View topic - 1918 Headlight trim bezel

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PostPosted: Thu Jan 18, 2018 1:42 pm 
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I want to polish the metal ring around the headlights but would like to know what it's made of before I start. And any suggestions on what would work best to shine them up would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!


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PostPosted: Thu Jan 18, 2018 7:34 pm 
MOST of them are nickle plated brass. SOME from 1918 are steel, because of the war effort. Try a magnet. The steel ones rusted, and the brass ones cracked because they were formed, actually called spun, from flat stock and the stress took it's tole.


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PostPosted: Sat Feb 17, 2018 9:07 pm 
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Doug -
How should the bezels look? When the cars were new, were the rings polished up like chrome or should they be like a satin and/or dull. I want it to look "historically" correct, I guess is what I'm getting at. Thanks for any help!


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PostPosted: Sat Feb 17, 2018 9:52 pm 
Shiny. Nickle not chrome.


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PostPosted: Sun Feb 18, 2018 1:32 pm 
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Location: Northern California
Be gentle with your polishing, you can go through the Nickel quite easily. Nickel is not as "shiny bright" as chrome, and it's a bit more grey. Chrome is actually a coating over nickel that has a blue tint to it, which is why they look different. Chrome did not come into common use until late in the 1920s, so nickel is very correct for your '18.

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PostPosted: Sun Feb 18, 2018 7:01 pm 
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Thanks for the replies. These are like a dull gray and they won't polish at all. So I was thinking of sending them in to have them re-nickel plated. Good idea, or no?


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PostPosted: Sun Feb 18, 2018 8:41 pm 
They will strip them, polish them to high shine, then plate them. Look very carefully, are there any small cracks in them? MOST are cracked, making plating VERY expensive. Except for being dull they look very good. Nickle will dull over time.


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PostPosted: Tue Feb 20, 2018 12:10 am 
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I did find some small cracks right along the outside back edge. So I decided to just apply some good old fashioned elbow grease and it's actually starting to polish up fairly nice. With the lighting it doesn't show up too well but you can kind of see the difference. Thanks for all the info, it's really appreciated!


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