That's the email adress on his card that he scratched through that he said didn't work anymore.. I'm afraid unless he calls me Facebook is the only way I can contact him.

 

Weird, I just talked with him via that email a day or two ago...I am getting fiberglass bumpers from him

 

Maybe I misunderstood him.boy that makes things easy.

 

I think if this guy could market this, he would sell a lot of them. It looks good.

As for blending in the seams, I know I am the odd ball on this, but I actually like the seams. I think when they are blended in, the car looks too much like a kit car,....like a Bradley GT, and I really don't think it adds anything. Of course, that is based on my requirement that the seams are very tight. My paint job cost a lot more because of my demands that all seams and gaps were tight and parallel.

 

No way lol and sorry to brady owners but i have never seen a c3 with filled seams look like a kit car...i wish my bradly had looked like a vette...While a good body man can fill seams that never ghost...my 73 front clip had a filled bumper that looked great I agree with you on this some seams add styling, to my eyes perhaps like pinstripes...wanting hood seams is why my tilt front clip is taking longer.....this threads conversion kit is to tribute the 68-72/73s with chrome bumpers so lots of people likely will fill the seams in their build...but yeah looks cool with the seams too.
So basically I'm saying no wrong way on this one...builder does it the way it makes them happy and the look is stunning.

 

Custom Image Corvettes also offers conversion pieces and bumpers. Their design is a little different then the above. FYI

 

My vote is for seams...and it is not that I am not capable of molding them in. It has to do with future service functions if the car is needing work done on it.

I have yet to see a Corvette in person with molded in bumper covers where I can find a line somewhere....or even a crack beginning at the very bottom of the bumper cover where it stops. If the car is driven and out in the sun...generally...something will show up.

Mold them in if you choose...just be prepared to be willing to spend more time working around the bumper covers being molded in if you have to get to some areas. I have had to work on Corvettes with the bumper covers molded in...and the work can be done..it often times may take a different procedure to do whatever is needing to be done. AND yes..I have even pulled bodies off the frame...so it can be done...but the procedure and figuring in some other dynamics will need to be used to be successful in that. But it can be done nonetheless.

But also consider this....just in case a person has not though of this. If the front or rear gets hit enough to damage the rear bumper....and it is bad enough that it needs to be cut off and re-done....that will be much more than if the bumper cover was NOT molded in. And I have seen them get hit hard enough to damage the cover and also cause a crack in the seam area...but the actual damage to the cover could be somewhat easily repaired...thus it would not need to be cut off....but now with a crack in the seam...it open up an entirely different repair procedure. If none of this matters to whoever...no problem by me...because I guess the insurance will cover it. But do not be shocked in how much it costs.

I have form fitted the rigid fiberglass bumper for so many years now.... I can get the seam perfect.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-corvette.html

DUB

 

Of course filling and blending seams is completely a personal taste. But the technical truth that Dub speaks of is a real consideration. And as much as I would like to admire a fully blended car with all bumper seams filled, I just don't like it. It somehow just looks kit car to me...it looks cheap. Imagine the car if you could fill in the hood gaps and door gaps.....would it look better? I wouldn't like it. I can't explain it, but styling is a personal thing, there is no right or wrong, except for your own car.

 

I really do like this posted bumper conversion.....If I was back at the start of my 77 restoration, I would be doing it. I will mention that probably every ounce of rear bumper protection has been removed from that car.....you get a rear end collision, its going straight into the gas tank....and that is going to be a fire.

 

I can't say I ever thought too deeply or hard about it...I do know I wanted the hood seam so in that my tilt front clip takes extra work to have a functional hood than a one piece tilt clip which I also still like,
My 69 doesn't have bumper caps like 74-82 so i have no seams there and while I have owned the different years styles of c3 the 68-72/3 are hands down my favorite...others must feel that way too or conversions like this wouldn't be so darn sought after and popular and if i did it it would likely be molded in, and no one should care , while Don's isn't the only one out there to me it's the only one that captures the feel the spirt of the vintage chromies.....as a life long customizer I really do not get too hung up on things that your more regimented in the box folks do..if that makes them happy I am all for it...i simply do not have any interest in being told how I should build my car else its wrong or telling others how they should build theirs...if we all built the same how very boring the hobby would be.

 

Where do we vote? I also like the seams.

 

I would mould the seam in. I am getting rid of mine front and rear. Think it looks much better.

 

I am all for customizing a car. Gosh knows I have done my fair share. Including molding in the bumper covers in the past. So if I came across that I am stuck in only what the factory did...that just is not true.

Now the interesting part is if I like what is being done to it or not. And trust me..I can really be 'out there' and do some crazy stuff. But...sometimes there is not enough money someone can pay me to do something that I fell is hideous or ridiculous.

And I do have a limit...and the photo below just past it. Some may like it...which is fine...but not me.



DUB

 

I agree, that's just stupid.

 

so to get back to the original thread.... Say I decide to do this I understand IF I remove the impact bumpers I loose all the impact protection and my Vette may turn into a Pinto in case of a rear end collision. What protects an original chrome bumper car??? The front and rear bumpers are pretty much decoration correct?

 

Correct. You will have made the later model car as unsafe as the early cars. I have no problem with it, just making the point so people are aware of something they may not realize. I would do this mod to my 77 if I were starting over.

 

Its way beyond stupid.....but, its a cultural thing.

 

Thanks for steering back to threads topic,
I guess the stock 68-72/3 chrome bumpers do not do much in the way of protection but I also do not see any chrome bumpers owners all in a tizzle over it and never heard of any year corvette compared to a pinto before...I worry about some things I even have nervious issues but this is one thing I haven't and won't ever worry about.

 

I was wondering what is left of the rear bumper system on this guys mod. Looking at the pictures, and knowing what is under a 77/78/79 rear bumper cover, I don't even think the factory cross bar or even the bumper shock mounts, could still be there. There just does not appear to be enough room. So, all that is in between a rear end collision and the gas tank is the rear tank mount cross bar, which would not prevent the fuel tank from being torn open and a thin fiberglass rear bumper cover.

Maybe there is enough room to weld in a heavy C channel, similar to early C3 Corvettes. Just curious.

If Priya is reading, what are you going to do on your conversion about the cross bar.

 

I can not find the photos you looked at...so I am only going off of it still being a facotry um-modified car. I looked throguh many of his previous threads but can not find anything.

You wrote that you a have a 1976. 1976 Corvettes as you know do not have chrome bumpers so why are you now referring or asking about removing chrome bumpers in your post????

Yes...the chrome bumpers...are....when compared to current impact standards ...basically a decoration. They do have some value in impact absorption...but are limited in what they can absorb before they completely fail.

NOW...on your 1976. You remove the painted covers...BUT NOT the impact bars behind them. And I honestly do not care about what anyone thinks otherwise. Removing an impact bar...is completely insane....UNLESS your car is going to be in a museum for the rest of its days and never driven. But if it is out on the road.. only an idiot would remove factory installed impact safety components....and YEAH....I wrote that. Kinda like taking out your seat belts to save weight.

And if a person has the mentality that they feel because the earlier Corvette did not have any impact safety structure....why can't I remove what I have. Well....that way of thinking can get you hauled into a court of law if the passenger you have in your car with you with NO factory impact structure gets injured and it is found out that you removed these parts......or are driving a car with improper equipment.

I can say...that I have never had a rigid fiberglass bumper cover not be able to be installed and I maintained all factory impact components.

DUB