Fender Grilles 71-72

[Brad M.]

I have a question related to how much chrome should show on the fender grilles for my late 71.

They were recently painted and I do not recall whether the exposed chrome should be just the portion which faces directly to the side of the car when installed or if the exposed chrome should also extend to the a small lip to either the upper and lower sides for horizontal lines and the left and right for the vertical lines (I hope this makes sense).

I notice there is a small ridge probably about a 1/16th in, so am wondering if the chrome should show around to that ridge or if it is just on the area which faces directly to the side of the car.

[Michael M.]

Re: Fender Grilles 71-72

Brad,
In the 70-72 green judging guide,on page 41-42. The side fender grilles for 70 and early 71 show chrome on horizontal surfaceses only.They did not have raised chrome bars on the vertical surfaces. Somewhere between s/n 1447 and 1600 in 71 and throughout 72, side grilles have chrome on the vertical and horizontal surfaces. These grilles have raised, plated bars on the vertical surfaces. A few grilles, most often on silver or gray cars, have been seen fully painted without any chrome showing.

Mike

[Brad M.]

Re: Fender Grilles 71-72

Mike.

Thanks, I have read that but I do not think it fully addresses my exact question.

My interpretation of this section is that the 1970 and early 1971 models had chrome exposed only on the bars that extend horizontally. While the later 71 through 72 cars had chrome on bars that went vertical also.

My question is how much chrome should be exposed. For example on the horizontal bars, is the chrome surface on on the surface facing directly outward only or does it go around the edge for a small bit to the ridge line?

There may be a partial or implied answer within that statement in the guide though. It mentions the 70 models did not have a raised bar for verticals. Maybe this implies that the entire raised section had chrome exposed (which for a horizontal bar would include the surface facing directly outward and the small section of about 1/16th inch both on the top and bottom to the point where there is a ridge)??

I am speculating that the chrome does show on those small areas outward from the ridge lines. It seems that the chrome would otherwise be hardly visible at angles other than looking directly from the side. (i.e. it seems that if you were standing close to the car and looking mostly downward, you would not easily even see the chrome.)

Anyway, I am interested to verify this to give proper guidance to my paint guy.

On a side note, my painter is having quite a difficult time at getting the paint to look decent on these. The actual metal surface seems quite wavy. I am not sure if GM somehow had a process to smooth this out with the black primer on these from factory (which maybe also served to fill in some imperfections in the surface)????

[Terry M.]

Re: Fender Grilles 71-72

To the best of my recollection the photos in the TIM&JG that illustrate the different side grills are of original paint cars. I know they are B&W, so the contrast may be less than perfect, but if you can see some difference between the body color and chrome -- those photos might help. Otherwise there must be some original paint 1971 or 1972s around for the owners to post a photo. What about Patrick Hulst's 1972 on-line album? I think the link is in his signature in any of his posts on this forum.

I can't speak to the side grill paint prep, but John Hinkley has posted that the side grills were delivered to St. Louis already painted by a vendor. Not that that information helps you any.

[Brad M.]

Re: Fender Grilles 71-72

Thanks Terry.

I was not sure from the B&W pics.

I did look at Patrick's photos and am not completely sure from those either. Maybe I will contact him directly to get his opinion from an in person view of an original paint car.

I am leaning toward believing that the chrome shows on all three sides, so the horizontal or vertical lines plus each of the two adjacent sides extending from the "raised" part (either top/bottom for horizontal or left/right for vertical).

[Kurt G.]

Re: Fender Grilles 71-72

My all original very early 72 (Sept 13, 1971 production date) has paint on the face of the egg crate lines only, except where it has worn off after 38 years of exposure to the elements. It does not overlap onto the lip or flat part of the grill. Sorry I don't have any photos to send, but because of the wear any photos wouldn't help much. Your side grill should be the same as my '72, so use that for what it's worth.

[Edward J.]

Re: Fender Grilles 71-72

As Kurt says, my 72 (late) when I repainted the grilles I left the edge of the chrome un-painted on vertical and horziontal surfaces.

[Warren F.]

Re: Fender Grilles 71-72

Brad,

The paint is very thin on those slightly stepped ledges. Both my original paint cars show thin paint in that section.

[Bill C.]

Re: Fender Grilles 71-72

Brad,

my 72 - before I messed with it - had the V and H bar tops showing chrome.

The side of the V and H bars in the ridge had a very light coating of paint. It showed some chrome, but it ws very little in area if any at all.

[Roy V.]

Re: Fender Grilles 71-72

my July of 1972 build grill with original paint, this was taken prior to painting, hope it helps.

[Brad M.]

Re: Fender Grilles 71-72

Thanks all.

It sounds like there is a little variation, but overall from the ridge outward, there is very little or no paint in most cases.

Roy, your pic does help and it looks like it generally shows chrome down to that ridge line.

I think that I lprefer that approach as it seemed based upon putting the grille on my car temporarily with the paint removed from only the surface on side directly facing away from car, it did not make the chrome very visible unless standing at an angle directly to side of fender.

This of course means more work (hopefully for my paint guy and not me) to remove the paint around those thin corners to that ridge. It was quite easy for him to remove the paint from the one side only.