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The way that classic cars are constructed is definitely unique when compared to modern cars. For instance, a headlamp unit isn’t a single, composite lamp, as it is on today’s cars. Classic cars have several components that make up the lamps at each corner of the car, including trim pieces, bezels, emblems, surrounds, lenses, gaskets, housings, and/or moldings. Even though classic cars shared either a round or rectangular headlamp, they are still far more unique than many cars today because of the trim surrounding them.
There’s nothing like the looks of a classic musclecar. The lines, the trim, and how they are unmistakable. Today’s cars almost all look the same, and it’s hard to tell one make from another without seeing an emblem.
Finding all those pieces and parts to put your car back together often means much more effort is expelled trying to get everything you need. That, in itself, poses a bit of a problem when you’re restoring a classic car. Classic Industries has made the task of finding all of those parts much easier with its vast selection of restoration parts for GM and Mopar vehicles dating as far back as the 1940s.
Do they have emblems? Yes, Classic Industries has thousands of emblems and inscriptions to put some identity back in your classic.
Restore Or Replace?
When we decide to give our cars a bit of a makeover, there are a couple of options when it comes to interior and exterior trim. First, we have to assess the condition of each part to determine whether it’s worth trying to restore, or if it just needs to be replaced. Second, we have to figure out whether it’s within our budget to have all those pieces done at the same time.
Pitted chrome, cracked or scratched lenses, and bent trim pieces sometimes end up being beyond our own abilities to repair, and that means sending them out to a specialist to repair. Many shops that restore parts will tell you that if you restore your parts one at a time, the price is exponentially higher than if you send in a complete order – and that’s a big expense to make all at once.
Though it's not getting a complete makeover, this Barracuda is getting a little bit of love thanks to Classic Industries.
When you add up the cost of having those parts restored by a specialist, plus the two-way shipping, you might find yourself spending your kids’ college fund just to get the parts back on your car. We priced out a few pieces of stainless steel trim that had been slightly damaged and lost its finish, wanting to see what the cost would be to restore them.
The price to strip them down, anodize the trim, and put the polish back on a set of side trim came back at over $800. That was a total of six pieces of trim and four end caps, and while the restored parts would surely turn out amazing, it was quickly reaching our budget for the entire car.
When comparing one side to the other, some pieces need to be replaced, while the opposite side can be restored. We also checked on sites like eBay to see if we could find some parts, and they were quite pricey – forget about it if you find NOS parts. When buying online, you never know what actual condition the used part is in, and finding all of the used parts you need at one place is a crap shoot. Also, not only do you have the expense of the used part, then you have the expense of restoring it.
Repair or replace? Some parts make it a simple choice when you see all the hazing and pitting in the chrome.
Sometimes you can’t send all of the parts needing restoration to the same place, depending on the part and the work needed. It’s almost a full-time job finding out who can restore all of the trim pieces on a car. And we all know how it goes: once you start with a few pieces, the remaining parts pale by comparison, so you end up restoring all the exterior trim on your car so that it all looks great.
While some pieces seem to be easier to just polish, or maybe add a little paint, there’s nothing like the look of a new, fresh component to add to the overall beauty of your classic car. Classic Industries has seven catalogs covering many GM and Mopar classic cars up through the last decade, and even has an eighth catalog covering the fifth- and sixth-generation Camaro.
Exterior Upgrades
Some of you might remember Stephen Poe’s street/strip Barracuda that we featured in 2015. He had put a lot of time and effort into the car to make it fun to drive and race at the strip, and since he’s a regular at local car shows he wanted to give the car a little better presence when he parked next to other cars at the show.
Classic Industries has an extensive Mopar catalog that contained all the parts he needed to upgrade his car with new trim, lighting, and emblems. He has always loved the look of the early Barracuda, and wanted to change the look of his 1967 with fresh new parts.
Doing some research and having previously acquired some important brackets and other parts needed, we were able to find the grille components, emblems, and lighting that were needed to replace the old components.
These grille inserts for the Barracuda sure made the car look great again.
A cruise through the Mopar catalog was quick and simple, and it was all available in one place. With all of the fresh new parts in hand, it was obvious that the existing components were a little worse off than he had originally thought. Some parts had missing tabs or clips, and others were simply bent and showed signs of wear that simply couldn’t be polished out.
We have a lot of great people who spend hours putting our catalogs together and making sure we cover the parts needed with a good representation from GM and Mopar. -Jeff Leonard, Classic Industries
“We have a lot of great people who spend hours putting our catalogs together and making sure we cover the parts needed with a good representation from GM and Mopar. They’re the best in the industry, and they dig deep to make sure all the parts and information is accurate.”
Comparing the original and replacement lamps at the top, it was not difficult to choose how to proceed.
Our hobby is constantly growing to include cars that may not have been as popular five years ago, but when it comes time to add to the catalogs, Classic Industries is on top of the latest trends. Edward Navarro handles Merchandising and Public Relations for Classic Industries, and is often the person you see at various car shows and events.
“We listen to our customers,” Navarro told us. “We do research and keep up with vehicle owners to see what’s popular and what parts people are seeking. We work with a lot of our customers to help them acquire the parts they need. People are welcome to reach out to us if they can’t find something they need, and if we find a big request for certain parts we talk with our team about adding them to the catalogs.”
The Barracuda is definitely starting to look sharp again!
Body Components And Sheet Metal
If you’re a Mopar owner, then you know that finding these parts is a big task, but the Mopar catalog from Classic Industries puts tens of thousands of parts at your fingertips. We found ourselves heading back to our catalog time and time again with some of our own project cars.
We were going to do some work on our 1965 Plymouth Belvedere II –like narrowing the rearend and mini tubbing the car – but soon after getting into the job, we found that it was a good idea to replace our trunk floor while we had the car stripped down. The Swiss cheese panel above our fuel tank was getting thin from decades of rain and standing water, and the rear pan was in bad shape.
We couldn't find this trunk floor pan locally, but Classic Industries had one to us the same week.
We looked around for a replacement pan, and of course the only place we could find it in stock was at Classic Industries (PN MM1090). Other sources showed a national back order, so reaching out to Classic Industries and finding this rear pan saved us a lot of time searching. The full pan arrived and we were able to replace the center section of the trunk floor with fresh new sheetmetal.
For other small parts that we needed along the way, whether they were large or small, Classic Industries was the answer, and a quick call kept us on schedule getting the car completed. Trying to find other parts as simple as a fuel tank filler pipe grommet on eBay resulted in four different part numbers, but a quick search on the Classic Industries website and it was easy to find the part we needed (PN MF296), and it was the correct part first time out.
It was a no brainer; the holes in the trunk floor meant it was time to replace it.
Now with the new pan and the fuel tank back in place, we’re that much closer to getting the car back on the road – and back out on the track.
If you own a classic GM or Mopar vehicle and are having a hard time putting together a parts list, check out the Classic Industries website and one of its eight catalogs covering vehicles from the 1940s up through 2016 with the current model Chevrolet Camaro. 
We're back to a solid trunk floor again thanks to Classic Industries.
