Outstanding plater & thanks to Randy (1wildrt?)

A while back I posted looking for a top-quality plater not too far from the Pacific NW.
The problem was a customer's '59 F100 grille that nobody in Spokane could do even a driver-quality job on, even with 2 tries at it.
Randy here emailed me with a couple of names and Ogden Plating sounded good. After a conversation with them in which they demonstrated heads-up attention to doing business and proper plating, they got the job.
Absolutely knock-down gorgeous, more timely than the local shops, properly packed/shipped, kept in touch at their expense.
Spendy at $1100, but for a complex and large grille do-over that's perfect the 1st time and on-schedule, I'm OK with the price.

I am in Ogden, the old man used to be real good, the new manager is not so customer oriented...the can do good work but they really need prodding for it. Tim

They did the bumpers on my 67 in the pic.. I was very happy with the quality of the work...

Ogden triple plated a front bumper for my 67 GTX project back in 2012 for $450 shipped both ways. It was pretty beat up & they did an absolutely outstanding job. They quoted me $350 at that time for my '68 Bee's rear bumper. Flash forward to 2015, I decide to get the Bee's bumper done & now Ogden wants $500 for "driver" chrome and $750 for triple plate. Now that I live near civilization, I went to a local plater who has been in the business for a long time, Escondido Chrome here in the San Diego area. $370 OTD triple plated, including straightening & welding two holes, outstanding quality, same "environmentally unfriendly" Hexavalent Chrome process, in the People's Republic of California no less. So I'm not so sure Ogden is all that competitive on price anymore, but they definitely do good work.

Possibly "grandfathered" in....

Doubtful. I had some other parts plated at Escondido Chrome for a toolbox I am restoring a few months earlier & prices were reasonable, meanwhile, last time I checked inflation over the last three years was slightly less than 114%

"grandfathering" a business is a practice that allows an existing business to continue doing business "as is" that a new start up shop would not be allowed to do by law...

I REALLY miss Randy here on Moparts !

I am curious what the plater meant when he mentioned driver and triple plate chrome. Did he say he would skip one of the 3 steps of the plating process?

X2

Many platers will skip the copper plating on "driver" jobs. The copper is what fills all the small imperfections, grinding, sanding marks, etc. The process is like skim coating body filler before paint. The copper is soft so it can easily be sanded and buffed. Since the copper plate is thin, the plating/sanding process is done over and over until the part is perfect and then its nickel and chrome plated. This is the most labor intensive stage and expensive (copper ain't cheap!). If you want flawless chrome then this is the process. Personally, if the car is going to be driven I'd skip it as the slightest nick or scuff would just piss me off.

If the car has large bumpers that are a main part of the looks I think the added expense is worth it....

Even more to get damaged!!

Don't get the wrong idea about "driver quality", unless the platers are complete morons they still look great from anywhere more than a couple feet away. Its just like a paint job - you have to get close to see the minor imperfections.

I would imagine that "driver quality" would be closer to a factory finish than a triple plate - I can't see the effort going into millions of bumpers back in the day. They would likely have just stamped the bumper and sent it right to the tanks and copper would have been a waste of money.

I don't plan on damaging my car..

Maybe you don't, what about the morons around you? Or is it a trailer queen ???

Good info that I needed - thanks! I'll be bringing a couple bumpers with me when I visit my brother next month in Santa Ana...

need to ask, why is Randy not on here anymore? he was always helping me with my projects, one of the nicest guys, what's the story can someone share with me please?
Darren

"grandfathering" a business is a practice that allows an existing business to continue doing business "as is" that a new start up shop would not be allowed to do by law... [/quote]

Doh! Sorry Minivan, my mistake, I thought you were referring to pricing structure. He may have been "grandfathered in" since he took over the business from his dad.

BTW, one of the things that the owner at Escondido Chrome (E-C) warned me about is that some platers will literally grind the old plating off rather than chemically strip. He says this cuts cost and saves time, but results in some pretty ugly waviness. Others try to flash-plate over the old chrome if its decent which will look good at first, but will start peeling within a couple years. E-C chemically strips before any repairs or plating.

Copper = no peeling in the first 5 years