GTs58
I'm the Wiz, and nobody beats me!
Sara Lee's Chrome frosting?
I've seen this numerous times and I always think that someone didn't do the job right. The French were famous for their crappy chrome plating on the old Huret parts but this is not as common on older parts made in the US. Is there any manufacturers markings on the rims? All I can say is those rims had a poor plating job for some reason and the war may have affected the manufacturers chroming process. A similar issue with crappy chrome plating also happened during the Korean war. Here's a quote from from someone that does plating.
Unlike "sacrificial" coatings like zinc plating or galvanizing where porosity or a hole or bare edge may be no big deal, porosity in nickel-chrome plating is a disaster that doesn't merely fail to protect the steel, but greatly accelerates the corrosion of the steel. Chrome plating is a "barrier layer" plating; once the barrier is breached by a pinhole, very rapid rusting is unavoidable. A low quality chrome plating job with pinholes or porosity is much worse than no plating at all; the plating electrochemically forces the underlying steel to rust.
I wonder if that bike was stored or used close by the coast. Here's a 1961 Corvette 5 speed that was found in the San Fran Bay area. I chemically stripped the black paint and primer and even were the paint was not chipped or scratched there was an extreme amount of rust. The older the paint gets the more porous it gets and having no wax or care, the paint will suck up the moisture.
I've seen this numerous times and I always think that someone didn't do the job right. The French were famous for their crappy chrome plating on the old Huret parts but this is not as common on older parts made in the US. Is there any manufacturers markings on the rims? All I can say is those rims had a poor plating job for some reason and the war may have affected the manufacturers chroming process. A similar issue with crappy chrome plating also happened during the Korean war. Here's a quote from from someone that does plating.
Unlike "sacrificial" coatings like zinc plating or galvanizing where porosity or a hole or bare edge may be no big deal, porosity in nickel-chrome plating is a disaster that doesn't merely fail to protect the steel, but greatly accelerates the corrosion of the steel. Chrome plating is a "barrier layer" plating; once the barrier is breached by a pinhole, very rapid rusting is unavoidable. A low quality chrome plating job with pinholes or porosity is much worse than no plating at all; the plating electrochemically forces the underlying steel to rust.
I wonder if that bike was stored or used close by the coast. Here's a 1961 Corvette 5 speed that was found in the San Fran Bay area. I chemically stripped the black paint and primer and even were the paint was not chipped or scratched there was an extreme amount of rust. The older the paint gets the more porous it gets and having no wax or care, the paint will suck up the moisture.
Last edited: