Will someone PLEASE make a complete kit so this can be done?

I have a 1979 L-82 and would love to have steel bumpers on my car. Don't tell me "buy a steel bumper car and sell your 79"...That's not an option because I don't have the extra $10,000 it would take on top of my car to buy a pre-73 to my liking.

The problem with this conversion is that some company has not gotten the word how popular this would be.

Trying to make all the brackets and things that are needed on a one by one basis is the problem with this conversion. If a company made a high quality retrofit kit that allowed the newer style frame to line with the older style front and rear bumper assembly, it would be a wild success...I am talking a bolt on kit where nearly anyone could bolt the thing on and maybe only have to do a little glass and paint work.

I am telling you, someone could make a fortune doing this.

If it were a complete kit with repro bumpers to fit that kit and not retrofitting older style bumpers, it would be much easier.

Thoughts?

 

I know this might upset you but I am glad that no one has done this. I don't want everyone and thier dog to have a car that looks like my 69. One of the reasons I really like mine are because there are only a couple around here.



Just my opinion.





greg

 

On this forum so badly...Some people on here with bumper cars just don't like the idea of someone else having one with as much curb appeal as theirs for $20K less than they spent..

"Oldguard" had it right apprently from (what I have read in the archives)

 

I can think of none...

 

my .02, the car is what you make it

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=1465589

 

After you saw how much the kit would cost You might as well buy a bumper car.
I also think its impossible to make a 79 look like a 72, something to do with the "back glass"???, not to mention the side vent difference.
Theres a thread going right now about Bubba, I think this fits right in!!!!!
If you got a 79 then like a 79 if you got a 72 then like 72s, Myself I don't want the expensive bumper cars or anything to do with them.

 

Add up all the pieces, and you are going to be around $10K in parts alone. Can you do all the body and paint work yourself? If you can, then you will have maybe 12-13K in it by the time your done. Now what about the guys who can't do their own work? A shop will charge 10 to 15K labor to do the conversion. IMO..... still cheaper to buy a chromie.

 

These Cars were meant to be Driven, and enjoyed. I've owned a '72 Camaro SS, and '78 Trans Am. Driven the heck out of both of them. Now own a '73 Vette, so you could say I am right in the middle. The Vette is the peak of American Steel, and C2s and C3 are the pinicle of this. Wanting to modify a late model C3 to gain the impression of an eary model body makes the most sense of all. Do what ever you want. Just drive the Car!

 

You didn't read my post...

I am NOT talking about some pieced together, part NOS, part repro, part bubba kit.

What I am talking about is for a company to engineer and offer an entire bolt on kit that would essentially marry the newer style frame ends with an older style bumper assembly. Make the entire nose NEW from scratch and make it look like an older nose but adapted to a chrome bumper. The company could even offer a bumper assembly to match their kit that may not be the exact width, etc, as the older style bumper, but that would fit the new kit perfectly and look indistinguishable.

See, everybody always poo-poos the idea because they think of the cost and time of locating all of the needed parts, etc.. Forget that...The company needs to make the entire kit from scratch and offer it as a bolt-on.

There is a lot of money to be made here if someone would listen and do it right.

 

Theres no money to be made off the idea, because Only one person would even think about buying it.
Do you think the kit is going to cost $500 or what?
You can get a bumper vette for $15000, thats already $10000 less than your kit and the work will cost, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?????
What a minute, get ahold of Nickey, Berger, Baldwin Motion, Hurst or Yenko they can do it for you for pennies on the dollar!!!!

 

You obviously have not read the archives nor do you follow this oft discussed topic. One person my ***...There are several hundred that would buy this kit.

And yes, the kit could be sold for probably $2500 retail and it would be gel coated and the brackets newly made and ready to bolt on.

 

I'd rather put $2,500 under my hood but that's just me. Have you thought of doing a poll to see how many Vette owners would take to your idea?

 

I read your post. Several times. Still sounds impractacle. All conversion kits, of any kind, would contain some NOS and repro. parts. If you want to clone the 68-72 Vette..here is a partial parts list to chew on: (if you want it to look correct)...

