stainless or chrome

[R Sotardi #11719]

Guys, was the bright metal on the 49-53 cars stainless or chrome? excepting the bumpers,of course. What is a good way to id well polished stainless vs chrome? Ron

[Art Gardner CLC 23021]

Some items are chrome, some are stainless. 


On a 49, the following are stainless:  ext window trim, vertical "teeth" in the grill, rocker molding trim,  splash guards on the front fenders, headlight "doors", headlight trim rings, lock covers and cylinders, wiper arms


The following 49 items are chrome plated:  bumpers and bumper guards, horizontal parts of the grill, goddess, hood center strip, fender and door moldings (knee-high), hood and trunk Vs, hood and trunk crest bezels, door handles, antenna domed nut, turn signal housings (front and rear), trunk handle, visible part of some door latch mechanisms, Cadillac script on fenders,

[R Sotardi #11719]

Great, thanks Art. are the horizontal bars on the 50-53s chrome(like the 49) or stainless. Is there a way tell by using polish( simi chrome or wenol), such as looking for black residue  on the rag from stainless?

[Mike Josephic CLC #3877]

As Art said, these cars are a mix of polished stainless, chromed steel and
pot metal.

You can use a magnet to tell the difference.  The magnet will "stick" to the
steel but not the pot metal or stainless.  I've had very good results on all
three with a German made product called "Flitz" as a polish.  It's non
abrasive and works on all of them.  It also does a very good job on aluminim
trim (for those later cars).  It's available in any good auto store or on line.

Mike

[Alan Harris CLC#1513]

I had a 1950 many years ago. The 50-53 cars are unique in that the bright parts very from car to car in composition. Some of them had chrome fender spears and some of them had the same part in stainless. There were chrome plated sombrero wheel covers and stainless sombreros. Some cars used a cheaper lighter weight wheelcover in place of the sombrero.

These appeared to have been running changes made at different timesw during production. The war in Korea was going on and there were shortages of different materials.

[Art Gardner CLC 23021]

I think you are right about the 50 cars having the same item in stainless at times and in chrome at other times.  My 50 appears to be fairly original and unmolested.  The RF fender molding was rusty, so I found a nice replacement.  The one on the car had been chrome-plated steel, while the replacement part I found was unplated stainless steel.  So this little bit of anectdotal evidence supports your theory.

[Don Boshara #594]

It wasn't until early 51 production that GM started replacing some trim with what we called phony chrome, much of which was chrome plated over steel, in some cases with neither nickel nor copper underneath. It usually lasted through a couple of polishings and rusted nicely.

[R Sotardi #11719]

Ok... I have a magnet in my hand and it sticks very well to a stainless kitchen knife, as well to the trim on my original, never plated 1950 Caddy (Arizona car, 2nd owner). Of course door handles  and hood ornament,and the vertical trim on the rear doors, it won't stick. But, it does every where else. Yet, on my 31 Ford the magnet does not stick on the headlights or radiator shroud. And on my 53 Hornet (stainless everywhere) the trim( that I polished myself) the magnet sticks. This was a question at a local car show. Does stainless steel have a different composition for each purpose? Model As used "Allegheny" metal, that I always thought was stainless???

[R Sotardi #11719]

I went on Wikepedia. There are many types of "stainless" depending on the concentration of chromium and  nickel. If a high amount of nickel is added to the chromium alloy, the alloy will not be magnetic. Such is the case of Allegheny metal in Model A Fords etc.
  So, back to my question, is there a way to tell by looking, or at least not doing a chemical evaluation? If you fine sand stainless, you can reacheive luster, but not with chrome without replating. That is why I ask, before I ruin a piece  of plated trim some time in the future. Ron

[Mike Josephic CLC #3877]

Ron:

You're correct -- there are a number of types of stainless that are attracted
to magnets and others that are completely non-magnetic.  The alloy content
is the difference that causes it.

I have spare door trim (off the car) and tested them.  At least on my 1955,
they are stainless but ARE magnetic.  The front fender trim that meets up
with it is chrome plated steel, which of course, is also magnetic.

So the magnet check will not help in this case -- sorry.

If you have the pieces off the car it's easy (at least for me) to tell just
by looking at it.  The stainless is a thinner guage and has a "dull" look on
the inside since it's not polished like the front-side.  It also shows no rust or
corrosion / pitting like a typical chrome plated steel piece would.

I don't know of any easy "non destructive" way to test the pieces on the
car.

Mike