[HiPoGTO]

A agree with Andre--and I haven't even seen the parts... Alot of the NOS vs. REPOP is emotional and not rational. Yes, the new parts are plated plastic but the original pot metal parts were real crap... The material (potmetal) was crap, often the plating looked like crap, the castings were crap with lots of flash and other imperfections. The taillight bezels were fragile and very difficult to repair. I'm just glad there is another option now. Also, once they're on the car, perceptions like relative weight will not be available to the observer. I remember when I first received my repop headlight bezels from The Parts Place and compared them to NOS bezels there was NO WAY I was putting the (very expensive) NOS junk on my car. My goal is not to duplicate the shortcuts the factory took 40 years ago. My goal is to make my car the best that it can be. If a repop can help me in that end, then I will use a repop and NOT be a slave the the "NOS" or "All Original" cults.

[Hooter]

I'll be buying a set of these next winter for my '65. My car is more of a hotrod(plus a clone), so I'm not so worried about originality. Tickled to death that they are even available. This, plus the tail panel that the Parts Place also has.

[HiPoGTO]

The Parts Place does not have the tail panel repop trim piece.. In fact, noone does to my knowledge. I just called Parts Place today to check and they gave the same story they have been giving for 4 years... "Should be ready in a couple of months"

[Jim Doran]

ditto on the tail panel status from Parts place.

Another good Repro 65 part that is void are the grills. The factory ones are real heavy and the vanes get wavy. They seem prime for a plastic / chrome replacement.

[mwritter]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Another good Repro 65 part that is void are the grills. The factory ones are real heavy and the vanes get wavy. They seem prime for a plastic / chrome replacement. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I was reading a car mag in Barnes and Noble last summer and there was a custom '65 GTO in it. The owner raced the car and made custom aluminum front grilles to replace the heavy factory pieces. They were pretty hard to tell from stock. I wish I could remember which mag it was...it was not Car Craft...but the next month, the guy had an ad in the same magazine offering the aluminum units for $375 a set. I wrote the information down and somehow lost it. Maybe someone on the board remembers the article and could post the guy's info here.

And as for plastic replacements, I would be hesitant to throw plastic grilles on the front of my '65...one thrown stone and you have a mess. Taillight grilles are one thing, but I think plastic grilles would be out of the question.

[6567GTO]

I bought a set of those aluminum grills for my 65 and they look great. The guy I bought them from lives in Maryland. His name is Jon Gunter. I think he may have even joined this site. Do a search for his name and contact him. The pic in my signature is one with them installed. I don't have a close-up unfortunately.

Phil

[6567GTO]

Here's Jons profile...

http://forums.performanceyears.com/g...11&u=905100997

[Hooter]

That's wierd on the tail panel - I saw one of them last year at the BOP swap meet near Chicago at their booth. Must have been a hand made proto.

Phil - Thanks for the info on the grills. And to think, I just spent all of last Saturday sanding, buffing, painting my old crappy ones.

[6567GTO]

LOL, don't you love how that always seems to work that way Brad?

[Lemans1]

Hipo, are you saying the repo headlight bezels are better than the originals?

Phil, thanks for the info on the grilles. I am in MD so maybe I can get a close look at them before deciding to buy them.

[6567GTO]

no problem. If you guys can't get ahold of Jon, let me know and I'll dig up his phone number.

[Andre]

There were at least 2 hundred tailpanels made, but the plating was not very good, so the parts place is going to do them in the high impact plastic like the bezels.

I would think that 65 grilles in plastic would survive quite well, as the 66 grilles were plastic, as are portions of the '67, and all of the 68-70 grilles

[smasse64]

hey guys: can i put in my info on pot metal resto??..i had mine done in 99 at Custom Coatings Corp, a pot resto shop 4794-C Woodland cr
Tallahassee , Fla. 850-562-3847, and no, i'm not affiliated...they charged me $390.00...they required me to send the three pcs insured to them...they then gave est...then they req. 1/3 deposit...they did work within 3 weeks and MAN O MAN WERE THOSE F--ING BEZELS MINT !!! They looked so good that they sat on my work bench for more than 3 years before i had the guts to finally install them...was afraid i'd get rear-ended if i put them in...however, if you can still get these prices i say do it...they grind pits by hand, fill with copper then re-chrome..the only drow back is the "pontiac" block letters get less sharp...don't have much room to paint white on letters...but it looked so good i didn't have heart to paint the white ot the Miramba red on this beautiful, expensive chrome...just my two cents..hope it helps steve

[pont406]

Phil, how much lighter were the alumninum grills vs the originals? might have to get a set for my drag car project!

[catvfixer]

http://www.customcoatings.net/ccep.htm
here's the web page for custom coatings

[6567GTO]

originally posted by pont406:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> Phil, how much lighter were the alumninum grills vs the originals? might have to get a set for my drag car project! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

They only weigh 1 lb or so each compared to the originals which are at least 8-10 lbs. each.
I buffed the front edge and clear coated it with spray can clear, painted the fins flat black and left the inside area that's typically painted silver in the natural aluminum. They look great! I did have to notch one inside corner slightly because it interfered with the hood latch mechanism but it wasn't much work. I showed it to Jon, so he's aware of it. It won't even be a problem on cars set up with removable glass hoods.

[HiPoGTO]

"Hipo, are you saying the repo headlight bezels are better than the originals?"

The Parts Place headlight bezels are definitly better that the originals. I had some NOS bezels and they had a lot of flash, the plating had a very low lustre and there were hairline cracks in the plating. And these were still in the GM boxes. I got the repros from the parts place and they were damn near perfect. All I had to do was to airbrush the triangular areas between the lights black. That took 10 minutes.

[65GTO428]

I got a set of the headlight bezels too and your right they are better than NOS. But I think if you had a set of the rear light bezels in your hands you'd see what I mean about the durability. With the process of removing the back end to change those bezels, I'd be pretty hot if that plastic broke or chipped and I had to remove the back end again after a fresh paint just to save a little off a resto. Just my $.02

[brut4s]

Bringing this back up fir updates. How have they held up?