1968 Rally Sport grille research

[Mark's 68 L78 RS SS]

Steve:

Glad to be of some assistance.  As a newbie both to this site and to working on cars in general I'm just glad I could do more than sit idly by.  It's amazing to see and appreciate all the expertise and information on this and the TC site and all of you who so obviously care so much about these great cars.  It's great to see people so willing to help each other out.

Mark

[Steve68]

Mark and Paul

I want to double check.  Your headlight covers have raised horizontal bars and on the back side the left side has a 1 (driver) and the right side (passenger) has a 3.  Is that correct.  I'm about to conclude something here and I just want to make sure I have the data correct.  Thanks!

Steve

[bertfam]

Steve,

More evidence that the grille was black by 05D.

I've been conversing with Jack Enright via email, and he has a Norwood built 68 RS/SS 396/375 with an assembly date of 05D. His grille is black and has the raised vertical bar.

More fuel for the fire!

Here's a picture of his grille...

Ed

[Tinkerr]

Steve,

Your prior post is correct regarding the horizontal bars and the #'s. Has it been determined definitively the horizontal bars are chrome in color? I was of the belief they were painted silver.

Paul

[bertfam]

Paul,

It's actually a pocess called Vacuum Metalizing. All plastic parts like the Grille, Air Diverter "Balls", 69 Door Lock Knobs, etc... use this process. Since you can't "chrome plate" plastic, Vacuum Metalizing is used to "simulate" chrome. You can read more about the process HERE.

Ed

[Mark's 68 L78 RS SS]

Steve:

My drivers side is cavity 4 and my pasenger side is cavity 3.  I am guessing they were either four cavity molds or more likely they were in a 2+2 mold where two cavities are the left and two cavities are the right side but they are molded in the same mold at the same time.

Mark

[Steve68]

Ed, Paul, and Mark

Guys, I have been out of town and just got back on line.  Ed, great find!!  I'm curious, high level of confidence the grille is the original with raised horizontal bars?  Any info on the HL covers?  Paul, thanks for the response.  I was about to make a conclusion about the HL covers based on the data collected so far but with Mark providing a number 4 for his passenger side HL cover I'm hesitant to do so now.  Mark, again thanks for responding.  Your car seems to be turning up with some slightly different "characteristics" than the others so far.  I'm not saying they are right or wrong mind you just that they are "different" on the limited amount of data collected so far.   Makes it interesting. 

Steve

[bertfam]

Yes Steve. Fairly certain the grille is original. Of course, after 40 years, no one can be 100% sure, but we have to go with what we believe.

Ed

[Steve68]

Paul

May I ask what was the original engine size in your vehicle?

Steve

[firstgenaddict]

Steve, Pauls car has the numbers matching 325hp 396.

[Steve68]

L35, thanks firstgen.

Steve

[Mark's 68 L78 RS SS]

Guys:

I got some lacquer thinner and worked on the headlight cover a little bit and there is definitely chrome under the black paint.  Here are some pics.  To refresh your memory my car is an 06C car.

Mark

[Steve68]

Thanks for the picture Mark.  It looks like it is cleaning up very nicely around the perimeter.  Is that chrome I see exposed in the face of the HL cover (horizontal bars) in a line approximately two vertical bars over from the left running from near the top to near the bottom or is that camera flash?

Steve

[bertfam]

Mark,

Yes, what we're looking for is chrome on the horizontal strips themselves. It's difficult to tell, but it appears that the "shine" we see on your horizontal strips is either chrome, or flash from the camera. Which one is it?

Thanks
Ed

[Mark's 68 L78 RS SS]

Guys:

Most definitely chrome on the horizontal bars.  Of course the perimeter cleans up easier because the black paint is on the metal piece there.  It is harder to clean up the horizontal bars and I had to resort to a Q-Tip with the lacquer thinner on it but there is definitely chrome on the horizontal bars.  The shame of this is that these are original parts and it is totally not practical to clean the grille and HL covers up so I will either just hold on to them or sell them to let someone else do what thy want with them.

Sorry this may not be what you want to hear Steve, but it is what it is.

Mark