65-66-67 Dash Bezels 101

[Rich P.]

I have a few questions regaurding 65-66 and 67 dash bezels.
Was there only one supplier of dash bezels? The style I am most familiar with are made of a translucent/foggy green plastic, have a G stamped on the back.
My first question is for the finish on 65 bezels, was a satin silver sprayed on the bezels? Reason I ask is because I have several sets removed from original untouched 65 cars and the section that is covered by the cable nut bezel is a high gloss chrome. SO were all 65 bezels satin???

Next question I have is for a set of bezels removed from a 66. They are not the typical repros that are made of a crystal clear transparent green but rather are made of a translucent/foggy greenish blue plastic. They also have the GM part #'s embossed on the front. My question is are these possibly assembly line pieces or service replacements. The fonts are thinner and the spacing on them are further apart than on the 65's.

Reason I am asking is because I am in the midst of a restoration on a 65 and a 66 and I plan on useing tha original bezels by either chrome plating or painting a satin chrome paint on the respective bezels

I'll include several side by side shots for comparison/identification.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts and comments.

Rich

[Rich P.]

Re: 65-66-67 Dash Bezels 101

All the side by side shots have the 65 bezels on the left except for the AIR PULL FAN where the 65 is on the right.

Thanks, Rich

[Wayne M.]

Re: 65-66-67 Dash Bezels 101

Rich -- all I can comment is that the GM parts catalogs show the "bezels" (actually "plate" to use the AIM and P&A30 terminology) are the same part #s for 1965 thru 1967 [whether the 4 plates for a non-air car or the 6 plates for C60-equipped). Check Gr 8.852; it has the plate part #s as well as the "bezel"s, which we would call spacers (between the knob and the plate). Seems the bezels went to a bright finish for the '66 and '67 model years (including the radio tone knob and spacer under the station selection knob, but the plates remained satin. Do the '66/7 TIM&JG's agree ?

I only have '65 cars and the '65 AIM and TIM&JG to judge by. I have a couple of radios under my bench ('64, '65 and '66) and see the bright silver in the center of the off/on and tuning plates, under the thin nut, that you describe (I never really noticed it before).

I have never seen the thinner and wider spaced characters that you mention. How do you plan on chrome or satin plating the originals while maintaining the translucent (backlit) lettering functional ?

[Rich P.]

Re: 65-66-67 Dash Bezels 101

Wayne,

thanks for your time and thoughts.
First I answered one of my questions as to the pt number embossed on the "plates" (see I learn quick). What actually happend was the raised pt# from the nut spacer got pressed into the plates when the nut was torqued down.
Second I still have a question as far as the plating. If you look at the one picture I attached in the previous thread of the back sides of the plates, look at the ones in the top row with the G stampings. They are the originals from the 65, now note the gloss of the chrome they are 100% gloss. And the fronts have traces of full gloss under the protected areas. What I am wondering, is does anyone think it is possible that the plates were full gloss and faded from the factory on the unprotected areas. Simolar to the old washer bottle/washer port argument. I don't think GM would have gone to the expense of plating the plates gloss and then replating the exposed areas with a satin.

Again thoughts and comments please.

Rich

[Rich P.]

Re: 65-66-67 Dash Bezels 101

Wayne, I have talked to several platers who specialize in chrome plating plastic and found only one so far who said they could do it. What I will do is strip and prep the plates then tape the rear light gathering flange and send them for plating, when they return I will carefully remove the plating on the raised print. I will attach a picture of the stripped plates that are ready to be plated. This is not a cheap way to do things as each plate will cost 25.00 to do. So a non a/c car will cost 100.00 and a A/C car will cost 150.00. Compare that to 25 bucks for a set of repros.

Rich

[Rich P.]

Re: 65-66-67 Dash Bezels 101

Here's a picture of a few repro plates I experimented with to test my stripping method.

Rich

[Rich P.]

Re: 65-66-67 Dash Bezels 101

OK no takers on my second question in the # 4 post on this thread so let me put this a different way.
66-67's all have a bright finish on the chrome knobs, nuts and nut bezels so I would think the dash name plates would have a full gloss on the chrome. Is this correct or will 66-67's get points knocked for the name plates being too shiney???

