I have just been looking around for someone to chrome plate the
bumpers on my E-Type Jaguar. The car is at present stripped down
for repainting. I was horrified to find that in the San Francisco
Bay Area the lowest quote I could get was $1000 for plating the
front and rear bumpers and overriders. This was after taking
them to an auto and truck bumper place in Hayward, dumping them on
his counter and asking how much to do the lot. He instantly recognized
them as Jaguar parts and looked them up in his catalogue. Clearly its
not the amount of chrome involved, but what the new price is for the
pieces that determines the final price. I telephoned around and got
even higher quotes (Speciality Plating in Colma). The paint shop
doing my car offered to send them to their regular guy in LA, but
also told me to figure on a similar price.
Does anyone have ideas how to get them plated at a reasonable price?
Do I some how have to deceive these plating shops into thinking
the bumpers belong to a less expensive car? Or are there honest shops
out there willing to do the work on a reasonable markup of their costs.
At these prices I am willing to ship them interstate if necessary.
Any suggestions are most welcome. I am sure I am not the first
(or last) to face this problem.
Cheers, Patrick Krejcik.
PS I shall post soon the sequel to "Stripping the E, Parts I and II",
and let you know some of the successes so far.
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