![The family team at classic car specialist Doug Taylor Metal Finishing Co Classic & Sports Car – The specialist: Doug Taylor Metal Finishing Co](/sites/default/files/styles/article/public/2022-11/Classic%20%26%20Sports%20Car%20%E2%80%93%20The%20specialist%20%E2%80%93%20%20Doug%20Taylor%20Metal%20Finishing%20Co%20%E2%80%93%20LEAD.png?itok=KOY4ucqW)
Key to any restoration, from pre-war and veteran cars to ’60s, ’70s and ’80s classics, is the chrome.
There are two choices for those with badly tarnished metalwork: buy new, or refurbish the original.
Contrasting today’s throwaway culture, classic car enthusiasts are returning to the old ways, says Doug Taylor, head of a family dynasty of metal finishers.
![Armstrong Siddeley bumpers awaiting work Classic & Sports Car – The specialist: Doug Taylor Metal Finishing Co](/sites/default/files/2022-11/Classic%20%26%20Sports%20Car%20%E2%80%93%20The%20specialist%20%E2%80%93%20Doug%20Taylor%20Metal%20Finishing%20Co%20%E2%80%93%2001.png)
A stack of Armstrong Siddeley bumpers awaiting work at the family-run Doug Taylor Metal Finishing Co
“Many modern items are made of inferior metals,” he says, “often diecast lead-zinc alloys pitted beyond repair.
“Original legacy parts are usually thicker steel, copper or brass and can be restored to the highest quality.”
Taylor, now 82, has been an electroplater all his working life, starting out aged 18 in a plating works in Birmingham.
“My father was a plater and my grandmother was a polisher, a job always done by women in the old days,” he explains.
![Parts being cleaned in sulphuric acid Classic & Sports Car – The specialist: Doug Taylor Metal Finishing Co](/sites/default/files/2022-11/Classic%20%26%20Sports%20Car%20%E2%80%93%20The%20specialist%20%E2%80%93%20Doug%20Taylor%20Metal%20Finishing%20Co%20%E2%80%93%2010.png)
![Polishing components to their base metal Classic & Sports Car – The specialist: Doug Taylor Metal Finishing Co](/sites/default/files/2022-11/Classic%20%26%20Sports%20Car%20%E2%80%93%20The%20specialist%20%E2%80%93%20Doug%20Taylor%20Metal%20Finishing%20Co%20%E2%80%93%2008.png)
Parts are dipped in sulphuric acid to be stripped clean (left); Doug Taylor’s son, Nick, polishes stripped components down to their base metal (right)