Technical ‘37 Ford With An Aftermarket Desoto Bumper Question

So I spent a a few hours today and got the bumper brackets where they needed to be and new holes drilled in the brackets to mount the bumper. Very happy with the new look. I have everything bolted up, and now will remove the license plate frame to polish the bumper (it bolts through the bumper brackets so needed it in place to get everything where I wanted it).
The driver’s side exhaust was about a half inch longer than the p***enger side so I trimmed that while I was at it. I need to pick up some exhaust tips. Have some identified in my mind, just need to find them.
Not sure how to polish the bumper as there is some pretty good oxidation on it..... maybe a polishing pad and some kind of compound? Any advice would be appreciated.
In the interim, I’ve got some mag polish I’m going to try, hopefully I don’t end up with Popeye arms.......

 

@Al T

I think it is possible/likely those bumpers were anodized when new. I recently watched a tv show about restoring a late ‘60/‘70s European car that had all the side window frames trimmed with anodized aluminum. When weathered, it gets a cloudy look to it. The fellow restoring the car went to a specialty shop that chemically removes the anodizing and then polished the now bare aluminum to a high shine. The anodizing actually creates a transparent ‘crust’ like coating on the metal.

Once that is significantly ‘tarnished’, ‘oxidized’ or whatever is the correct term, it has to be removed to shine the underlying metal After watching this program, it occurred to me I had come across that same information some years ago regarding restoring anodized finishes.

If you are lucky, the bumpers were just polished aluminum, no anodizing, and they’ll ‘Buff Out”!

Ray

 

Ray,
Great comment! I have no idea.
I know when I drilled the new holes in the brackets it looked like virgin aluminum, but who knows what they were coated with?

 

It’s not so likely the brackets were anodized. Regardless if the bumpers are, or not, the brackets probably are made of roll milled aluminum.

Ray

 

Very good point!