I was thinking about putting a 1949-50 Chevy license plate guard on my 55 Ford Rear bumper. Just wondering if anyone has done this? I modified one to fit the rear of my Fleetline years ago that had a Pontiac bumper. I ended up grinding it to match the contour. I had a cheap one that I had picked up that needed re-chroming anyway. Just wondering what it would look like. The guard in question below.
I think it would look fine, but I suspect you may have to add some metal to get a good fit. If you move the plate, what are you going to do about the gas fill?
50's did not have those lic guards, they are 49 chev. weld it to your bumper, smooth the welds, then get it chromed....
That’s going to take a lot of grinding to match the bumper. Are you moving the gas filler inside the trunk?
I dunno. I had forgotten about that until Crazy Steve mentioned it. I already have a brand new tank, so I am not planning on moving it...
brand new tanks are easy to cut and weld on cuz they have never had gas in them. Real customs have the fuel filler in the trunk
I'll hafta look at it. It may have the rubber coupling close to the tank. I drug all the hot rods down to the new place. All that is left are the oil stains.
I looked at the back of mine last night and the trunk opening will not be an issue. However, like others have stated, the gas filler will be the real issue.
I just found/bought one of those guards at a junkyard a couple weeks ago, thinking of using it on the front of my '41 Cadillac. If you've got one of your stock bumper guards, take it off and trace the cutout on the back side to a piece of cardboard, cut out the cardboard and lay it over the '49 guard (assuming you have one in hand), should show you how much you'd have to cut, or if you would have to add any material.
If you don't have one, but you want to see what cutting it would take before you buy one, trace that pattern out and mail it to me, I'll overlay it onto my guard and take some pictures. Would only cost a stamp for a paper pattern, you could fold it up.
Or you could grab a profile gauge from a hardware store and press it up angainst the bumper then trace that onto paper/card, only a few bucks and a handy tool to have!
I have a profile gauge. I use it for everything. I'll have to look at the car this weekend when I head to the property. I was just hoping someone had a pic. All of my old hot rod mags and custom mags are boxed up for the move.
Joe Blow found and posted his photos before I could dig up the shot of the back of a friend's Vic without the guard but that guard works. I've got the rusty old Chevy license guard that I got in the Auction of Bob-K's stuff that would only be a wall hanger but as I have to do a lot of profile cutting to get it to fit my 49 Plymouth bumper any how I figure to use it to get the profile to fit the bumper and strip the rust and do what I need to do to get it in shape for chrome.
Looks great on the '56 Customline that Joe Blow posted above, but would definitely require re-locating the gas tank filler neck.
Love those guards, put one on the front and back of my avatar, and on the rear of my stock, tucked in rear bumper of my 56 F-100.
I like you are thinking out of the box, but I wouldn't use the Chevy License plate guard. I would like to see a smooth bumper. I would suggest ya find a kool frame. I've been running this one on the Merc for years, has a kustom look and its easy. Sometime kool can be easy.
Looks just right to me too and I would look at customizing it. If you're going to grind/cut the profile, weld to the bumper and chrome - as Mark suggested, I would cut out a center section out of the guard so that it fits the size of the plate you're using and no bumper shows around the plate. Only caveat would be it looks like the guard verticals would be over the bumper bolt mounts......with a standard plate.
I have used a few of them. I usually grind them to the profile, then open up a rectangle in the cross bar and add an LED tag light. You never see it until it's on.
The Jalopy Journal
