VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1949-1954 "Korean" Chrome

Hey Folks,

I could use a little history lesson. For myself and a buddy who's looking at a 1953 Chevy with thoughts of buying it.

We've talked about the chrome on a '53. I seem to recall something about the chrome on 1953's not being as good as earlier and later years.

My understanding is it had something to do with the Korean war. Only two steps in the chromium plating. Either the copper or nickel was left out. So the chrome wasn't so good. Deteriorated pretty fast.

Some questions:

1. Is my thinking correct about "Korea" being the reason for this??
2. Am I correct that one step was left out??
3. If so, Which one?? Nickel or copper??
4. Was this also true on pot metal (like hoodbirds)- - or just the bumpers and grille and so on??
5. What model years did this impact?? 1953 (??) and what others??

Thanks for any/all help/advice.....

Bill.

Hi Bill,

I think you are correct on all points,not sure what was"left out" but,possibly copper and nickel was a bare minimum.From what I hear the 54 suffered from this as well and it affected the bumpers,mirrors,hood and trunk ornaments and also the radio surround inside as well as other dash components.The war effort really took a bite out of precious metals......I'm not sure wether it affected 51-52,anyone have that data?? My car's bumpers and grille are not the greatest,but,for now I can live with it.

cheers!
dave

Nickle was scarce during the Korean war so its use was restricted by the government.
Some of the very late 1951's had trunk handles and hood emblems with K.C.
All 1952 and 1953 had the K.C grilles, hood ornaments (including 1953 accessory), hood emblems, trunk emblems, and tail lamp rims.The door handles and bumpers had nickle. For the most part 1941 thru 1954 cars had poor chrome plating on the bumpers but they had nickle.Was common for the bumpers to rust during the cars first winter.
The chrome did not "stick" well to the copper. To help protect the chrome is was coated with clear enamel or lacquer (don't remember which right now).Once the clear finish was broken the chrome departed and the copper turned green and gray. 1954's had no K.C.
New replacement parts made during that period also had K.C.
During WWII replacement parts that were originally chromed were painted light gray. If you find a 1940 gray grille its an excellant candidate for rechroming as it never rusted. Often during the war many metal parts were very difficult to get. (during WWII)-during the K.C. parts became scarce also.
The 1951-53 (150-210) used the same hub caps.In 1951 the cap had a steel shell crimped over a steel base as was done for many years. In 1952 the shell had real poor chrome plating and the caps rusted in one month.Early in 1952 they changed the shell or skin to stainless steel. Whie not polished to the high shine of the chrome they did not rust....So the late 1952's (after March) and the 1953 had stainless. In 1954 the entire cap was stamped from a heaiver gauge stainless.
The 1953 grilles usually had gone bad by the time the car was three years old. For used cars we kept an exchange rechromed grill for quick swapping.

Another Korean was problem was the top radiator tank on 1951's. They substituted steel for brass and the tanks rotted out in six months. Thats why its difficult to find a 1951 with the properly dated top tank...There again we has several exchange radiators so as to not tie up the customes car. The cores were sent out to an athourized Harrison repair facility and the tanks replaced.
The 1952 cars had a reduced amount of material in the radiator tubes. Tha why they used a pressure cap on the 1952 sticks. All P.G's always had a pressure cap. 1953 had a better coling radiator for the larer more powerful engines and pressure caps.

Gene, do you have any more of those chrome grills for swapping? Thanks...Oscar

So it was the middle step (nickel) that was "left out."

Thanks to Dave for his info and to Gene for the detailed explanation.

Bill.

Oscar, glad to see you saw the detailed 'answer' from Gene!!

gene,

your discription of the parts during that era would make it seem that one of the layers of nickel was eliminated, thus setting the parts up for rapid galvanic corrosion?..


epi

I was stationed at Pearl Harbor in '52 and '53 and one wealthy enlisted man bought a new '52 Chev black 4 door - the cheapest model. I remember the grille was badly rusted in six months and bumpers, too. The lacquer film over the grille was especially bad and the car was delivered with many cracks and dings in the grille. It rusted on those cracks almost immediately. I advised him to put paste wax on the chrome but he never did and he rarely washed the car either. He considered me nuts to put wax on the grille and bumpers of my '41 Buick 2 door fastback model 46S. He called it my old car - a very nice California car that had been brought over free by another navy guy with more stripes than I had...The '52 owner was a very nice guy otherwise sharing pretzles from home in PA and cookies made by his mother..She sent them very regularly....And when I got back home in '54 I bought a nice '50 which had one replacement bar in the grille. The original owner said it had been damaged in late '52 and it had been replaced. It was a Korean lacquered part. I kept it waxed and waxed and it never rusted at least as long as I owned the car - 6 years...