I often describe my Karmann Ghia as a 5 to 10 foot car…meaning if you are 5 to 10 feet away from the car it looks good. Any closer and the ravages of 47 years of use start to show up. One problem that is easy to see at the 10 foot distance is some flaking of the chrome on the rear bumper.
In the picture above you can see two areas on the edge of the bumper (either side of the camera reflection) where the chrome is flaking off. Not real bad but obvious. I am not ready for new bumper or to try to have these re-chromed so I look for a poor man’s solution. I came across a product used by modelers that is essentiall press on chrome. I am not sure if it will hold up to use on a car but for a few dollars for the material I thought it is worth a try.
I used tracing paper to create a pattern and a hobby knife I cut out the patches I needed. The material is easy to work with and once pressed on seems reasonably secure. Again, I am not overly optimistic that this will be a long term solution but as you can see from the picture below…the spots where the chrome has flaked off is much less obvious. So, as long as you are more than 5 feet away, these bumpers look okay!