Thanks, Rich

[Wayne M.]

Re: 65-66-67 Dash Bezels 101

...let me put this a different way.
66-67's all have a bright finish on the chrome knobs, nuts and nut bezels so I would think the dash name plates would have a full gloss on the chrome. Is this correct or will 66-67's get points knocked for the name plates being too shiney??? .....

Rich -- was at Leavenworth WA combined chapter meet (NW & BC) a week ago; there was a '66 entered in Sportsman, and it had the name plates in chrome, as you mention. You needed sunglasses .

Unless GM revised from satin to bright (chrome) for '66 and '67, without changing the nameplate part #'s from '65 (which we know is satin, and remains the same part # in the P&A30 catalogs for '65 thru '67) [we know the bezels went to bright in '66+], I'm thinking that the cars we see with the name plates all chrome are an inspiration of the reproduction market.

Nevertheless, these are items that are discussed in the various TIM&JG's, and I sure would like someone to quote what is said in the '66 and '67 books.

[William C.]

Re: 65-66-67 Dash Bezels 101

As long ago as the late 70's, when I still had access to original unmolested cars, I was always disappointed by the bright reproduction bezels, and how poorly they represented the originals. This goes back to a 1965 I bought with 35K miles on it in 1972. Same for unrestored '66 cars I have owned. I agree the unseen background was bright, but the area seen by the driver was always a matte silver.

[Rich P.]

Re: 65-66-67 Dash Bezels 101

Guys thanks for the replys.
I appreciate it!!!

Rich

[Rich P.]

Re: 65-66-67 Dash Bezels 101

I'm finishing up the body assembly of the one 65 I did bodywork on and painted. and am finally getting to the dash bezels. I decided to see how I could make a repro set of dash name plates look closer to the original satin 65's from this car. I wound up going the high tech route which consisted of getting a can of krylon matte clear from walmart. After applying 2 coats of clear the finish looks to be what I feel like the original 65's. Just thought I'd pass this info along to aid those 65 owners with shiney repro name plates.

Rich

[Michael M.]

Re: 65-66-67 Dash Bezels 101

Rich the bezels you took off my car all have the G stamped in the back. The vol. -tone and tuning bezel are duller then the fan-temp pull and air-pull-def bezels. The fan-temp pull and air-pull-def bezels are more on the chrome side. They also have part # on the right hand side. The part #'s begin with 38 I'll need a magnify glass to get the other #'s. Mike

[Scott S.]

Re: 65-66-67 Dash Bezels 101

Rich -- was at Leavenworth WA combined chapter meet (NW & BC) a week ago; there was a '66 entered in Sportsman, and it had the name plates in chrome, as you mention. You needed sunglasses .

Unless GM revised from satin to bright (chrome) for '66 and '67, without changing the nameplate part #'s from '65 (which we know is satin, and remains the same part # in the P&A30 catalogs for '65 thru '67) [we know the bezels went to bright in '66+], I'm thinking that the cars we see with the name plates all chrome are an inspiration of the reproduction market.

Nevertheless, these are items that are discussed in the various TIM&JG's, and I sure would like someone to quote what is said in the '66 and '67 books.

Wayne,

I think these are the relevant passages from the 65-67 judging guides:


1965JG: "Dash panel knobs have satin finish chrome, semi-circular plastic bezel above each knob. The bezels state the function of the knob and are backlighted." (p. 39)

1966JG: "Instrument cluster and dash panel knobs are chrome plated metal with semi-gloss black painted center faces, with a satin finish chrome, semi-circular bezel above each knob stating their function. Dash bezels are plastic and are back-lighted. Instrument cluster bezels are part of the metal housing casting." (p. 29)

1967JG: "Check the chrome plastic knob bezels for fading or discoloration." (p. 38)

[Carl B.]

Re: 65-66-67 Dash Bezels 101

what kind of metal were the knobs made of checked out of curiosity knobs were quite heavy /bezel#387649 8 /knob 4 16

[John H.]

Re: 65-66-67 Dash Bezels 101

what kind of metal were the knobs made of checked out of curiosity knobs were quite heavy /bezel#387649 8 /knob 4 16

Carl -

Most likely pot-metal (zinc alloy) - they were die-cast.