My emblems dont look bad. The chrome is fine on them, but the red, white and blue on them look a bit haggard. Anyone have a gameplan on restoring these? It just isnt quite the same if you just try and paint them.

Do yours have the pebbled plastic over the paint? What year/type car?

Do they look like this one?

1970 Dodge Challenger RT/SE. Not looking at it right now, but I dont think it does have that pebbled look. I may be mistaken, but I dont think so.

I have 2 - 70 Challenger RT/SE's and they both have the pebbled plastic emblems. I think the ones without were for later B-Bodies but I'm not 100% positive on that.

Hmm you have my interest. I gotta go out the garage and find these things. I have them in a baggie. Things that make you go hmmmmm.

Hmmmm - I would have to wear a parka to go out to the garage up here!

Talk about making a grown man cry, my car had 2 perfect original emblems with it from the car. After getting it home I found them and was putting them up for safe keeping when I bumped my hand on the door knob and 1 hit the floor. Broke off 1 of the side pieces. I don't think it could be repaired.

The Challenger SE emblems originally had a clear, smooth coating over the red white and blue. The texturing or pebbling in the finish found on most remaining original examples occured as a result of exposure to the elements.

I had a set of what must have been very early NOS pieces that had this clear untextured finish. Later NOS and reproduction emblems do not have the clear coating at all.

A while back I enquired about restoring a set of original emblems at www.emblemagic.com. They quoted a price of I believe $200-$300 to restore the emblems including paint and the clear coating over the red white and blue. Since I had found the NOS emblems I didn't follow through so I can't comment on what the finished pieces would look like.

Not sure if he still does them, but RestoRick did mine. Just needed to add the black detail paint to the middle area and inside of the letters.

I did them myself years ago. After repainting the red/white/blue sections, I filled the colored inserts with automotive clear coat. They look pretty close to NOS.

When you painted them, do you remember if you used something like Testers Model car paint. The stuff that comes in little square bottles, or something else?

Testor's aerosols- candy blue & candy red.
Applied over the chrome.
White- pick a matching one.
Black applied around the perimeter of the triangles into the small channel.

Clearcoat over the colors, then use either an clear epoxy or polyester 2-part hardened product
as available at craft stores.

Allow each coat to dry very thoroughly.
The clearcoat has to be thick enough & well cured to prevent the candy colors from reflowing & messing up when you pour in the clear epoxy or poly.
Also, perfect mixing of the 2-part material is essential or it'll dry with a tacky surface... if that happens you start over!

Thanks Rick!

Tav