I haven't seen any discussion on these in 3 or 4 years. Anyway, after all these years I have decided to repaint by 62. While doing the repaint I will polish or rechrome the worse of the trim. I need to know a good place to get a gold grille anodized. I have looked closely at the repros and the color is no where close to what mine looks like on the back side where it has been out of the light. The color is too dark/bright on the repro. Any recommendation? Thanks.
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Re: 1962 Gold Grille
Wayne,
Many years ago, I had a used 62 grille gold anodized by a then local aluminum anodizing company. Company is no longer around and don't recall the name either. It was near Austin, Tx.
They dipped the old grille in some kind of acid and then into the gold coloring vat. I thought the color came out real well but if I had to do it over again, I would make sure the grille was as smooth as possible as the small pitting in the grille from many miles of driving left the final gold finish a bit too dull.
This was not my original grille which was bent up badly in front-end wreck years ago. I still have the bent up, original grille. The original grille has some darker, tarnished areas around the two ends while the refinished grille does not. I have owned my 62 since April 1965 when it had only 28k miles. My 62 was built on/about June 22, 1962 with serial number slightly over 13,000. The color and condition of the original grille remained the same over the years until the wreck. I think it would be hard to absolutely duplicate the original finish, especially since I have never seen an NOS gold grille; however, I'm satisfied with the refinished grille installed in the car.
I would search for a business that does aluminum anodizing but I have not done any research on my own since I don't have any immediate need. -
Re: 1962 Gold Grille
have owned a '62 since 10/'65 that was built in 4/'62. according to information i researched about grill color, my understanding was that chevrolet intended the grill to be flat black in color. the silvers were left over from '61 and the golds that are on oringinal cars were early and didn't get painted. mine was silver and i painted it black. like most old corvette information, there will be 8 people with different information and opinions. do what pleases you, drive it and enjoy.Comment
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Re: 1962 Gold Grille
Guess I've led a sheltered life. I never have seen a known original 62 with a 61 grille nor an early car with a gold grille.Comment
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Re: 1962 Gold Grille
61 grilles were markedly different than 62's, so it's not just a silver vs. black vs. gold issue. One might want to read an article done in the Restorer in the late 70's regarding gold grilles. 62 black grilles were NOT PAINTED, they were ANODIZED. You can not just paint a silver 61 grille and get a 62!!!!!! There were wind whistle issues with the 61 grille (again, a TSB printed in an old Restorer details that) and the 62 grille was a redesign with only mesh, and with no flat area of material in the center like the 61 grille had. Gold grilles in 62's are real--2964, 2266, 3390, and 12231 have had gold grilles that I've documented. They seem to be more prevalent on early cars, but there's been no correlation between early and late, between high and low horsepower, between different exterior colors. We've been observing this phenomenon for 30+ years, and all we can determine is that GM did produce gold grilles on some 62's. Why? Probably because 62 was the golden anniversary (50th year) of Chevrolet.Comment
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Re: 1962 Gold Grille
Thanks Mike! Very nice summary.
Makes me wonder about possible anniv. gold paint (on Corvettes in '62).
tdhttps://MichiganNCRS.org
Michigan Chapter
Tom DingmanComment
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Re: 1962 Gold Grille
My 62 (12644) has an original gold grille. It is a mid June car.Comment
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