Condo_454C3

Hey guys. My 74 was involved in an accident this morning and the front clip was destroyed. I've been toying with the idea of a chrome bumper swap for a while. What all is involved in that aiside from buying the new clip? Do I need frame modifications or anything of that nature? Thanks

Easy Mike

I'm not certain any frame modifications are required, but you will need all of the chrome bumper hardware. My advice would be to purchase any 69-72 AIM and the 74 AIM. Compare the bumper installations in each for the differences. The 69-72 AIM will list the original GM part numbers for what you will need and show the installation.

Locating a chrome bumper clip with the hardware would be the way to go.

Keep in mind, the 69-72 clip uses the wiper door, etc. not on your 74.

7t9l82

dont know if i can get in trouble for this but i see nothing else. Corvette Image is making a Kit to make doing that very easy.

Condo_454C3

Mike, my plan was to purchase a complete front end with bumper and all if I can find one. I'm not worried about wipers because this is a drag car and will never see rain. I understand the 74's had the extra reinforcements for the crash law. Will they fit under a 69-72 front end or do they get removed for something else?


Do you have a link or anything I can look at? I wouldn't mind purchasing a kit to make life easier

7t9l82

I'm working off my android so posting a link is a pain at least for me. Try a search of " custom image corvette " they have all kinds of custom stuff.

Easy Mike

Removed for the early clip and bumper hardware.

The13Bats

Like mike was saying the best way is to hunt a clip with all you need the downside is there is not a lot of good 68-72 stuff used to be found,

I do not want to push CIC or posts links and get in trouble and or a thread shut down for pimping non supporting vender, however, in the interest of adding info CIC does make "their" version of a chrome bumper conversion it would be the more expensive way to do it CIC conversion has changes over stock and some people just love it .
It's that modern looking trendy stuff and just ruins the chassis chrome bumper look to me, I also do not know if their conversions include all the needed under structure or is just "for looks" .

I looked a long time to get way lucky on a cheap Ecklers one piece front clip new that the buyer of it didn't end up using, still it lacks all the metal, brackets, etc for the bumpers themselves.
Which I can bolt to just the clip but they have to have the extension to the frame my project is a bit different as I plan to have a full tilt front clip which would be great on a drag car,
The 68-72 wiper door is a non issue lots of people cover it with a long hood.

The other thought is will you mod the rear too?
If not you will have a reverse 73 in that your chrome will be up front, I do not know if that will flow well...

Jack605

There is a 70-72 front clip for sale on e-bay

Seller: easysaledallas

Don't wait only 4hrs left

The13Bats

Dammit man...99.00 what a bargain, I thought I did good paying 400.00 for mine.
This is perfect clip for someone wanting to do all kinds of mods from mild to wild....

Condo_454C3

I would KILL for a tilt front end but I am not sure how I would go about that without buying a bracket kit for it. I own a body shop so the body repairs will be cake. In fact I have a 73 as well and will be making a mold from the rear of that to put on my 74 so both ends have the chrome conversion. Im interested in how you plan to make a full tilt front end without that Monza setup.

I will check that right now. Thanks for the info!

EDIT: just saw its local pick up only and I'm from NJ. Anyone out there willing to help me with shipping if the seller will not?

The13Bats

You own a body shop...it's ALL a piece of pie...easy as cake...
There are several nice tilt clip threads on here and I have done..ahem, a few,
If you wanna bs about it sometime just hit me up, 407-496-8334
So much easier to say it in 15 mins than type for an hour....

Condo_454C3

I'll definitely have to call you and chat for a bit. I don't have a fabricator to engineer any fancy brackets but if you can share your design with me I can certainly weld them up.

Torqued Off

My question is why you would want to foul up the styling and flowing looks of your 1974 front end to put on those antique chrome bumpers?? Hopefully its not because you buy into the common thread here that chrome bumper cars look better.

