Interior - Arm Rests

As a side note, about 2 months ago I had sent the plastic arm rest bases out to be stripped and metalized as they were kind of shabby looking. They came back today.

The guy did a pretty good job. But since the proof is in the pudding, here's some pictures. Here are the before pictures....

Now these aren't from the LTD, but since I was having an order for the arm rests I wanted these metalized as well. They had never been. These are for my under dash registers on my Caprice Classic convertible.

Now for the after pics.

They came out pretty good considering the age of the plastic. The Caprice Classic vents came out outstanding.

Now about arm rest pads.....

The original ones like to shrink over time I have noticed in all our '66's. The mostly kept indoors LTD was no exception. I tried to stretch the arm pad back out using heat and forming. This worked ok on 2 of them, but the other two weren't haven't. With that I noticed there were reproduction arm rests in the Eckler's galaxie sales book in the mail. A bit pricey at 50 dollars a piece and only in a few colours, but I ordered 2 of them.

Not happy....

It looks like a bar of cheap soap. And it's hard. Very hard.

The perimeter isn't well defined, the mounting holes are in the wrong place. The underside is loaded with voids in the injection process. In short, this is a terrible reproduction. This is something that should be 20 dollars and you only want them because you have no arm pads to begin with...

All I can say is the aftermarket strikes back.... again.....

Note 1:

The place I used is Chrome Tech in Wisconsin.

Well I was perusing the forums to see who had this done replating somewhat recently. Ended up on a Dodge Charger forum and he received good praise for plating those arm rests. I think they were 2nd gen Charger plastic arm rests. I found loads of other business's that offered this service but had scathing remarks online. Chrome Tech USA seemed to be high regard, so I went with them.

Now don't let the name fool you. It's not real chrome as in chromium. Anything plastic plated usually ends up with the aluminum vacuum deposition process. It's the sputtering of aluminum in ultra high vacuum chambers that give the reflective coating. That's why the stuff doesn't have a high wear tolerance like chromium plated metals.

Also the EPA could care less about aluminum sputtering. For real triple chrome plated metal parts, there's a place in Texas that handles those that quite a few car enthusiasts here use. How they get around the EPA is they are shipped across the street into Mexico and it's done there.

Note 2:

You can chrome plate on plastics, but it is more expensive, because the part needs a low impedance electrically conductive coating applied first and then it must be sanded and buffed smooth and shiny before the next metal can be plated to. All that is loads of labour to sand and buff the entire part like a mirror. Plus the conductive paint is costly as well.

If I had an unlimited budget I would have pursued that route, but even with aluminum deposition each arm rest base was 50 dollars a piece plus shipping both ways. Add in the arm rest pad repair/replace/paint and it's about 130 dollars per door for the complete arm rest.

On the subject of costs, for those wondering; to add power windows and locks, replace all weather stripping, overhaul door guides, replace door courtesy lamps, all new wiring and spruce up the arm rests is a little over 500 dollars per door. Plus that's using the original door cards, thankfully those are in acceptable shape to use as is. That sum is not including any labour or the body refinishing on the outside of the door, but around 2,200 dollars total to make the doors seal, windows and locks to work properly and have a respectable looking door interior.

Cheers