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When I do mine I am leaving as much steel under that tail panel as I can. Mebbe even add some 1/4 inch structural iron back there. The 5 mph egg crates? Those are a joke. But then NO car but 74 Impalas had true 5 mph no-damage bumpers.
For the record, the 1974 Bricklin Safety Vehicle 1 far exceeded the 5mph requirement, closer to 10. They also had side impact steel supports.
For the record, the 1974 Bricklin Safety Vehicle 1 far exceeded the 5mph requirement, closer to 10. They also had side impact steel supports.
I saw a show on how new cars sustained thousands of dollars of damage in 5 mph head on impacts. To show the contrast they displayed 5 mph impacts on an 81 Ford Escort which handled it with no damage. The take away being: If they could do this in 1981, why can't they do it now?
its only an opinion but my best guess would be that auto damage is far better option than human body damage , wrinkling sheet metal and various frame and suspension components sucks up a lot of energy , that may or may not make the difference between getting slammed forward , hurt and bleeding , or just an " aw **** " moment
I touched the back bumper of a lady's car. I showed her the 15 Nick's on her bumper. Said I couldn't have done more than 1. She turned it in. 800 bucks to repaint a back bumper.
The large double walled rear bumper and mounts removed on the back of this car to install this fiberglass cover is a heavy structure. Without it, there is nothing but the small rear crossmember that supports the aft side of the tank. You take that bumper off.....you have fiberglass between a rear end collision and the gas tank. If you want to believe there is not a significant difference in protection.....good for you. Denial is high. Let's just let it go at that. I am done trying to make a point about this. Everyone can decide for themselves.
I do like the look of this fiberglass bumper, obviously it turns a later model C3 into a 73, and I like the 73. I just wish there was a way to retain the rear end collision protection. But obviously, it would need to be deeper front to back to accommodate the bumper, and would probably ruin the look.
Coincidentally, three hours after I made my first comment on this on Tuesday, I was rear ended in my F150 by a teenage girl in a Ford Probe, most likely texting. Had I been in the same accident with my 77 Corvette, with this mod, there is no doubt that she would have penetrated the gas tank, fuel onto the hot exhaust, and potentially sparking tail light wires, and a fire. Without the mod, my Trueflex would have been destroyed (good), but that rear bumper would have clearly absorbed some of the collision, as did the rear bumper on my F150, and I doubt her car would have made it into the tank. That is reality.
Last edited by Torqued Off; 06-28-2018 at 04:51 PM.
Love my new bumper. It bolted up to my 43 year old car like it was made for it. Had to crank my ride height down a few turns on the rear coil overs since Jabba the Hut is no longer riding shotgun out back.
Installing all new GM Restoration tail lights later today and we’ll be all done back here. Oh yah I have to decide whether to go with a lighted license plate frame or drill some holes for a separate light.
Many thanks to this forum and the supplier of this product (who was stellar to work with) for showing me the light.
When you have a swell posterior look what happens
My friends Camaro haz a sad haha
. I like it,,,,, IMHO, I think you need the crome paint bumpers too,,, and, a nice crome ' C - 3 ' emblem between the lights, ,,, ( you know, one that ya make yourself from letters from other car emblems )
C-3 emblem why didn’t I think of that? “Stingray” is so overdone haha
All new lights in. Split them with a bandsaw nice and clean. Butyl rubber sealing stuff to make up the inconsistencies between the perfectly flat light halves and bumper material.
Hi guys. For anybody that wanted to see the bumper conversion with some paint, here you go. I still have some more blending and some creative scuffing to take the sheen off the new parts and match the texture of the existing weathered paint. The front conversion will follow when it goes back into the garage for the winter.
I want to match the patina of the rest of the car as closely as possible until I am ready for the whole paint process, but cosmetically, for now, I am happy with the progress from its very humble beginnings last November.
All I need to know MKdesign is where did you find that rear mod. The ones I have found don't flow well with the body.
06-28-2018, 01:57 PM
