[BCreekDave]

Factory plating was nickel over bare steel followed by the chrome layer. It resulted in not as good of a luster finish. Most chrome shops add an initial layer of copper that is then polished. This tends to fill the microscopic pits better and the subsequent nickle-chrome is much brighter and smoother. This then falls into the category of "over-restored". I would say that any competent chrome shop can skip the copper layer.