So just looking for some recommendations, not sure which way to go.
Previous owner of my 69 442 repainted the car—did a fairly decent job but for whatever reason painted the plastic grills silver, rather than the original black. As I read the body manual it looks like no matter what I would have to drop the bumper to remove them to repaint them—or I could just buy the replacements from Fusick and go with those but then I have to do the headlight surrounds as well in order to match the silver color that he sprayed those on the outer portion (which is correct). These parts aren’t cheap and I’m not sure of the quality/fit.
What would you guys do? Worth it to save the originals or go with new?
Thanks!

 

I’d say repaint the originals.
If their not cracked or mangled, save them and put your money elsewhere.
They look to be in great shape!

But was the masking job on the headlight bezels very good?
looks kinda uneven.

Looks like a great weekend project and $30 worth of spray paint to me.
Just my 2 cents

 

from what I see online, you might be able to just mask off most and just paint black where it needs to be black, dont think you need to remove bumper. Black is most likely kinda of not flat, not gloss sheen. Satin?? maybe??? test spray..

 

Yeah I forgot to mention the masking on the headlight bezels…not the best job. Those really should be done too. My gut tells me to try to save the originals as well.

 

Listen to your gut. Never give up good usa oem parts for repros which are likely chineasium junk. Plus you're not putting money in chinas pocket.
The silver actually looks good. If anything its different.

 

Save the originals.....they look to be in nice shape and as FStanley mentions, the silver/alum part is already done (assuming it's nice enough to leave in place).

 

Thanks, guys. Really appreciate the input. I think I will stick with the originals after all. It will be a good project. Wish me luck!

 

You do not have to remove the bumper to remove the grills or headlight surrounds.

 

If you want to do the job right, there are 7 pieces in total that should get resprayed. Two grilles, two headlight surrounds, two headlight base pieces (what the headlight surrounds mount to), and the center metal piece under the hood tongue. Remove all of it, mask carefully and paint. The bumper 'technically' doesn't need to be dropped but it's a whole lot easier to do that than wrestle with getting the pieces out and then back in. You will likely find some waviness in the headlight surrounds (I can see a little in the pictures you posted) and cracks in the tabs. If you're lucky they're only cracks. Broken tabs are extremely common. Fusick sells a nice kit of reproduction hardware to bolt everything back together properly.
I've inspected the reproduction grilles. They're actually extremely nice pieces. Expensive and there are a few very minor molding lines that I didn't care for. 99% of people would never notice them but if you know what to look for, you can spot the repops a mile away when they're on a car.