WTB OK, I need a complete 70 Cuda grille, oh boy........
- Thread starter hemienvy
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Now I’ll address the fit of the long chrome trim. As I stated from my memory, the factory trim for the top and bottom are different. The top is square, as you called it, with the top and bottom of the trim being the same length. The FACTORY oem trim for the bottom is not. The top of the FACTORY trim is about .050 longer on the top edge. This allows the trim to fit the angle of the edge of the grill better and allow the chrome to have the same angle as the headlight bucket. The picture in this post is of the new BEA argent grill with the FACTORY TRIM installed. You can clearly see the angles. I apologize that I did not take a picture of the BEA AAR grill with the BEA trim on it. I’ll go back and get it later. It looks just like the previous posted picture. It does not have the same .050 difference in top and bottom. It makes the trim point upward very slightly. I did not want to remove the BEA trim from the AAR grill and swap it to the argent grill. It would look the same. I was mistaken in my comment about my purchase of my last two argent Cuda grills. I did not receive the stainless trim with those. It was a discount close out on the grills at a very good price.
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Another difference in the BEA grill from oem is the width of the plastic tabs where the trim attaches. The BEA tabs are about .125 thick and solid where the oem are about .135. The factory trim that has been previously installed on a factory grill does not want to stay secure on the BEA grill. I probably could squeeze the trim down and make it secure. The tabs on the headlight buckets are that same for both BEA and oem. I noticed on some of my oem grills that the tabs were not solid but ad a void at the base. Not all had this. Maybe they changed this because I’d breakage.
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Ok, I’m off the phone and back on the tablet. Posting on an iPhone is not easy. Here’s my conclusions. I inspected all my grills when I received them. I have 7. Two friends bought grills and they had no issues. I bought one of those at a later date and inspected it. I saw no issues. The trim fits nice. Only five of them have the BEA trim. NOW, there is no doubt that the lower trim on the grill is different than oem. It does not have the same .050 difference to make it conform to the grill like the oem trim does on an oem grill. I looked at my BEA AAR grill and compared it to an oem argent grill with oem trim and there was only a very slight difference in the visible angle upward on the BEA. If I was not looking for it, I would not have seen it. Surprisingly, once the headlight buckets are installed, I could not noticed the difference in angles. I refer back to my oem grills and the figment on them can be pretty poor.
Now, the reason the bottom trim is different, I can only guess. Maybe the same top trim was used for the bottom. Maybe the extra cost of the tooling for a completely different trim was not worth the extra small detail. I do know that there must be 1000 different details that we never see in the production of such a piece. Plastic injection is not easy. As much as I like to buy American and avoid the Chinese parts. I realize this part would cost 5 times as much made in the USA and STILL may have shortcuts. The factory had unlimited resources and revisions to get it usable. They did not get it perfect for sure. Notice the angle of the fit between both my oem grills and the headlight bucket. It’s not straight.
So, I’m glad BEA made these grills. I had enough oem grills in good shape to fill my needs but used grills would be $4000 by now and NOS $10,000. Many cars would have bad grills. I’m satisfied with all my purchases from BEA. I’m sorry that you apparently got a bad lower trim from them. The bug in the paint problem, I can’t see in your pictures. It may have been damaged in packing or shipping. I’ve had both. I don’t know if one of BEA employees was having a bad day when he packed it. All this stuff I can only speculate.
I hope you see that I have not been biased against you for your post about your grill. The internet can be rather inpersonable because we are not looking each other in the eye. YOU HAVE A LEGITIMATE GRIP ON YOUR ILL FITTING TRIM. It somehow got tweaked. I handle things like my Dad, I’m pretty thick skinned and hard to insult. You did not really like me taking up for BEA. I did not disrespect you and examined all the facts on my end. I hope this does not end up in more controversy. However, I can only deal with this in my attitude. I can’t get between you and Mike Ross. I don’t know your personality. I do know a little about Mike. By his own admission, he can be a little gruff. If you approached him in a less than pleasant way, things may have went badly from the start. I’ve been in situations that could have gotten nasty in a heartbeat but I chose a milder response and it all worked out fine. I’ve got a good friend who will never learn. He can make preacher so mad, the preacher will start cussing! Lol. He refused to remove his hat at a nice restaurant in Columbus and got mad at the waitress and left without eating! He flipped off a trucker for tailgating and the trucker literally ran him off the road. I give him a hard time and call him flipper just to hear him complain. I’m not saying this about you, by no means. just making a point that people’s personalities sometimes clash.
So, my final thought. For some reason, your bottom trim does not fit. All five of mine fit nicely. I hope you can get it fixed or figure something out. If their is any way I can help, I’ll try to do that. I hope I’ve handled this in a diplomatic way we have no hard feelings.
Mark
Now, the reason the bottom trim is different, I can only guess. Maybe the same top trim was used for the bottom. Maybe the extra cost of the tooling for a completely different trim was not worth the extra small detail. I do know that there must be 1000 different details that we never see in the production of such a piece. Plastic injection is not easy. As much as I like to buy American and avoid the Chinese parts. I realize this part would cost 5 times as much made in the USA and STILL may have shortcuts. The factory had unlimited resources and revisions to get it usable. They did not get it perfect for sure. Notice the angle of the fit between both my oem grills and the headlight bucket. It’s not straight.
