Headlight Bezel Question

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roosduster

Colorado Mopar
Joined
Jun 17, 2005
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What is the material these are made out of, is it pot metal or stamped steel?? I have heard both. I have a 1973 Plymouth Duster. Also are the tail light bezels made out of the same material?

Thanks
 
Neither. It is stamped Aluminum, which is anodized, then painted argent in the center. You can strip the anodizing with oven cleaner, sand out the pits, then polish, if you want a freshened (albeit non- original) look.
 
Clarification: Don't try to polish anything but the edge, repaint the painted part. Not only will it look silly, but you will find all the creases from the stamping (I know this from trying). Just mask and repaint the center. You will also want to do the bar at the top of the grill to match. It's kind of a hassle, but you can make it look REALLY good if you take your time.
 
Clarification: Don't try to polish anything but the edge, repaint the painted part. Not only will it look silly, but you will find all the creases from the stamping (I know this from trying). Just mask and repaint the center. You will also want to do the bar at the top of the grill to match. It's kind of a hassle, but you can make it look REALLY good if you take your time.

Thank you, I understand what you mean when you say polish only the edge and paint the middle. :)
 
Forgive me, I forgot to answer about the tailight bezels. They are chromed pot metal. I have seen them painted body color, and black. There is no way to polish them once the chrome starts to go. However, even faded chrome looks better than painted once you redo the black stripe, in my opinion. People tell me mine are not bad, and from 20 feet that's true. But at some point I'm going to bite the bullet and rechrome the bumpers and bezels (long way off for that, though). I do have repro door handles on the way, and I just picked up a 28,000 mile grill that is pretty sweet (paid top dollar, though). Thankfully the window pillar and windshield / back glass trim is stainless on these cars.
 
Forgive me, I forgot to answer about the tailight bezels. They are chromed pot metal. I have seen them painted body color, and black. There is no way to polish them once the chrome starts to go. However, even faded chrome looks better than painted once you redo the black stripe, in my opinion. People tell me mine are not bad, and from 20 feet that's true. But at some point I'm going to bite the bullet and rechrome the bumpers and bezels (long way off for that, though). I do have repro door handles on the way, and I just picked up a 28,000 mile grill that is pretty sweet (paid top dollar, though). Thankfully the window pillar and windshield / back glass trim is stainless on these cars.

I added the taillight part after your answer as I forgot that when I first made my post. The chrome on mine is ok just the black paint is fading. So I guess I will try to polish the chrome for now. So any place that can chrome parts should be able to chrome the tail light bezels?
 
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