out on a trophy, I haven’t seen one that is as correct as yours is right
down to the correct head pipe and hangers. By the way we haven’t seen any pictures in
the last year of the young lady in her new dress, how bout it???

Tim, a ’52, 3604 three window was awarded first place it also had a driver side spare
mounted which I know is incorrect. A ’51, 3104 five window got the third place trophy
and I suppose it could have been an early release. Then there were a couple more 53‘s
that must have been runners up which were decked out in deluxe plumage.
But what finish did those rear bumpers have on them in ‘51, ‘52, ’53.

I was just wondering what documentation they used for judging those trucks. I was
always under the impression that they had to be “Factory correct” not “Dealer correct” or
“Period correct” to comply with the VCCA’s judging standards.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Come on, Denny. You used to frequent the VCCA website. They do have very knowledgeable people over there.

However, I have seen total BS and contradictory statements of what was "correct" regarding various Advance-Design engine, interior, and exterior colors and combinations (and options). It was not uncommon for some strongly held "opinions" (used in judging) being based on opinions and non-GM documentation. And, they sometimes had no problem saying that their beliefs were more reliable than GM documents.

Rear bumpers were painted in 1952 and 1953 (3100 and 3600 - RPO-218x)

Denny - the VCCA judging rules are available, if you're a member - might be the place to start getting answers, and their judging forum would be the next place

Bill

Not a member as of the end of the month Bill, decided to drop out earlier this year. And
even when I was a member for five or six years I could never break thru the secret codes
and crap that they required you to know to get any information. I hated the fact that to
share the information you had to be a member of the secret society. That judging manual
is just one example, what’s so secret about the judging manual that you have to be in the
brother hood to see it??????

This was just a question that popped into my mind when looking thru my last issue of the
G&D. I may be wrong but it seems sort of hypocritical since they claim to be experts on
the correctness of their vehicles.
DG

Denny, all of the orginial window garnish that I have see was stainless. I have seen chrome garnish that was done by the restorer.