Dear Loren and mid-60s Buick caretakers of your car's
"crown jewels,"I have a Poston reproduction hood ornament on my trusty wagon right now. It looks great at the moment, but the paint is know to be of poor quality, so that won't last.
I've been tempted to send in a hood ornament to have Loren's airbrush artist paint it, but the only ornament I've got is in this condition:
The back is only in slightly better condition:
I sent these photos to Jimmy Canfield of
Custom Metal Finishing Indiana as Wheelz had recommended. He thinks he can rechrome the shiny parts without effecting the surfaces that need to be painted. Unfortunately, Jimmy is a popular guy and he has an 8 week backlog. So I won't be able to send this hood ornament out to be painted for a while.
I'll report on how well this attempt at rechroming works out. Jimmy's first guessitmate for the cost of rechroming the hood ornament and base was less than $100. If this process works out, it should be possible to get a reasonably good looking hood ornament for around $250. Considering how rare these things are, that would certainly be better than nothing.
I'll keep everybody posted of how this project unfolds.
Cheers, Edouard