I promised to let some of you know how the Repro parts I purchased fit. In a nutshell I'm sending it all back and paying to have my original stuff straigtened/rechromed/polished/whathaveyou (plus shipping both ways for the repro crap)... I purchased wheel well moldings, and bed corners, as well as some emblems (see another post for my emblem issues, but the SS and El Camino emblems didn't fit).

The wheel well moldings fit, but looked like crap. The bends were well, bends not formed in any way and the had kinks and flat spots.

The bed corner moldings were OK, but they seemed less substantial than the originals. The rear corners fit pretty well, but the fronts didn't fit well at all (not surprising I gues as this is a more complex shape).

So I'm paying a bit more to have my original stuff refurbed, but as others have noted on the site, I'm sure it will be worth it.

Not really sure why they can't do a better job on the tooling for these parts, the Chinese seem to do a pretty darn good job knocking off golf clubs! Oh well..

-JR

I promised to let some of you know how the Repro parts I purchased fit. In a nutshell I'm sending it all back and paying to have my original stuff straigtened/rechromed/polished/whathaveyou (plus shipping both ways for the repro crap)... I purchased wheel well moldings, and bed corners, as well as some emblems (see another post for my emblem issues, but the SS and El Camino emblems didn't fit).

The wheel well moldings fit, but looked like crap. The bends were well, bends not formed in any way and the had kinks and flat spots.

The bed corner moldings were OK, but they seemed less substantial than the originals. The rear corners fit pretty well, but the fronts didn't fit well at all (not surprising I gues as this is a more complex shape).

So I'm paying a bit more to have my original stuff refurbed, but as others have noted on the site, I'm sure it will be worth it.

Not really sure why they can't do a better job on the tooling for these parts, the Chinese seem to do a pretty darn good job knocking off golf clubs! Oh well..

-JR
K.. Once again following up my own post. I also purchased a replacement grill kit. This was also marginal and I ended up using some of my original trim, together with some of the trim that came with the Kit. The plastic grill part and the two corner pieces fit well. I used the header trim from the kit, but the trim piece from the center of the grill flat out didn't fit (odd because it is a repro grill and repro trim...). I used the trim on the corner pieces as well and they fit nicely. I'll post a pick of installed grill if anyone is interested..

-JR

No idea why they can't do a better job. Actually, having seen some of the watch movements they are able to copy (tiny, precise pieces) and the various other high-techish things they produce it's clear that they can do a better job, they simply for whatever reason choose not to. I bought a repro bumper from Ausley's and it is a piece of ****. No more for me, except floorpans and stuff like that I'll be cutting/ welding anyway.

Hey JW
I have a 69 and need to get my bumpers reworked, as I have heard to many sad tales on repro bumpers.
I'm just north of San Diego and thought we might get a better deal if we had them done at the same time and place .
So if you have someone in mind shoot me a note and maybe we can save a few bucks.
If you don't have someone, Verns in LA does good work so I'm told.

Thanks for the report, John. :beers:

If these parts stores would do their work and make sure these parts are the best that can be done, I think we'd get a better reproduction. Maybe try and fit the part or at least do a good job of comparing...? Hello. :confused: I guess you just can't compare to original stuff, in most cases.

Looks like I'll be having the elco bed stuff rechromed. More $'s.....:(

Al

PS
Nice '69. :thumbsup:

Maybe if we as a group of Chevelle lovers, start complaining to the suppliers of this junk they will start putting the pressure on suppliers of this garbage, my last return item was to OPGI, it was a set of real bad fitting SS trim for my 68 Chevelle and like always they would say they never had this problem. I'm not saying OPGI is a bad company, they all buy from the same suppliers.When I was at SEMA I met a man that was starting to produce sheet metal parts for Chevelles and Camaros, USA MADE !!!!, I will post his phone # and name as soon as I sort thru all my SEMA stuff. KEEP OUR MONEY IN THE USA and PRESERVE OUR JOBS !!!!!!! no more cheap bad sh-t from off shore countries !!!

Hey JW
I have a 69 and need to get my bumpers reworked, as I have heard to many sad tales on repro bumpers.
I'm just north of San Diego and thought we might get a better deal if we had them done at the same time and place .
So if you have someone in mind shoot me a note and maybe we can save a few bucks.
If you don't have someone, Verns in LA does good work so I'm told.

I already took mine to a shop in Oceanside (west coast plating), got a good report from someone on another site and they been around for a long time. While I was there, someone else was picking up some chromed pieces and they looked really nice. He gives a 1 year warranty (others have said any issues are likely to occur in the first year).

HTH -JR

Does anyone make/sell paint grade bed trim? I am trying to reduce the chrome on my Camino, and would love to have the bed trim be painted the same as the rest of the bed/body.

Does anyone make/sell paint grade bed trim? I am trying to reduce the chrome on my Camino, and would love to have the bed trim be painted the same as the rest of the bed/body.

Well, the repro stuff seems to be paint grade :mad: You can buy an entire bed kit for less than $300 (plus shipping). Scuff it up and paint it... Hell you can buy the one I was going to return :D

Well, the repro stuff seems to be paint grade :mad: You can buy an entire bed kit for less than $300 (plus shipping). Scuff it up and paint it... Hell you can buy the one I was going to return :D

Thanks for confirming my suspicion. Maybe I'll keep my original trim for possible future use, as it is still okay, and buy the repro stuff for painting.

For my own experience repro kit are big ****....
i ordered a complete bed moldings kit from Ground Up and i already had been busy for 2 days trying to adapt/rework/modify the trim and moldings...nothings fit right of ready out of the box.
My original moldings are too bad to refit so i have no choice but trying to fit that pile of crap!!!
bad experience....
before i was playing with V-dubs where "made in China" parts are very bad but i didn't knew that parts for US cars where also so ugly!!!

For my own experience repro kit are big ****....

i ordered a complete bed moldings kit from Ground Up and i already had been busy for 2 days trying to adapt/rework/modify the trim and moldings...nothings fit right of ready out of the box.

My original moldings are too bad to refit so i have no choice but trying to fit that pile of crap!!!

bad experience....

before i was playing with V-dubs where "made in China" parts are very bad

but i didn't knew that parts for US cars where also so ugly!!!


Unfortunately, a very familiar tale of woe. -- :(:mad::(

Not really sure why they can't do a better job on the tooling for these parts,

the Chinese seem to do a pretty darn good job knocking off golf clubs!




And our missile guidance systems...and our Cray supercomputers...
and our stealth submarine propulsion systems...etcetera.

Overall most of my repop parts have been great. Couple that arent perfect but what can ya do. They are getting better over the years.

Just bought the woodgrain strip for my bed and the emblem and its by far the nicest aftermarket plating Ive seen yet.

Hey at least we can get parts for these things. :beers:

Just watch the 69 grill moldings. I bought some cheap parts that were not money wise cheap and they fit like crap from a local vendor here. I took them back and they said they never have any problems with them and that they are the only vendor. I found out when I got mine from Ausley's they fit perfect and they cost about the same plus they were made by a different manufacturer.