If you are talking about a pot metal part then yes, it is going to be super expensive. The bad thing is that the part could very well be ruined in the process. I just had some pot metal parts for my '65 Coronet "re-finished" and now they are junk.

Chrome plating steel parts isn't too expensive as long as you are working with new parts. There is a local plating shop that does a lot of chrome for Freightliner but the trick is that they are chroming new parts. I can take new parts over to them for triple chrome plate and it is more expensive than any other plating process but it isn't outrageous.

Re-chroming steel parts that were triple chrome plated from the factory is very difficult and very expensive. There are a few places left in the country that are doing it but I doubt I'll send any more parts out for it. From now on I'll most likely just polish what I have and live with it. Re-plating requires stripping the original chrome which is difficult to do. They have to reverse the plating process with enough power to knock off the old plating, but not burning up the part. Then once the part is stripped they have to do metal repair and then start the plating process all over. There just aren't a lot of shops left who have people who are skilled in all of those steps.

I remember back in the 70's and 80's that it was easy to get parts chrome plated. I was just a kid and I'd take car parts over to the local chrome shop and they would strip them and polish them for me. I don't remember it costing very much money and the stuff came out looking good. Those days are long gone......