Hot Rods Bumperless cars & trucks

I remember guys jacking up the back of the hood,these were everyday hot rods. HRP

 

I pulled the front bumper on my '55 Chevy and my brother and I made a tow bar that bolted to the bumper bolt holes in the frame. Used the tow bar to pull the car to the old Houston International drag strip in ****inson, Texas. I'd run it for a while without the bumper, then put it back on for a while. It was pretty easy to take the bumper off and put it back on (of course I could get up and down off the driveway a lot easier thern). I also had three different third members for the rear end. 4.11, 3.55, and 3.08. I'd swap them out according to what I was doing with the car. 4.11's for the strip, 3.08's for road trips, and the 3.55's for everyday driving.

 

1953-56 Effy's look fantastic sans bumper!
Not my truck(I wish).

 

How about 1933 & 1940-41 Willys or 1939-40 Fords, they need some love too!

 

I'm not fond of original '32 bumpers, so I ran mine without for a while .

 

I didn't have a front bumper on the 55 Chevy Hardtop that I drove in High School. Contrary to how most were at the time it was lowered all around and not raised. 30+ years later I still haven't put on a front bumper.

My full fendered '29 Coupe has been bumperless for 30 years as well.

 

I never had a bumper on my Model A pickup but I have seen '32 bumperss on Model A's and IMHO they are much more attractive than the 2 piece Model A bumpers. HRP

 

Mine too! Ames, 1968


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The main reason for no bumpers on the Willys was drag racing...we were all trying to get as light as possible...a lot of us had steel tube bumpers on the back however, and we filled them with lead to get more weight on the rear wheels.
Here's 3 of mine...two with bumpers and one without. I like them all. g-willys

 

That black 56 Ford says “yeah I’m Badd” double “d” kinda Badd!All day long kinda “Badd”. Need I say More. [emoji13][emoji41] note* the 55 Ford grille...nice touch.


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I do think some look good with out a bumper or two but now way would I do it with all the idiots on the road around here.

 

I thought my 55 Buick would look like a g***er if I pulled the front bumper back in 1966. I had the custom aluminum painted wheels with beauty rings on it that faked a few guys out that thought I had chrome wheels.

 

When I got my '55 Chevy in 1970 no front bumper was the way to go. I later put the bumper back on but now I'm thinking it's time to take it back off. I've never had any bumpers on my '34 Chevy coupe.

 

First 55 Chevy I saw with a front bumper I thought something was wrong with it! That would have been early to mid 70's. Nobody ran a front bumper on a Tri 5 Chevy around here back then.
I've always thought the front bumpers on some of the 50's cars were plain ugly, like on Buicks and Caddys. Dagmars might have been the craze back then, but I think they looked better on her than on most of the cars!

 

Looked good in the past and still looks good.

 

Hey G,
When the Gas Coupe and Sedan cl*** was in full swing in So Cal, from 58-60, most of the racers had bumpers for the cars. After all, it was a street legal Gas Coupe and Sedan cl***. They had to be licensed for legal street use first, then be cl***ified in what ever cl*** they qualified. The bumpers, front and rear were standard. (License plates, head and tail lights, wipers, mufflers, etc. were part of the package.) As far as rear weights, again, everyone had different ways to put in the added weight to make a cl*** or two. Welded steel plates into the floor of the trunk, not only strengthened the floor and car rigidity, but, put the weight directly over the rear axle and tires.

The later 60s and into the 70s, the cl*** changed and allowed filled rear bumpers or solid bar bumpers, with no front bumpers. The so-called street legal everyday compe***or was beginning to get phased out with the cars becoming more race cars than daily drivers. The street Gas Coupe and Sedan cl*** went the same way as the next best cl*** in drag racing, the Street Legal Roadsters. When those two cl***es left drag racing, the little guy was no more.

Jnaki
We all grew up in different time eras of drag racing and those memories should pertain to those periods for specific changes, (66-67 was not 59-60), etc. Those changes should not be noted for the whole drag racing timeline ideas and set ups. Build and safety rules change with incidents in drag racing and that changes the whole scenario.

As far as street cars without bumpers, that was a personal thing per driver/owner. There was no reason for it unless it was for the Gas Coupe and Sedan cl*** racing. But then, the later rules also allowed fibergl*** front ends.

 

My old coupe did not have a front bumper. Got in the way of the one piece fibergl*** tilt front end.
Took the front bumper off my Morris minor and saved 4 lbs. It was a lot faster that way.

 

Sorry about the double photo post. I fat fingered it.

 

I always had a soft spot for the 54 Fords without a front bumper,I removed the front bumper on my car in 1966,not necessarily trying to emulate the g***er look but I hit a pole in a parking lot and bent it pretty badly.

This isn't my old car but take away the stance and whitewalls and it could be.HRP

 

Looks right on the '54 Chevy's also. HRP

 

the olds looks mean.

 

I joked with the boss lady about leaving the front bumper off her wagon,you can probably imagine how that went over! HRP

 

Weight transfer....all the guys did it at the drags....became the tough look....like you were a racer...some were....choose your street race accordingly.......and my old Stude truck's never had one...probably should.....

 

Yep:

 

I do that all the time !!! g-willys

 

Turnip, do you remember what effect it had on the E.T.?
When I was a kid in the late 60's (not old enuff to drive yet) a couple of teenage brothers down the street had a 56 and 57 chev with no front bumpers. The 57 had the front frame rails spray painted yellow to highlight them. My dad said they were dragsters. I never went to the track to see them race, but I saw them peel out on the street in front of their house. As a kid, I thought they looked really keen. I was sad when they left and never came back, heard they got sold.

 

In 1960 I was was racing my 58 chev in one of the stock cl***es...got my Willys going about '63. You are correct The gas cl***es had to have a machine that was streetable. I had no trailer, so I flat towed the car most all the time.
Our track must have been lenient, as they didn't make us put the front bumper back on at that time, if we had removed it to use the bumper braces to flat tow. I had made a tow bar that would bolt to those braces. The car was all steel and ran mostly in D & E gas, with a 283 chev. That was a long time ago, I may be off by a year or two...we stopped running it after 1966...no one ever complained, because we never won the cl***. g-willys

 

Over the years people have told me how heavy '57 Chevy bumpers are. A hundred pounds is the number spoken most often. That never seemed right. Well, to find out I weighed my bumper. The bumper, bullets, brackets, braces and bolts to mount it all came in at 54 pounds.