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Made in the USA is the best...they say...yeaaaahhhh....
in this case, Chromed in the USA I believe....
spent the extra buck to get show quality USA front bumper and this is what I got:
Pass side Driver side Driver side view looking in for driver side
Of course, this is being handled extremely well, should be getting a different one soon (and they'll actually check the part before sending it out)...but holly batman fellas! My rear repro china chrome bumpers were a gem in comparison
Looks like they sent it out BEFORE they finished the job. Pretty much all look like that after they pull it from the nickel tank. But it missed the finishing work!!!
Glad they are going to make it right. Hey....everyone makes mistakes. Only the good ones step up to the plate and correct the problem.
Holy Mother of all Chinese Reproductions!!!! That's pretty shoddy work brother. Glad they're gonna look after you.
After seeing that, I'm wondering if they are capable of looking after him.
Hope the owner of that company isn't dreaming of retirement or even a future anytime soon...
Last edited by CanadaGrant; Apr 1, 2019 at 10:43 PM.
I got the "Show Quality" (no pun intended I spend the extra buck on the front one so that I wouldn't have the horrible fit that the driver quality has) from Corvette America. They don't make or chrome those, but the box said "Paragon Corvette". I suspect they are the one that either source the part or chrome the part....
Corvette America was on it like flies on rice, within about 15 min (on call, then a couple email exchange for me to provide pictures) the issue was on its way to being resolved. They score highly with their customer support. Right now, I'm awaiting the ticket to ship this back, and they've already created a new order for me and will go inspect the bumpers they have in stock to be sure they don't send me another one with this issue. Couldn't ask for better customer support so far!
I'll keep the forum posted on the final outcome.
Got the ups label today, it's going back to Paragon and they'll do the exchange. Crossing fingers the next one is top quality! will update when I get the new one
Paragon makes those bumpers, or more correctly, is having them made for them in Michigan.
Paragon owns the rights to the original GM tooling for those bumpers, and the bumper face bars are being stamped for Paragon, by the same company that stamped them for GM. Paragon welds the mounting brackets to the bumper face bar themselves, and then sends them out to be chrome plated. Unfortunately the tooling is now over 50 years old, and has been used to stamp out hundreds of thousands of bumpers, far more than GM probably ever expected to stamp from the tooling. As a result, there is wear in the tooling, and the bumpers aren't always as good as they once were, but the quality of that particular bumper is totally unexceptionable. Hopefully this was just an accident, and was missed by someone at Paragon.
I've had conversations with the owners of Paragon about their bumpers, and they're aware of the issues with the tooling. The problem is that the cost to retool would be astronomical, resulting in a significant increase in the price of what's already a very expensive part. Even if they did retool, they know the chance of ever recovering the cost is slim.
The Paragon "show quality" bumper is still much better than the cheaper "driver quality" bumper that's available. The driver bumper does not fit the right side of the 68-72 nose, and no amount of adjustment will fix it. Below is a picture of the fit of the driver bumper on a 71. This is nothing new, the driver quality bumper has had this fit issue for at least 20 years.
Paragon makes those bumpers, or more correctly, is having them made for them in Michigan.
Paragon owns the rights to the original GM tooling for those bumpers, and the bumper face bars are being stamped for Paragon, by the same company that stamped them for GM. Paragon welds the mounting brackets to the bumper face bar themselves, and then sends them out to be chrome plated. Unfortunately the tooling is now over 50 years old, and has been used to stamp out hundreds of thousands of bumpers, far more than GM probably ever expected to stamp from the tooling. As a result, there is wear in the tooling, and the bumpers aren't always as good as they once were, but the quality of that particular bumper is totally unexceptionable. Hopefully this was just an accident, and was missed by someone at Paragon.
I've had conversations with the owners of Paragon about their bumpers, and they're aware of the issues with the tooling. The problem is that the cost to retool would be astronomical, resulting in a significant increase in the price of what's already a very expensive part. Even if they did retool, they know the chance of ever recovering the cost is slim.
The Paragon "show quality" bumper is still much better than the cheaper "driver quality" bumper that's available. The driver bumper does not fit the right side of the 68-72 nose, and no amount of adjustment will fix it. Below is a picture of the fit of the driver bumper on a 71. This is nothing new, the driver quality bumper has had this fit issue for at least 20 years.
we tested fitment by hand before sending it back and I can attest it fit nice and tucked in like the stocker, so that part of the "show quality bumper" is still good to go ! ... I almost painted my bumpers as I find them to be absurdly excessive in cost compared to the rest of the cars of that era (restoring a 69 camaro as well...98 bucks for that bumper, fits great, looks show quality...urgh!)
The metal dies are made in sections and a very competent die repair man should be able to fix the dies. Of course if they never tried to repair the dies, they could be in pretty bad shape.
I was in maintenance in an automotive parts plant for 34 years. I would tell them "pay me now, or pay me later, but you are going to have to pay eventually". Nobody wants to pay for maintenance.
We were an unnecessary evil in their eyes because we did not make any parts! But when something broke then they needed us. Lou.
Welp the bumper arrived at Paragon on Friday at 9:36 according to tracking...
I aslo found out that my CC was over charged for the order this was on by about $35 bucks...
No idea if Paragon is supposed to send me a tracking number or if Corvette America is doing that...anyway, got an email out for those two things...and my other saga with my dash parts...
"build a hotrod they say, it'll be fun they said"....
The driver bumper does not fit the right side of the 68-72 nose, and no amount of adjustment will fix it. Below is a picture of the fit of the driver bumper on a 71. This is nothing new, the driver quality bumper has had this fit issue for at least 20 years.
If a lot of the bumpers come out not bent far enough like this, surely it wouldn't be a big trick for them to make a fitting to bend it to how it should be before it gets chromed.
Last edited by brassplyer; Apr 9, 2019 at 12:22 AM.
If a lot of the bumpers come out not bent far enough like this, surely it wouldn't be a big trick for them to make a fitting to bend it to how it should be before it gets chromed.
they don't seem to have an issue making a 98$ camaro bumper fit correctly! lol so I'm with ya! and it has more intricate curves on the end (complex curve, not just a 70-80* bend)
well, we can put this issue to bed, I received the new bumper and it is perfect. I was by myself in the shop so I put it up against the car the best I could and looks like a good fitting part as well...Chrome is excellent on that one! very happy!
sometime you just get crap...
