Here's an ad for an NOS 84-86 Cutlass 2 door standup hood ornament. Claims it's new, but has not box. And kinda sorta it is new. Lemme explain.
A couple of things to note.
If you look closely at the mounting stem, you can see former cut marks by a speed nut used to mount it on a car. But also note how nicely it has been filled in and polished prior to chroming. Don't let that shock you. I either have or had one in a box that came that way from GM. So near the "end" I suspect they treated those just like they did the 442 fender emblems for the 69-73 A-bodies by refurbishing the bases at least. I have some of those 442 emblems that were refurbished by GM vendor, put in a GM box, stored in a GM warehouse, then sold to me across the friggin' GM counter. These were the emblems that used to come with the speed nuts, then it was it or miss with the speed nuts, and finally near the end they just quit putting them in the boxes altogether. All my 442 emblems and standup hood ornaments came from dealerships directly to me, back in the early to mid-90s when this stuff was still available from GM, so I know it was long before any repros hit the market.
Also, note the finish on the jeweled standup part. It's a matte gray finish, more of a satin-like surface around the jewels. The previous descriptions I noted shows to me that the emblem is a genuine article. The lines look too clean and sharp for it to be a reproduction. They always get something "wrong" with reproductions. Nothing wrong with reproductions, but if you're paying upwards of $200 for this emblem, make sure it's a GM one. Repros aren't priced that high.
I did NOT ever purchase nor ever even see in real life one of those reproductions. However, I'm going out on a limb here and suppose they aren't as good as real GM parts. From the pictures I have seen, they either 1) repro'ed the entire thing, with the base being copied and cast/chromed as needed to make said part, or 2) they are just refurbishing used parts and rechroming them. Reason I say this is because while they cast the "22519638" engineering part number in the repro bottoms, they also copied the "AC1" which I'm not 100% sure if that's the mold number version or plant number or what it is. There's also an AC2 I've seen on them, to which the ebay ad shows an AC2 as well. I'm going out on a limb and say that all you'll see on the repros is AC1 because that's the one they copied.
Additionally, the upper jeweled section outline of the repro standup emblem is more of a pebbled, chrome look to it, much shinier than the original satin finish (resembles something like a glass beaded finish).
1981,82,83,84,85,86,Olds,Cutlass,442,Hood,Ornament,Emblem,header panel, NOS | eBay
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A couple of things to note.
If you look closely at the mounting stem, you can see former cut marks by a speed nut used to mount it on a car. But also note how nicely it has been filled in and polished prior to chroming. Don't let that shock you. I either have or had one in a box that came that way from GM. So near the "end" I suspect they treated those just like they did the 442 fender emblems for the 69-73 A-bodies by refurbishing the bases at least. I have some of those 442 emblems that were refurbished by GM vendor, put in a GM box, stored in a GM warehouse, then sold to me across the friggin' GM counter. These were the emblems that used to come with the speed nuts, then it was it or miss with the speed nuts, and finally near the end they just quit putting them in the boxes altogether. All my 442 emblems and standup hood ornaments came from dealerships directly to me, back in the early to mid-90s when this stuff was still available from GM, so I know it was long before any repros hit the market.
Also, note the finish on the jeweled standup part. It's a matte gray finish, more of a satin-like surface around the jewels. The previous descriptions I noted shows to me that the emblem is a genuine article. The lines look too clean and sharp for it to be a reproduction. They always get something "wrong" with reproductions. Nothing wrong with reproductions, but if you're paying upwards of $200 for this emblem, make sure it's a GM one. Repros aren't priced that high.
I did NOT ever purchase nor ever even see in real life one of those reproductions. However, I'm going out on a limb here and suppose they aren't as good as real GM parts. From the pictures I have seen, they either 1) repro'ed the entire thing, with the base being copied and cast/chromed as needed to make said part, or 2) they are just refurbishing used parts and rechroming them. Reason I say this is because while they cast the "22519638" engineering part number in the repro bottoms, they also copied the "AC1" which I'm not 100% sure if that's the mold number version or plant number or what it is. There's also an AC2 I've seen on them, to which the ebay ad shows an AC2 as well. I'm going out on a limb and say that all you'll see on the repros is AC1 because that's the one they copied.
Additionally, the upper jeweled section outline of the repro standup emblem is more of a pebbled, chrome look to it, much shinier than the original satin finish (resembles something like a glass beaded finish).
