I have a 1950 F1 which I am trying to spruce up with a little chrome. Some of the original emblems have lost their shine and I wonder if there are any suggestions out there on how to polish these pieces. I know all of them are not chrome but I do want it to shine.
Thanks---Joker50

 

If the trim is stainless steel it's relatively easy to shine them up, but it is time consuming. You can either do it by had with a soft rag and stainless polish but to get a better shine you will need a buffing wheel installed on a bench grinder and some polishing rough. I found the easiest place for me to find the stainless rough is at the local truck stop but a good hardware store should have both the wheel and the rough.

One BIG word of warning if you are using the buffing wheel. Be very careful that you buff with the downward motion of the wheel and hold onto your piece. It will take off and can really shoot back and hurt you! One of our members posted a few weeks ago about the accident he had while buffing a piece of stainless. He came a way with a couple of stitches and a wrecked piece of trim. Also, use a very good dust mask, the buffing wheel will throw off a lot of dust.

If you piece is pot metal you can clean it up with fine steel wool or chrome polish. If it's pitted there's not a whole lot you can do except have it rechromed which is very expensive. It's usually cheaper to buy reproduction pieces if they're made. You can buy the "F-1" and "FORD". A while back some one was offering the hood latch handles but I haven't seen them for a while so maybe they stopped.

 

Here's the link:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/7...-is-going.html