i want my 74 stingray with plastic front and rear bumpers to have the look of a 71. front and rear bumpers with with chrome . any help. whats involved

 

It would take some work. You will have to find all the appropriate brackets, braces, not to mention the bumpers. The frame is the same with the exception of the rear crossmember. There is a member Superpowers who converted his 82 to a chrome bumper car (with extended flares) You can find pics of his conversion on the Digital Corvettes forum. I also think he is planning to make the kamm style rear bumpers to bolt on later model C3's. You may get flammed by the chormies and other members will discourage you from making the comversion due to the intensive amount of work required. Good luck.

 

The entire front half of the front clip would have to be replaced as the grille surround, lower valance, and bumper receiver area are totally different than the rubber bumper mounting points. Underneath the 5 mph supports would have to go and the chrome bumper supports added.

Out back, about the same, remove bumper cover, crash parts, rework frame, cut 6" to 10' of rear body off and graft on Kamm style tail, bumper, and supports.

Probably cheaper to buy a bumper C3.

If you have skills and a great source for donor parts, go for it.

Rob

 

Better sell it and buy one.

 

not worth the money or the amount of work, go get one.

 

rear is pretty simple, front is not worth attempting.

 

Have you seen Superpower's chrome bumper conversion of an 81 with a 69 rear bumper and front clip .(the only thing I did not like were the exetnded flares he put on it) Go to the Digital Corvettes forum and check out the pics. I Think he is going to make a bolt on of the kamm style rear of the 68-72 for later model C3's. I hope you don't think his work is cobbled up as you have stated in the past.

 

May as well make it a convertible while you're at it.

 

... & show them splittails more love

 

Why does this topic surface from the depths every six months? Is the search function broken?

 

I was thinking about converting my 68 Roadster into a plastic bumper coupe... Sorry guys! You inspired me. Seriously, this market is a good time to buy the car you want. Good Luck!

 

The search function is not broken. It is a question and a question that appears to irritate forum members. It can be done and forum member Superpowers has converted his 81 to a chrome bumper with the fastback window. His father cut the extra length off the 81 and cut off the kamm tail from a 69 rear clip and grafted it onto the 81. His father also took a front clip from a 69 to put it on the front. You can go to the Digital Corvettes forum and see the pics of the conversion. I dont like the extended flares on the car but the car looks good. He left a good template as to one way to make this conversion. I'm sure he could have bought a chrome bumper car but I can gaurentee you that the cost of the parts and him doing the work came out way cheaper than buying a chrome bumper car. I think he is also considering making a bolt on kamm style bumper for later model C3's.

 

Superpowers.... where r u......

I bought my SS sidepipes and headers from him...got a quality product... I'd love to see a bumper kit

 

Sorry it took me so long to get in on this thread.

I have been busy creating fiberglass molds!! I am happy to say that I am now offering flares for the front and rear of the C3 Corvettes.

And yes the moment that all of you have been waiting for.... The official chrome bumper conversion kits are available for order!!!!

Here are the details of what I am currently offering.

Mistress and Kaos rear flares. These are not your ordinary flares, each style has had hundreds of hours of refining and blending. And the best part. For those of you that may not be an expert at body work. These flares come as a complete quarter panel with and alignment flange. All you have to do is hook the new panel on and cut it and the original panel below with a die grinder at the binding strip and then you will have a perfectly matched edge at which you can glue the new fender on and then just blend at the bonding strips.

Kaos front flares that are available as a complete quarter panel. Same procedure as the rears except that you will need to install your choice of gills/vents.

Mistress filled front fenders. These are stock style fenders except that they have been reworked to look like they are flared to match the rears.

Chrome bumper front hood surrounds. Long hood and short hood.

Rear bolt on chrome bumper conversion bumper cover for 1974-1982 Corvettes. Yes that is correct bolt on. For those of you that hate your plastic rear bumpers but maybe have a good paint job or are not up to the task of the conversion than this is for you. Take your crappy rubber bumper off and bolt this one on. It even has the late model side marker lights so you can reuse yours. You should be able to reuse your factory crash bar underneath. I am still fine tuning these but they are available for pre-order. You will either have to custom fabricate brackets to support a set of chrome bumpers or wait till I have the fiberglass knock offs done. I am going to be casting the factory chrome bumpers out of fiberglass and then have them chromed so that they can simply bolt onto the bumper cover.

Custom Image modified chrome bumper conversion for 68-82 Corvettes. Tired of the same old looking chrome bumper rear end. Well you guys will love these. There are again two options, the Kaos and the Mistress. Each one has an "enhanced" duck tail spoiler. The Mistress goes out and up, but goes up alot higher. Kaos goes out and up but goes out farther creating a really cool cove look under the spoiler. Each of them has the modern C5 rear script and soon will have the option of a C6 rear script and can have the lower valance panel molded in. You can also have just the option of either spoiler or just the rear C5 script. Lots of options here.


No I don't have any pictures of the actual parts yet but I will very soon. I am also working on alot of other cool custom parts for the C3 vettes.

Coming soon.

An all new hood style!

1 piece targa top

lower front spoiler

stock fenders and quarter panels for 68-72 corvettes.

convertible rear deck

convertible deck lid

the list shall keep growing...


this has taken along time to get this together and I am so happy that it is finally going. I couldn't have done it with out the countless hours of help from my dad and I need to give a huge shout out to the World Famous Fiberglass Mike for coming over to Iowa for 2 weeks to help make the molds and to show me "how it is done". And of course to Mistress and Kaos for donating their gorgeous black paint jobs so that all of you can have flared chrome bumper Corvettes!

Call me or email me to place your order and to get further details.

Josh Powers
CustomImageCorvettes@gmail.com
507-581-3076

Mistress:
















Kaos:

 

I have a 73 with a fiberglass front bumper cover. I like the longer nose of the 73 vs. the 68 - 72. My idea is to take a chrome bumper and cut/weld/reshape to fit the 73 nose. Then I would have the good looks of the 73 nose with a chrome bumper to balance out the back.

 

Let's do a trade plus give me some cash for my '76?

Edit: Wait, this thread is five years old. I want way more cash for the trade!

 

Hi Tjp,
Welcome!
First Post!!
People often talk about adding the 68-72 chrome bumper look to their 73+ cars.
I believe that what you're suggesting would a lot of work and I'm wondering how you think you may support the bumper. What bracketry would you use?
Regards,
Alan

 

I agree it would not be cheap since the bump would have to be rechromed. I believe with the fiberglass bumper cover and proper reinforcement the bumper could be supported by the bumper cover itself. I probably won't do it since the stock look is really growing on me. It was just my thought since everyone else always talked about having to change the whole front clip. I just thought it would be a less costly and labor intensive alternative. Plus it would be fairly easily reversible.