So, I’m glad BEA made these grills. I had enough oem grills in good shape to fill my needs but used grills would be $4000 by now and NOS $10,000. Many cars would have bad grills. I’m satisfied with all my purchases from BEA. I’m sorry that you apparently got a bad lower trim from them. The bug in the paint problem, I can’t see in your pictures. It may have been damaged in packing or shipping. I’ve had both. I don’t know if one of BEA employees was having a bad day when he packed it. All this stuff I can only speculate.
I hope you see that I have not been biased against you for your post about your grill. The internet can be rather inpersonable because we are not looking each other in the eye. YOU HAVE A LEGITIMATE GRIP ON YOUR ILL FITTING TRIM. It somehow got tweaked. I handle things like my Dad, I’m pretty thick skinned and hard to insult. You did not really like me taking up for BEA. I did not disrespect you and examined all the facts on my end. I hope this does not end up in more controversy. However, I can only deal with this in my attitude. I can’t get between you and Mike Ross. I don’t know your personality. I do know a little about Mike. By his own admission, he can be a little gruff. If you approached him in a less than pleasant way, things may have went badly from the start. I’ve been in situations that could have gotten nasty in a heartbeat but I chose a milder response and it all worked out fine. I’ve got a good friend who will never learn. He can make preacher so mad, the preacher will start cussing! Lol. He refused to remove his hat at a nice restaurant in Columbus and got mad at the waitress and left without eating! He flipped off a trucker for tailgating and the trucker literally ran him off the road. I give him a hard time and call him flipper just to hear him complain. I’m not saying this about you, by no means. just making a point that people’s personalities sometimes clash.
So, my final thought. For some reason, your bottom trim does not fit. All five of mine fit nicely. I hope you can get it fixed or figure something out. If their is any way I can help, I’ll try to do that. I hope I’ve handled this in a diplomatic way we have no hard feelings.
Mark
One more thought here. I know there is not supposed to be comments in the for parts wanted section but I think this one has information on it that is pertanant to the original want add without getting out of hand. I hope the mods can let it stand as posted. Thanks.
Hey Mark, thanks for getting back with the pictures. Much appreciated. I sincerely mean that.
Yeah I know The trims *ucked! That's a $350 remedy, who cares, it's only money, but when you are blatantly lied to by a fast talking dishonest salesman , now that is gonna linger for a while.
The first and the only time I actually talked with Mike we had a blast and talked for an hour on the
Phone. My two concerns, right from the get go, were the trim and turn signal lenses and he assured me of the quality of those pieces specifically and every other component, generally.
US $1778.00 bucks later I was disappointed and when I sent him an email, he just made a joke of the ill fitting trim pieces. that's all.
I will never buy any thing from that guy and I will tell everyone about my experience with him.
And.... As far as character flaws, well, I am loaded with them, but no matter how many flaws I suffer from, Mike never saw anything from me but courtesy and kindness, oh and $1500.(not including $278 shipping and duties)
Yeah I know The trims *ucked! That's a $350 remedy, who cares, it's only money, but when you are blatantly lied to by a fast talking dishonest salesman , now that is gonna linger for a while.
The first and the only time I actually talked with Mike we had a blast and talked for an hour on the
Phone. My two concerns, right from the get go, were the trim and turn signal lenses and he assured me of the quality of those pieces specifically and every other component, generally.
US $1778.00 bucks later I was disappointed and when I sent him an email, he just made a joke of the ill fitting trim pieces. that's all.
I will never buy any thing from that guy and I will tell everyone about my experience with him.
And.... As far as character flaws, well, I am loaded with them, but no matter how many flaws I suffer from, Mike never saw anything from me but courtesy and kindness, oh and $1500.(not including $278 shipping and duties)
Well, like I said, I’m sure sorry it happened. I don’t know that you can even buy decent repop trim now. I have never tried. You might be better off trying to find used stuff. I’d even try to have yours straighten by someone that knows what they are doing. I’ve tried on some window trim. It’s hard and takes time to polish it afterwards. I don’t know what used broken grills sell for but you might look for trim from one of those. The grill in the post looks like a very good grill for used.
Cuda Hunter
Well-Known Member
I just purchased a used black grill with a little overspray and with all the trim for 650.00.
Didn't come with the red bars, headlight bezels or the turn signal bezels. That price included shipping from New York.
Just to throw out a recent price for an actual black grill that has been purchased within the last week.
Didn't come with the red bars, headlight bezels or the turn signal bezels. That price included shipping from New York.
Just to throw out a recent price for an actual black grill that has been purchased within the last week.
Cuda Hunter
Well-Known Member
And thanks Mark for all the great pictures and information on the be&a products.
Also thanks buda for your experience's with Mike.
Also thanks buda for your experience's with Mike.
It’s been awhile since I painted it but here’s from my memory. It was a black base coat and I believe I put a little flattening agent in there. When I pulled the grill out, I noticed it had tiny metallic overspray on the back side where the elements had not gotten to it. It is very tiny and is hard to see on the front side. It’s got some dust on it in the picture but it came out dead on.
By the way, BEA has no more Argent grills at all. He still has a few AAR grills but is saving them for customers with real AARs . I’m not sure if PG Classic is selling the same black plastic grill that BEA had. I think it is. It appears to have trim. I have not called them. It’s very pricey and does not come with parking lights. I doubt those will ever be made. The molds are toast. Roseville Moparts shows an AAR grill but no buckets. Don’t know if it’s got chrome. I doubt if it has parking lamps. When BEA stop making things, I think they kept most of the parking lamps. I would like to compare a Goodmark grill but I’ve never seen one. I’m glad I bought mine when I did.
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