'46 - '55 Grill Emblems Defined

SamJ

I thought I'd put this info up in a separate posting. Stole the photo from ski4life65, too...



I watched Press Kale make these by hand when he had K-Gap. Each one takes hours. So, I called him and asked him for the straight skinny. (He's not on the Internet.)

1. The emblem die is the same from '46 - '55, except the '55 has a flat back.

2. '46- '49 all are black. '50 - '55 all are red.

3. The emblem buck is clear plastic. Each detail (letters, triangle, ships, castles) is masked and the emblem is painted black or red. The black is opaque, the red is translucent so when it is chromed it looks metallic.

4. The masks are removed except for the white parts of the triangle and the emblem is sent out for plating on the back. Then the masks on the triangle are removed and those sections painted white.

5. Finally, a gray sealer coat is put on over the chrome to hold everything together.

6. All models were designed to light up.

7. The light is only supposed to shine through the triangle, not the whole emblem.

If anyone would like to talk to Press about restoring or touching up one, EM or email me (address on the bottom of this message) and I will send you his telephone number. He'll be glad to talk with you.

RL Chilton

That's interesting and good info, Sam. I thought the '50's were different, but apparently not.

ski4life65

Sam

How do you tell the difference between a K-Gap version and an original, or are K-Gap's too good to tell?

Don

SamJ

I haven't seen one lately, but Press originally used the same techniques as the factory and people were very pleased with the results.

SamJ

BTW, IMHO comparing a re-pop with one from a car is not that reliable. You'd have to compare it with an NOS item, and I've never seen one of those, although they must exist.

RL Chilton

Sam-

Look in the picture in the top of your thread. That's an NOS item. I have one as well.

[Deleted User]

the ones Press sold were very nice, but up beside an NOS original you could for sure tell them apart. Also the 46 , 47 , and 48-49 were not the same other than having a black background.

StillOutThere

I'd like to make some comments on the post below.

Unless the grille medallions were made by hand (hand poured) in more recent years, the hundreds of red '50-54 medallions which were the first item sold by K-GAP in 1980 were die-injected by Plastic Parts Duplicators (PPD) of Westminster, Colorado. They created the molds, did the injection, and then masked the red background and triangle area and sent the parts out for "vacuum metalizing" which is the addition of the chrome-like paint to the figures. Once returned, PPD applied the red paint to the background and the white to the triangle and eventually the gray protective non translucent paint. And shipped them to K-GAP.

1. The medallion die for the '50-54 was created first. About 1982 or '83 the '46-49 die was finalized for the black ornament. It is a significantly different shape than the '48-54 die. The same process of metalizing and painting takes place. The 1955 medallion was never made. 1955 has the same "face" shape but much less depth than the '50-54 the part. One can take a '50-54 part and shave the back on a grinding wheel until it fits the '55 housing.

2. Correct.

3. The "chroming" process is called "vacuum metalizing".

4-7. Basically correct.

A great deal of problem was encountered with getting the red to a proper deep shade with the initial run of medallions as well as every ensuing run. We looked at several NOS medallions and they were not consistent but we demanded the deepest appropriate red possible. Many phone calls and samples went back and forth between K-GAP and PPD to achieve and maintain quality. And numerous pieces were returned to PPD as "unacceptable".

It appears Plastic Parts Duplicators is no longer in business. An internet search does not turn them up. They did a HUGE business in Ford plastics and were very likely bought up by one of the Ford vendors. It was a continuous struggle to get them to produce the Hudson parts because they had Ford orders dozens if not hundreds of times larger. "Short run" in the plastics industry is 100,000 pieces.

Many of you readers don't go back to 1980 when K-GAP was formed in the office of Press Kale's rental contruction backhoe business in Santa Fe Springs, CA. At that start-up, I was the "G" in Kale-Graefen Automotive Parts. Press and I were very pleased to provide a 13 page Hudson Yellow Pages catalog from the humble beginnings with the red '50-54 grille medallion by the time I left the partnership in 1988.

_______________________________________________________________________________

SamJ wrote:

I thought I'd put this info up in a separate posting. Stole the photo from ski4life65, too...

I watched Press Kale make these by hand when he had K-Gap. Each one takes hours. So, I called him and asked him for the straight skinny. (He's not on the Internet.)

1. The emblem die is the same from '46 - '55, except the '55 has a flat back.

2. '46- '49 all are black. '50 - '55 all are red.

3. The emblem buck is clear plastic. Each detail (letters, triangle, ships, castles) is masked and the emblem is painted black or red. The black is opaque, the red is translucent so when it is chromed it looks metallic.

4. The masks are removed except for the white parts of the triangle and the emblem is sent out for plating on the back. Then the masks on the triangle are removed and those sections painted white.

5. Finally, a gray sealer coat is put on over the chrome to hold everything together.

6. All models were designed to light up.

7. The light is only supposed to shine through the triangle, not the whole emblem.

If anyone would like to talk to Press about restoring or touching up one, EM or email me (address on the bottom of this message) and I will send you his telephone number. He'll be glad to talk with you.

[Deleted User]

I still have the question do K-Gap still sell this item as it does not show in their online store. I will email them and find out.

[Deleted User]

Sent a email and got a quick reply from K-Gap.

They do not have any in stock but should be getting their shipment early in the new year. $100 a piece.

Good news that we can still get them.