body and interior Place to get front grills restored?

[PontiusGlaw]

Do any of you fellas know of a place that does restorations on early metal grills?

 

 

[Conserv]

Yes, the King of Trim in Pacoima, CA does bright-dip re-anodization, knows the cars, and did a great job on a complete set of grilles for my '73 tii -- side grilles and center grille.  It is very expensive.

 

My '73, of course, uses the "shallow grilles" (late '72 through '73 model years) which have been NLA for decades, so new side grilles were not an option (one of my cores was NOS, but NOS with years of "shelf wear").  The center grille remains available -- or, at least, was a year ago -- but my concern was that the center grille's anodization (from the factory supplier) would be noticeably different from the side grilles' anodization (from the King of Trim):  anodized aluminum tonality and levels of gloss vary widely from plater to plater, and probably even from batch to batch.  So...I found three very good "cores" -- King of Trim can, however, fix much trim damage -- and had them restore all three grilles so they would match.  The slats on the center grille, of course, are black anodized in the factory manner, whereas the side grilles, painted on 2002's from 1968 into the 1970 model year, wear the factory black-anodized slat covers -- still available a year ago.

 

I've used King of Trim on multiple other trim items for this and other projects, e.g., late bumpers for my '76, always with the same result:  high quality work at a high price.  Why do I go back to King of Trim?  Because other highly-reputable re-plating shops, which charge nearly as much for bright-dip anodization as the King of Trim, deliver a clearly inferior finish: dull, grainy, even wavy.  I've learned from my (expensive) mistakes.  Most '02 anodized aluminum trim had nearly the appearance of chrome when new, and that's the goal driving my use of the King of Trim.

 

Best of luck with your project,

 

Steve

 

Edited April 18, 2016 by Conserv

[HarryPR]

I have a set that is halfway decent, except for the fact that it is broken in a corner. I've been meaning to go to someone with aluminum welding skills to see if this can be fixed. 

[adawil2002]

Speedway is excellent, very happy with everything I've sent to them. The favorite shop of the SoCal crowd.

 

[Stuart]

So I have the standard center grill center ding.  Can either of these guys remove that as well?

[Stuart]

is there a url for Speedway?

[RED1602]

So Steve,

How much did king of trim charged you If you don't mind me asking?

I need my two side grills done 

Thanks

 

RED1602

1970 1602 W/s14 (M02) 
1974 2002 Tii (Show) Gone  
1989 325ix (Winter) 
1991 325ic (Summer)
2008 128i (Daily)

[John_in_VA]

4 hours ago, Stuart said:

is there a url for Speedway?

http://www.yellowpages.com/santa-ana-ca/mip/speedway-metal-finishing-20019901