Condo_454C3

I happen to think the 74 is the ugliest c3 of them all. Aside from the fact that it's a c3 there's literally nothing good about it. I absolutely LOVE the chrome bumper look. Always have and always will

The13Bats

Well, I know some people including vette builders would like others to believe that the builds require a shop just this side of area 51 but the fact is to tilt a front clip on a c3 takes a fair amount of work but no big voodoo secrect hard to make brackets, it actually in many ways easier than gluing a stcok clip back on...

Ouch!....74-77 were very popular anbd they ARE vettes and many people here do love them....

Ouch again...ALL c3's are antique...
While I am not sure I agree using a 74-77 as a donor for a chrome bumper conversion would be fouling up the cars looks, as you just pointed out many people do think chrome bumper cars look better.
But which c3 looks best is in the eyes of the beholder..
While I dig all c3's I'm a modder a custom fan so any year I touch will be taboo to the fans of that year stock,
In this case the OP splattered his stock clip so why not build HIS dream car?

PS, the first vette I ever messed with and worked on was a 74 so that year has many fond memories for me....

Giant_Robot

Just throwing this out there, I've always thought of the chrome front bumper cars style to be the "Old man style" C3, although I do think the single rear chrome bumper to be the best look of all of the C3's (my personal opinion). And if you are wondering, I am 34, and if I were you, I just wouldn't do it, or even think about it.

The13Bats

You guys with 74's need not get so upset that someone likes chrome bumpers better than plastic, my 69 had a lightly modded 73-79 front clip and I couldn't undo that mistake fast enough

I thought I knew my c3's but what year have a single rear chrome bumper? 68-73 have two chrome rear bumpers..

The reason he is thinking about it is his front clip got busted AND this is his builds, HIS car...if you dont like it dont do it...

Peterbuilt

'Old Man Style' Your correct to a point, growing up I remember how one model after another removed the chrome and put bumper covers on.
Now you get chrome headlights and a chrome plastic grill
Some of the early chrome bumper Corvettes have a more powerful engine, and there were less of them built so that might be a factor in the price.
I'm happy with my 74 and here's a photo.

Giant_Robot

You know what i'm saying, bats, the 2 chrome pieces on the back, yea,.. that.
I'm not even a 74', I'm a 77, so that's cleared up, not much difference, I can see how anyone could be confused, but none the less. If you actually read what I written, "if it was me" you will notice that your last statement to me, what I wrote was not about him and his car, so your comment is moot, and I already said I don't 'personally' like it and wouldn't do it, are you reading my posts or just commenting on them?

You also get into the area of being a poser with chrome bumpers on non chrome bumper cars, like a stingray badge on a 77-82. But, that's also just an opinion, do whatever you want.

Condo_454C3

Peter, your car looks good. I really like the paint on the hood, I think it brings the car together. Plus I have the same wheels and they look soooo much better on your car than mine which is why I bought some race stars instead

Honestly it's not even the front of the 74 I dislike, it's that God awful split bumper. Truth be told, my favorite year is the 73 with the chrome rear and plastic front (though I would opt for a fiberglass bumper, but that's another story). I have a lot of reasons to want to go chrome. The first and probably most important to me is I LOVE to build custom stuff. I picked up this car because it was a total hunk of crap that I didn't feel bad cutting up and building a racecar out of. This car frankly wasn't even worth buying but I did it anyway just to bring it back to life. I ended up deciding I want to go with the wide fenders so I made some zl1 flares for it. After seeing other cars with flares I noticed the chrome cars looked 1000x better wide than the plastic cars. I actually think it makes the wideness pop so to speak. I'm running 15x12 out back and 15x10 up front and the car sits crazy low so I really want to excentuate how wide the car is. Once the chrome conversion is done the car will be getting a full paint job and I'm going to remake a lot of parts out of CF (for looks, I know the weight savings is minimal at best). Ultimately I want to build my dream car and show off the work my shop can produce. We get a lot of stock restoration work and I would like to dabble in the custom and performance world a bit more as that's what I enjoy most.