I was always told that when doing front body work on these cars it’s a long process of constantly fitting the grille on/off to make sure that the seams are correct and a proper fit.
You were told correctly, Fatboy.
When I had my car restored, and needed a surround, first call was to Tim Kidder at K&K. "Do you want one that fits, or is one that doesn't fit so well OK?" He was talking about OEM versus reproduction from "somewhere in eastern Europe". Dilemma...
Then I found a guy on eBay from LA, with a shady reputation. He had full, re-chromed surrounds for $600. So I got one. The restorer gets it, claims it's beautiful, but doesn't fit. Rising above his reputation, he sends a second one. That too, same result. Finally he sends a THIRD one. Restorer calls me. "Good news is, we got one that fits! Bad news is, it's not rechromed!" So, I negotiate a $150 discount with the guy. Where did he get all these surrounds? Turns out he was collecting them like Cees collected engines, or Scoot wheels, or Bob Youngman fuel pumps, or Mike Mizesko took kits. Then he'd take them to Tijuana, have them banged and fixed, and rechromed. At least at that time when crossing the border wasn't an issue and Covid didn't exist, "Tijuana Chrome" was cheap.
So, the restorer sends the 3rd surround out with other parts for plating to Graves Plating, and once back, the iterative process of fitting begins. After all was said and done but before completion, he calls and says a crack developed in the upper RH corner of the surround. So, we relieve the stress by opening the crack a bit, and brazing and filling it all up. Then back to Graves for plating again.
Third time was a charm, as it's been installed since that time with no issues.
