Topic: 1967 console

[34isgreat]

  I just purchased a factory console for my 67 coupe, metal parts have some pitting, have any of you purchased the brushed aluminum insert kit that goes over the factory brushed aluminum? if so what you think of it? Any console restore tips?

[J_Speegle]

Yes purchased some - not worth the money or time

[67gtasanjose]

Yes purchased some - not worth the money or time

+1

I have tried the roughly $50 overlay version and with an exacto knife trimming, got a so-so decent job initially by a full disassemble of the console and scrubbing/sanding all pitting completely off. EVERYTHING shows through the overlay. The ashtray came out good, the radio plate pretty good and the shifter plate good. The rear plate looked awful. Every blister, even after sanding them all smooth, showed up through the veneer.  I can say it looks better than the blisters, but honestly, it never made it's way back into the car. I ended up peeling it all off.
I have also found that nobody wants to tackle a refinish to these items at this time because of the multiple finishes on each item. Champion Mustang is the only vendor I know of who claims to make a reproduction of some of the console pieces. Two things come to mind when I think reproduction parts. 1 they don't fit. 2 they will not match. Add that to the less than swift service from that vendor and I really have to wonder what exactly you will end up with.

I would love to hear some positive results about ANYONE who sells good fitting, finish-matching reproduction parts or even somebody who has bought one of the 1K version reproduction consoles. So far, all I hear is 'crickets".

I have since my attempts last year reworking mine with the overlay, I have found some very nice original used parts to get my console up to satisfactory looking condition. NOT NEW LOOKING by any measure of what "new" looks like, but damn nice for something almost 50 years old. These parts were not at all easy to find.

Before I stumbled onto a better "original" nice used rear console plate, and after I had tried the overlay trick, I did buy a 2nd overlay kit to "try again", deciding to strip off JUST THE BRUSHED CHROME section to the bare cast pot metal, so the next attempt of the overlay would look better. The camera case black had already been repainted and the perimeter chrome edge looked OK too, with very few pits in the chrome so I used a small sanding disc and cut through the plating (very slowly, very time consuming) followed by block sanding the pot metal till I ended up with a nice brushed finish. It looked really good, but the color of the pot metal was different. I figured I would wait on trying the overlay again on it till I assemble the car. A few months later I found the good used one and sold off the reconditioned one on eBay (in June) The buyer was VERY HAPPY with the job I did on it. You might give it a try, but as I said, it was very time consuming.

[67gtasanjose]

UPDATE!

I stumbled onto an ARTICLE found by accident within a website of an agriculture consulting firm! (rather odd, no?) The article deals with a process of re chroming the console pieces that have the simulated brushed aluminum finish. It is MUCH like the process I described earlier this year but instead lists all of the correct processes a chrome shop needs to follow to produce the desired appearance. It involves first finding a plater willing to work with you on the project, taking the parts to a plater to have just the chromium stripped off, leaving behind the nickel finish (this saves a lot of time in the end), then you taking the parts back home to do the "sanding" of the pitted areas, then when ready,  back to the plater to be "coppered", then back home to be "buffed", then back to the plater to be "nickeled", then back home to be "brushed", then back to the plater to have the "chromium" done, then back home to mask and repaint the camera finished and black areas.

(Cost doing this process is described as being aproximately $250 for all pieces of a 67 Mustang Console.)

Quite a chore, but the trade off in letting a chrome shop do ALL of the work is that they would more than likely use machines to do the "grunt work" and buff off a majority of the "sharp factory edges". The author describes that many platers might not be open to working on these pot metal items or the notion of you "helping" the process, so a great deal of tact may be needed when approaching a plater to request services as he outlined in the article.

I wrote this all out because I am not sure if it is OK to publish a link (without permission first) to the website.The article is much more detailed and has a few photographs. I have emailed the firm to request permission and MAYBE, just maybe we can get permission to add it to this forum's Library (fingers crossed)

If i get permission from those in charge, I might be able to update this with a link. In the meantime, if you want to know more, just PM me and I will redirect you to the link.

HINT: "Brushstrokes of The Old Masters"

[67gtasanjose]

PERMISSION GRANTED!

Here's your link the article:

http://jcoconsulting.com/Brushstrokes