To answer your question about Bare Metal Foil, it's a product for model builders. It is a very thin adhesive backed foil. It might work fine in an area with low wear, like the bezel around an instrument recessed into the dash, but I would be hesitant about using it on a high wear area. Of course, it's relatively inexpensive (about $5/sheet from
www.squadron.com) and if it doesn't work out you can remove it.
Another alternative for the very cheap is to use a silver paint marker. To do this you have to remove all of the chrome. It won't look chrome, but it should look nice. This is what I did to my '68 Cutlass dash and it came out pretty sharp.
