I'm on another one of my ADD rabbit holes again, and I was thinking about some affordable bumper options for my 47 Ford coupe just in case I can't salvage mine.
I was thinking more OEM. I know the ribbed Plymouth bumpers are going for gold, but would a Chevy bumper be a cheaper option that would fit on my car?
Can we see the condition of your current bumpers? I always thought AD chevy truck bumpers looked like the could fit
I think I read that the reproduction 1949 through 1952 Chevy bumpers are available for reasonable prices.
Custom made Nerf bars have been one of my fav. for a long time,on almost anything. I do think they look best on cars with rolled pan.
This is the best pic I have right now. The driver's side of the bumper, and the horn need to be straightened out. I can get a pic of the back bumper later, but they're both peeling and pretty pitted and rusty.
That’s pretty straight I’d be tempted to take them down to bare metal and find a suitable finish maybe from KBS coatings to make them look nice They’ve got some great stuff and even a new clear that’s supposed to be good for bare metal I spent a long time finding bumpers for my 46 that were better than I had because the repops are so much cash. As an aside 46 bumpers irons and over riders are not the same as 47-8 and won’t bolt on with out modification.
Does it take much to straighten the bumper and horn? They're aren't horribly mangled but they're bent enough to notice.
Absolutely!..Almost anything with a proper roll pan can be very cool with nerf bars and you can create a style that’s all your own.
topher5150: Consider making a custom bumper out of the bumper you already have. For instance: Section the bumper guards on the stock bumper to make them look less prominent, turn the bumper upside down and see how it would look with sectioned bumper guards and turn the sectioned bumper guards upside down on the upside down bumper.
I think a 47-54 chev pickup bumper may work, maybe someone here could do some measuring for you. would probably require mods to the splash pan but seems cheap repop at a couple of hundred bucks.... I looked at the same vintage chev p*** cars and it looked to me like the ends curved back too far https://www.cl***icparts.com/1947-5...fuc15Z4Dqqz0ucRtDod2AUyHVHlBf_BQaAvqxEALw_wcB
They are pretty thick I bet you can hammer them into shape with out going to far. Send me a DM With a shot of the dents etc and I’ll walk you threw how I’d go about getting them in better shape
I'm a fan of removing the bumper guards. The bumpers look cleaner without them to my eye. If you're building a custom...then looking for a licence surround from slightly newer/different vehicle is another way to go. For example, 50's era Pontiacs were used a fair bit.
Don’t give up on the 49 Plymouth bumpers. I’ve been using them on some builds since the 70’ s when you could buy them cheap. The last set I found on FB market place got $150. Be aware that you may end up using 2 fronts. Regardless of what you may read the fronts and back aren’t the same. The rear one wraps around the corner much farther then the front. You can trim it done to fit your needs. I’m using them on my current build. Custom 49 Dodge Coronet. I will have to lengthen the front bumper as the Dodge is much wider then the Plymouth. Torchie
Well I bought last summer and they were in Ohio. But now they aren’t. So who knows. I’ll keep my eyes peeled for any more. Torchie
Don't discount repairing and chrome plating your own bumpers. The local shop who just did mine are very reasonable and do quality work. Looks like $385 ea for your bumpers and $85 per guard. One of my guards had a pretty good dent and they repaired it for an additional $15. https://www.atbumpers.com/ford-car
Not cheap, @evintho ... But not nearly as expensive as I might've guessed. Doable. And look how nice.
Quick Glow might clean them up enough to use for a while until you can rechrome or find an option. I agree with @dana barlow as well NERFS!
Keep in mind that photo is distorted. However, the nerf bar idea looks good. That Chevy liscense frame might look better if combined with some custom made horizontal bumper.
@TrailerTrashToo has a similar design idea an open nerf bar design to keep the front wide coverage, but to not have a solid bumper taking away from the build and style. Nice… Picture the tubular nerf bar bumper on the reddish 1947 Ford Coupe and it would fit right in to the 2022 Valentine’s Day display post for today. Hello, My brother and I always like the custom nerf bars that we saw on hot rods and show cars. Practical street bumper protection was not a topic of discussion, as the nerf bars offered little in the way of bumper to bumper collisions. But, at the time, no one thought of the outcome for their hot rods that way. It was a pure styling issue and the custom made nerf bars on just about any coupe or sedan made the hot rod cool looking. When we were building our model cars, from the t-bucket to coupes and sedans, we had access to some small wax rods that were able to be shaped to any design with a little heat applied. They were jeweler’s custom design implements. Curving around in any design, melting short portions together then creating the whole ring design in a “lost wax” pour design was very cool way to make custom jewelry. But, for us, we had custom made front and rear nerf bars that were similar to the original chrome bumper, but the center section was taken out and the cool round bars curved back to fit the form of the front fenders or tires. For your 1947 Ford coupe, the front is a little large and the stock or smooth front bumper, as nice as it looks, shows the front end as being big/and sticks out. But, if the tubular nerf bar is in the same place, the color of the car comes through and the style would be a little less accentuating the large front end design. Jnaki Over the years in hot rodding, there were plenty of hot rod shops and local welding shops that could create custom nerf bars to fit every front fender arrangement. The rears were just as nice when they had custom fit custom made nerf bars, too. But, alas, the nerf bars were not for everyone. https://www.mcmillanrodandcustom.com/nerfchinbars.html In doing some research, if people and shops were still doing some custom nerf bar designs and applications, I came across this company. Mc Millan Rod & Custom Their work seems pretty good and the Midwest folks, probably already know of this custom hot rod shop.
Thats looks good and really cheap!I paid for the bumpers, horn and the special bolts 900 dollars here in Sweden!
That's almost what I paid for my car. Kind of ****s that anytime those deals pop up like that I would end up driving 5-6 hours one way.
This nerf bar came as a weld together kit from Speedway - on sale for $78.99 at this moment. https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Nerf-Bar-Kit,3401.html Ed Smoot of Smooth Engineering came up with the idea of vee-ing the front bumper to match the angle of the front valence. Russ
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