Front bumper
Front bumper brackets
Bumper extensions
License plate bracket
Grilles
Grille brackets
Full front fiberglass
Side grilles (70-72)
Hood
Wiper door mechanisim
Wiper door vacuum system
Wiper door trim and fender trim
Rear fiberglass
Rear removable window and trim
Rear bumpers
Rear bumper brackets
License bezel
Exhaust bezels
Tail lamps
Side marker lamps
Gas tank and boot
Fuel filler door
Rear letters

What do you think the vendors should charge for there parts?...Do you still think it is a bolt on job?......

 

Sevensteps Quote:
"See, everybody always poo-poos the idea because they think of the cost and time of locating all of the needed parts, etc.. Forget that...The company needs to make the entire kit from scratch and offer it as a bolt-on.

There is a lot of money to be made here if someone would listen and do it right."


Sevensteps....If you feel that strongly about it, I recommend that you start your own company and offer these kits. Since no one else is doing it, you have a monopoly on the rubber bumper conversion buisness.
Don't get so bent out of shape and think the chrome bumper guys are out to get you. It's not us against them. Most of us like both versions equally. Those opinions are pretty honest. The most cost effective way to get a chrome bumper car is to pick yours up off the ground and slide a 68-73 in it's place....gp (rubber bumper owner)

 

I am NOT talking about any NOS parts, used parts, scrounged junk, whatever.

What I am talking about is a full-on kit that is high quality, custom made to fit the fronts and rears of 74-82 Vettes. The entire kit would be made specifically to marry the newer style underneaths with the older look. Unbolt the old and bolt this new "kit" on that marries and considers all the differences.

The "kit" would look identical to the bumper car look, but may have slightly different measurements to allow it to fit the 74-82 frontend and still look like a factory set-up to the naked eye. The entire kit would be marketed complete or separately with all needed adapter brackets, fiberglass and chrome.

Are you familiar with "John's Cars" in Dallas? He offers the V8 SBC conversion kits for Jaguar XJ-6's and XJS's. The kits are complete and match all of the wiring harness issues, brackets, and mounts and allow you to bolt in a SBC and it will look factory new. THAT is what I am talking about....Now some hokey part NOS, part Ebay scavenger hunt and hundreds of hours of modifying glass and chrome to fit. That's what YOU'RE talking about. No comparison.

I am talking and engineered kit designed specifically for this custom application.

I am telling you, this thing would FLY off the shelves to folks that wanted a trick older look that would be virtually indistinguishable to the driving public. Most forum members might be able to notice a slight difference in vents in a 75 and a 69, but the general effect and the "wow factor" while driving it would be virtually identical to 99.999% of the people that came into contact with your car and most would never know that a 76 was not a 72.

 

 

There is no getting around having many hours of glass work due to the fact that the rubber bumper C3 have the nose and tail cut off. Unless you have a seam. That would look funky.
Present you buisness case to the bank, build a prototype (you can use your C3), use your completed conversion in your marketing campain and start selling you kits. Keep track of your inventory "flying off the shelves" from your Blackberry as you are sipping a Mai Tai from your vacation home in the islands.
Good luck and keep us posted.

 

Nobody who owns a chrome bumper is going to be happy about a kit that converts a cheap rubber bumper into a chromie lookalike.... personally I think it would look silly with the rear bubble window so that only leaves the 74-77 models or you cut the rear deck off a 78-82 and replace that as well....
IMO it can be done but it's going to be too expensive .... it's easier to use a junked 68-72 body, fix that and swap that on a later (or custom) frame...

Cost aside: buy a 70's rear panel from Vanacor and try to make that fit a later style body... not sure how good of a fit it is but it's fiberglass so you can make it fit.

 

I think the 78-82 would look neat with a well done conversion too..That's just my opinion...Just because we are used to looking at them that way doesn't mean they wouldn't be attractive with the chrome bumpers.

 

You would have a seam, but then I already have a seam, so who cares? It could be completed and painted by either fixing the seam, (if you desire), or leaving it "seamed" like the 74-82's came from the factory.

As to the rest of your "comments"...I don't have the capital or time or knowledge to fund a manufacturing product. If I did, I wouldn't be on here answering your smart-assed responses to my legitimate posts.