1959 reproduction grill assembly

[Bob W.]

Has anyone used the the 58-60 reproduction grill assembly either the USA made or imported? If so which one and how was the fit and finish?

Thanks Bob

[Richard M.]

Re: 1959 reproduction grill assembly

Bob, I've used both, and both look pretty nice when new, but I have seen the import chrome turn bad much sooner than the USA chrome on the grille bars. The USA Teeth pot metal is better quality with better detail.

Rich

[Bob W.]

Re: 1959 reproduction grill assembly

Rich Thanks for your reply. I have my OE grill but it has 3 crched teeth and the chrome platers want $90 - $100 to plate each one. I would buy just a set of teeth but i don't like mixing chrome that close together. So for the exta money i think i will buy the USA made grill.

Thanks Again Bob

[Richard M.]

Re: 1959 reproduction grill assembly

Bob, Another note. Since owning my '59 since 1986, I probably installed 3 or 4 lower front bumperette license plate lower horizontal bars. You can get these for about $25 in reproduction. The last one I bought seemed to only last a few years. The car is garaged, yet sees rain every so often and gets car washes. Those reproduction bars do not last. The chrome is marginal, especially at the horizontal edges at the rear and they rust toward the front in plain view.

A few years ago I did something different. I had 2 NOS lower bars, along with a used original. I brought them to my chrome shop and discussed re-chroming, with special attention to the corners where the chrome is light and begins to rust there. They made a slight radius along the edge and the chrome has better coverage. I had all 3 re-chromed. IIRC it was around $75 each. I have had one on my car now(I think it's the used re-chromed bar) for several years and it's doing fine. I have 2 spares wrapped up(iconized pics below) just waiting for the first one to start rusting. It has not yet.
I just took this photo of the one on the car. The car is dirty and needs a wash, but the bar is still nice.


What I'm getting at is sometimes it's best to re-chrome original pieces. In 1995 I had all bumpers, grille bar, upper and lower grille shells, all redone by a triple plating shop up in new England. That chrome is still nice to this day. However, I opted for the new USA teeth from a vendor at that time, and they too are still very nice. Then it was about $25 per tooth to re-chrome my originals, so I opted for new as it made economic sense. I have used the imports on other cars over the years. I see those grille teeth on occasion and they don't look as good as my 22 year old USA grille teeth.

It's 22 year old chrome. Sorry for the dirt. The license plate flat frame is a NOS I bought about 8 years ago. When I clean the car and use a detail spray on the chrome it jumps out like it's brand new.

Rich

[Bob W.]

Re: 1959 reproduction grill assembly

Rich Nice car, I plan on having everythig else rechromed. But as i said in post #2 i have 3 cracked teeth the rest are badly pitted ( PA winters) and i'am not sure if new teeth would match a rechromed grill bar.

Thanks Again Bob

[Keith R.]

Re: 1959 reproduction grill assembly

I am going through this right now and installed a grille bar and teeth from Corvette Specialties. I was disappointed that it was made in China and upon opening, it shows. The chrome is thin and easily scratched and is peeling off the interior of some teeth. The interior of the bar and teeth are copper colored showing incomplete or inadequate chroming. The material is thin and easily marred. The dimensions of the bar and its configuration are wrong. I pulled it off today and am ordering a USA made assembly from Corvette Central who manufactures their own.

[Keith R.]

Re: 1959 reproduction grill assembly

Here are some photos I took comparing original and reproduction teeth and grille bars. The reproduction tooth from CSM is thinner, shows copper on the interior and one tooth had the chrome flaking off the inside. A centering pin on one CSM tooth was easily bent and was thinner at the base than some other CSM teeth. The CSM chrome is easily scratched and the thinner metal shows lines where the tooth was tightened against the bar. The center bar differs significantly from the original. The metal is again, thinner and shows copper on the inside. The angles at the bar ends are different than the original reducing the overall length of the bar at the rear with a consequent gap between the bumper and the bar which is not covered by the end teeth. The rear dimension of the reproduction bar was 27 5/16" and the original is 27 9/16" - a 1/4" shorter. The reproduction bar also lacks the flattened areas at the tip of the front radius which indexes each tooth against the bar. Consequently, the reproduction end teeth had a tendency to slip off the bar when the backing plate was tightened and a few others did not seem to want to point forward when tightened to the bar. The mounting studs which attach the mating plate to the bumper are positioned closer together on the reproduction bar but the longer reproduction mating plates make up the dimensional difference. Nonetheless, this prohibits the use of original mating plates. BTW, the reproduction mating plates are flat as depicted in the AIM and the ones I had on my original had a bend to them positioning the teeth further to the rear. I'm not sure if they are original or off a different year car.

[Richard M.]

Re: 1959 reproduction grill assembly

Keith,

I think I know why your grille endplate mounts are bent as they are....

I think your bumpers are 61-62 bumpers. At some point in time the 58-60 bumpers were no longer produced and only the 61-2 were available for Service. They had a different offset for the stud plate. This was to bring the grille bar further forward to open the spacing of the grille bar to the mounted grille shell.

This requires either adding washers to the studs before the 58-60 grille bar/teeth assembly was mounted, or the brackets had to be bent on each end to create the offset, like on yours.

A few photos below showing the bumper differences.

Rich

[Keith R.]

Re: 1959 reproduction grill assembly

Keith,

I think I know why your grille endplate mounts are bent as they are....

I think your bumpers are 61-62 bumpers. At some point in time the 58-60 bumpers were no longer produced and only the 61-2 were available for Service. They had a different offset for the stud plate. This was to bring the grille bar further forward to open the spacing of the grille bar to the mounted grille shell.

This requires either adding washers to the studs before the 58-60 grille bar/teeth assembly was mounted, or the brackets had to be bent on each end to create the offset, like on yours.

A few photos below showing the bumper differences.

Rich

Thanks for your help Richard. Based upon your photos and previous posts along with others regarding 58-60 bumpers vs. 61-62, I'm pretty sure that mine are 58-60. The stud mount plate is mounted about an inch from the rear of the bumper and the forward dimension is the same as what you're showing here. See attached. Perhaps the mounting plates at one time mated to 61-62 bumpers and weren't swapped out when re-mated to 58-60 as I have?

[Bob W.]

Re: 1959 reproduction grill assembly

Keith Let me know how the grill from Corvette Central work's out. As ineed a grill for my 59.

Thank you Bob
'

[Keith R.]

Re: 1959 reproduction grill assembly

I sure will Bob. The CC grille assembly is on its way and I'll update the thread once I get it mounted to let you know how it went.

[Bob W.]

Re: 1959 reproduction grill assembly

Keith Thanks I will be looking for your reply.

Bob