Send help! Saving a '76 from the sure death of becoming a "race car". Wife and I are doing our best to bring it back to a nice looking "going to town rig" but the bumper covers are too far gone. I'm looking for fiberglass replacements, not the flexy ones. Most of what we've had to buy has come from Zip, but they don't appear to carry fiberglass for '76. Corvette Central has some but they don't say who the manufacturer is. I want made in the USA, real deal, good fitting parts. I've heard of ITS, ACI and Eckler's but before I buy I would really like some input from the community. Is there a standout on which is the better fit, quality or bang for the buck? Thanks for any input!

 

I have a Ecklers glass front bumper on my 75, good fitting ?, it needed some minor work, they all will. just saying.

 

I have a fair bit of ACI glass on my car. Nice stuff.
But as stated above, all will need fitting work. These cars are just not all exactly the same. Absolutely none will just bolt on, done.
It is what it is.

 

Thanks for the replies. I'm gonna make a confession. I bought a knockoff from the bay of e thinking I would save some money. I apologize to everyone here, to Chevrolet, to every Vette owner, to every Vet, to America and to the good Lord above for thinking it was OK to put a piece of garbage from China on an American classic. Dumb idea I know. My justification was that they all need glass work to make them fit so however bad it is I'll make it fit. I have glass experience so I'll just use it as a base if necessary. I was wrong! It was beyond useless! I would do better to look at a picture and try to replicate one from scratch with my eyes closed! So that's the reason for the post. I can handle the expected fitment issues but I'm willing to pay for quality. I have accepted my own philosophy...if you can't afford to do it right, you can't afford to do it. Thanks again! I'll check into ACI and Ecklers.

 

ACI hood, side and rear skirts and rear bumper cover.
been on for many, many years.

 

Neither Central nor Eckler's make their own fiberglass parts.

Central owns the molds for some hoods that they have made by Fiber Concepts in PA, but the rest of their fiberglass they buy from Corvette Concepts, ACI, etc. Eckler's use to make their own fiberglass, but got out of that business many years ago. Eckler's was getting most of their fiberglass from Stinger Fiberglass in Florida, but Stinger recently went out of business. I don't know if Eckler's financial troubles the last couple years had anything to do with Stinger closing, but I think most of what they made was for Eckler's? I wasn't overly impressed with the glass coming from Stinger, though it was not my favorite it was okay, and it's still never good to lose a parts source. With Stinger's closing I don't know who Eckler's is getting glass from, or if Eckler's new owners have even made any plans to sell fiberglass parts yet?

The best fiberglass bumper covers are the ones from ACI, either their rigid glass ones, or their Tru-Flex brand. My personal preference is the Tru-Flex ones, but there's nothing wrong with their rigid ones either.

I don't care where you get your fiberglass bumper covers from, they all will need some to properly fit your body. After 40 or 50 years, none of these cars are the same as they were when new. The thing nice about the fiberglass bumpers is that you can fill and grind on them to get a proper fit, something you can't do if you're trying to fit a urethane bumper cover.

 

I'd look at ACI's site.

And these threads, before you make the mistake of picking a stock rear bumper.

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