PHS Y Code Registry: Product Review Parts Place turn signal bezel

                                                           By: Patrick Smith

  Restoring the 1972 Pontiac LeMans or GTO can be a heart breaking experience. If your car needs a dog house for instance, those T 41 front end clips are frightfully rare and expensive. Owners looking for GTO hoods often have to make do with repairs to the front sections of their existing hood to remove the tin worm's presence. A good GTO hood is a $700 and up item....when one appears. The fenders are one year only pieces as well with those air extractors. Again these are noted for rust in the dog leg area. Patch panels are often the only way to go in light of non existing pieces. The 1972 was a build out year for the GM A body and low production makes like Pontiac's GTO model often are the last vehicles considered by reproduction companies to make parts for. Certain trim pieces such as the parking lamp bezels have been scarce for decades. Owners often just sand down the pit marks on their pieces and re spray them in silver.
  

A class 1972 LeMans T41 or GTO restoration includes new turn signal bezels. 

  Until now, that is. The Parts Place issued an eBay listing last winter for the 1972 GTO parking lens bezel. You can get the cat walk chrome trim to distinguish your car from the 1971 plain lens counterpart. It's an attractive, stylish piece, no doubt, influenced by the Camaro version from 1971. The Parts Place mentioned in their ad that this is a new, quality item NOT low pressure casting that was described as 'inferior.' Having no experience with aftermarket versions of this bezel, I cannot comment further on this. The price was right, at $29.00 a unit. I placed an order and waited.....and waited. A couple of days later I was informed it was on national back order. No where does the ad state this. I believe what was really happening is The Parts Place was collecting orders, waiting for a certain size of orders to appear, then they'd order a batch to be made by their contractor. Since these are low production cars with only 5,806 GTOs were made and a bunch more of the LeMans with the T41 front ends, The Parts Place likely has to do it this way to prevent having parts lying around taking up space and tying up money better used elsewhere. 

The original bezel from Miss Hot Stuff is on the left. The Parts Place bezel is on the right.

  The same situation occurred with Trans Am dash pads a few years ago. Some other company had eBay ads stating Trans Am dash pads were available. When you placed an order, you were contacted and told you were on a list and when enough orders came they'd tool up a run. Of course, some buyers weren't pleased with this development and cancelled. Naturally this program never got off the ground. Today very good dash caps are available at a good price. You can also send in your core to be rebuilt. Not cheap, but the only acceptable solution for a restoration. In this instance, my back order was placed on March 10, 2014. The Parts Place confirmed that my set was being made in April, 2014. Then I was contacted again to let me know they were shipping. The invoice shows a shipping date of April 29th 2014. One weird thing about the shipping, it was $68.00 American total including the parts which were listed at $58.00. The reason shipping is high is twofold. One:) they use first class postage Two:) It was an international ship from USA to Canada and of course, Customs gets their dirty paws on it. I was surprised to see they were sent in an air bubble bag which had been cut apart and taped together to make a little pocket for each bezel. It seemed to work this time out. Not sure I'd rely on that for longer distances. 

Here is the back view of the bezel. Note the part number cast right into piece like the
original.

  OK, let's talk about the bezels. First, they're die cast chromed pieces. Part number XL4155G. The plating is very good. No casting flash either. The actual die casting is smooth where you want it to be. Even the unexposed area lining the inside of the lens housing is good. High marks all around for this. How does it compare to the original GM part? You'd have a bit of trouble telling them apart if they were on the car. Once they're off you can spot one difference. On the inside the originals are duller plated than the Parts Place item. This could just be age but I believe it is also due to less plating on the originals. The other clue is a full part number after the MDC stamping on the cats eye rib. A GM original will have MDC, then 545588. Now the Parts Place items are stamped in the same place with same number, but a careful comparison reveals a sharper set of numbers. If they used original tooling, it was cleaned up. The result is a better looking piece. Installing them is identical to factory units. Two shouldered screws fit in through the lens and bottom out on the chrome chamfered seat on the bezel. Do not tighten hard on these. 

The original lens bezels get pitted and chrome peels away. Time for a change!

  Just make sure the bolt is flush or almost flush. The thread is doing the work on holding it in place. These aren't going anywhere. The army of bugs, flies sand and road dirt is going to lock that bezel in place within 100 miles. So after comparing the two items, I have to say The Parts Place knocked this one out of the ballpark. It's a great reproduction for a reasonable price and it fits just like original. You may have to wait to get your set but it'll be worthwhile.

 

You'll notice the parking-turn signal lens is a 1971 piece. Only addition for 1972 was this bezel.

   *Article (c) 2014 by Patrick Smith PHS Collectorcarworldblog. All product reviews were 

conducted with material purchased by owner. No promotional, samples or giveaways were used. You get an unbiased, accurate assessment of the product as a result.