Can a bumper this far gone be brought back to life? Its a 64 galaxie rear bumper ( hard to find without rust ) Would this p*** as a core If so who could save this? Thanks for any info
Looks pretty rough, but ANYTHING can be saved with enough work. Like George Carlin once said, "Anywhere is within walking distance if you have enough time". I'd keep my eyes open for a better start, though. Could end up costing more to fix it than to find a good one and have it shipped to you.
i had my bumpers reconditioned by Northstar in Brainerd, MN. they do a lot of bumpers, and did a fantastic job on mine. basically told me that i can bring in anything twisted and torn, but not rusted through the surface. of course, i'm sure you could find a craftsman to $fix$ it, but as mentioned above, prob better to find another core. call Northstar maybe they have a core for you, or maybe they changed their mind on fixing rust.
I'd hold out for a good one. I've seen used ones sell for 50-400 bucks. I can almost bet it would cost closer to $400 to fix that one if they can even do it.
In some cold climates, (not sure where this car was born) they salt the roads for ice. The back tires, especially the right side, throw salty slush into the rear bumper and it packs there, rotting away the metal until it thaws or gets knocked out by a bump. Then it happens again and again. A dozen years of that and Phthtpthththpppth! Rotted bumper.
The Bumper Boys are at a lot of shows. When I lived in Florida, we would give then old ones and we would catch them at a show not to far away. They would tell us at what show they would have it and we would go and kill 2 birds, cause we got to go to the show and get the bumpers. Worked for us. Iceman
go to Keystone in Charlotte, they will send them to Brainerd, Mn plant & Chris & his guys will take care of them for ya. look at spending about 150-200 extra if the bumper needs to be patched.
hey, Are the pits deeper than 1/32th"? If not than they should grind & polish out. You can probably save you some money by gringing off the chrome and grinding out the pits. Jus treat it as if you were going to prep it for a coat of paint. No scratches, pits or waves left in the metal. If there are any, they will either charge you a core, or worse yet, plate over them! S****ey Devils C.C. "Meanwhile, back aboard The Tainted Pork"
The 64 Galaxies have a support piece behind the bumper that goes between the bumper brackets. It is like a piece of C channel, and I think the open end faces the inside of the bumper. So all the mud, moisture, salt and other **** gets stuck in there and rots the bumper from the INSIDE out. If you see that much rust on the outside, its pretty much done. It is very common on the 64's to do this, and is the reason clean cores go for alot of money.
You could check with dearborn cl***ics, they are in orgeon, lots of ford stuff. May find out its cheaper than fixing. However, a little sweat equity never hurts, you could weld in new metal and get it replated.
He beat me to it. Northstar in Brainard, MN is the place, without question, though now they're called Keystone. I did a couple of stories with them for magazines, John Balow at Muscle Car Restorations used them for years on concours-quality restorations (Including very, very expensive muscle cars), Gerry Burger at Rodder's Digest sent his '57 Ranch Wagon bumpers to him on my recommendation and was very happy with the price and the quality, and I sent them a bent, dented and twisted rear bumper for my '62 Suburban that had several extra holes drilled in it plus a big hole cut with a torch. The Suburban bumper is pretty rare...it'd make that Ford bumper look like they grow on trees. Mine turned out flawless. They know their stuff--when I spoke with the manager of the place, he pointed out that the '60-'62 bumpers are different than '63-'66 bumpers (mounting holes are in different spots), and that the Suburban rear bumper was different than the other truck bumpers. When I did the stories, they had no problem replacing sections that were rotted away. They've got a whole shop of anvils and pneumatic machines with guys straightening them, they've got a room with templates for everything that they match the bumpers up to, will Tig in any new material (my bumper required a couple patches) and will grind it all smooth. As far as I was concerned, the grinding operation is what sets them above other shops: they have belt sanders on sliding rigs, with pneumatic clamps to hold the bumpers at particular angles, and they sand the bumpers with 3-foot long sanding belts, so you don't get any waves--unlike a small shop using a 7-inch grinder. They do plating for the Big Three, mainly truck bumpers. The Big Three don't like peeling chrome, thin chrome and rust in 6 months. They plate, polish and chrome our bumpers with the same process. Do I sound like I drank the CoolAid? Yeah. I won't send my stuff anywhere else. Their return policy is also excellent, should there be a problem. On my bumper, a previous owner drilled two holes that were mistake for mounting bolt holes, so they didn't fill them. They re-did the whole process no problems. But best of all, their prices are really low. I called around, just to get the numbers, and Keystone beat everyone by a couple hundred bucks. (218) 829-4063 -Brad
Exactly. Here's a before pic of mine to give you an idea of where to look for rust thru. Those rust spots on both sides of the license plate area are holes are all the way thru the bumper, from the back side out. I would look at this area real close, the chrome on mine was basicly holding the bumper together. Once I got it off, the bumper had huge holes all the way thru. I couldn't believe the pile of rust that fell out. I scored a rechromed bumber off e-bay, but it wasn't cheap!
Check E ba y they are repoping them now for about 650. I patched and painted mine. My car doesnt rate a 650 bumper yet.
Beware of Bumper Boyz. I bought a rear bumper at a show and ordered the front. They front showed up and looked like ****. It had an "S" welded on the backside. I am ***umimg it meant "S"cam. I sent it back and waited six months cancelled the order with the credit card company just before some time limit expired. Then they called and shiiped one C.O.D. Lets just say I brought a knife and opened it first. FYI ups doesnt like it when you do that. Check the BBB.
Good bumpers are always hard to find. I will tell you another thing; front bumper gaurds for a 64 are EXPENSIVE, and hard to find. Good thing the 64 Galaxie wagon that I bought and drove home for $700.00 came w/an extra rear bumper, and front gaurds!
you can cut out bad piece and replace it with new. looked at lots of custom bumpers at art br*** in seattle wa. and guys just cut and weld. what is it going to hurt to try and fix it, you say its junk because of the rust. if you had a hole in your floorboard you would weld in repair panel,same thing.
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