HAMBURG (dpa) – Whatever happened to chromium plating? – during the 1980s these gleaming embellishments seemed to have vanished from the car world.
After the excesses of the 1980s designers opted for the lacklustre combination of matt-coloured or shiny plastics. Cars gained colour- coded bumpers, spoilers and even door handles but there was little chrome in sight.Creations like the New Beetle and Chrysler PT Cruiser not only ushered in the era of retro-design – suddenly glinting chrome was back in fashion again. Now that manufacturers add more chrome with every model makeover and the market for bolt-on goodies has taken off too whether it be chromed hubcabs for classic cars or shiny radiator grilles.“Our sales of chrome accessories have gone up between 20 and 25 per cent in the past two years,” said Andreas Freyer, who runs an accessory-producing business near the northern port of Hamburg.He believes chrome has taken off again because owners realize that a well-placed dash of it reflecting in the sunlight can highlight certain aspects of a car’s design.“A chrome strip on the side can make a car look longer while one across the back can make it look wider.”At in.pro. in Henstedt-Ulzburg, another chrome accessories firm just outside Hamburg, a spokesman had a different explanation for the new love of lustre.Even when most of the cars on the road were looking dowdy, upmarket marques like Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar or Bentley never gave up their chrome fittings. Chrome still stands for a certain robustness and quality – an important consideration in our uncertain age.Till Riechelmann, spokesman for Kamei tuning in Wiesbaden, one of Germany’s top suppliers, has a simple but plausible explanation: “Fashions repeat themselves”. The New Beetle started the ball rolling at Kamei. “We started by making chrome embellishers for the Beetle headlamps.” Such extras were popular with owners of the original Beetle back in the 1950s and ’60s.Since then the range of chrome trim items for cars has grown fast. There are chrome escutcheon plates and loading bay protecters, chrome pods for the door mirrors and chromium strips for the door handles.Designers seem to have had a field day when it comes to creating chromium plated versions of everything a motorist’s heart might desire. MHW car parts in Wuelfrath has chromium bezels for the speedometer and rev counter and even a chrome ashtray surround. Customers can order chrome surrounds for the indicator lamps as well.Even those chrome wheelarches, beloved of Mercedes owners in the 1970s are enjoying a comeback. The firm of Spangenberg offers them for current models from Stuttgart not to mention chromed air intakes and a host of other bright strip.Manufacturers say the quality of chromium plating has changed for the better. The old method consisted of coating cheap metal with copper before applying a layer of chrome. Owners who neglected the shiny parts of their cars soon found them pitted with rust. This was certainly one of the reasons why the car firms outgrew the glam era. Painted parts just do not rust as easily.These days a producer has several methods to choose from and even chromium-plated plastic is reckoned to be fairly longlasting. For top notch quality though brass or copper are the first choices. All that glitters on a car is not necessarily chrome and many modern shiny accessories are actually made of polished stainless steel.Components like these can be made fairly cheaply using modern methods compared to only a few years ago and not only that, the polished metal requires no maintenance and is rust-free.
