Features Smoothed '58 Chevrolet bumper. No more plate recess!

I thought maybe some of you might find this modification for '58 Chevrolets as appealing as I do

I started with a standard, 3-piece bumper and built a jig off of it after straightening and squaring the donor, before disassembling it, of course. The new, smooth middle section was then made from properly sized mild steel, in left and right halves, trimmed, welded, and sanded smooth before some hammer and dolly work was performed. I was not as proficient of a metal man when I made this one, so a little lead was used to take up the minor inconsistencies before being sent to the plater where they properly flash-plated it, and worked their magic from there.

I think it makes for a very nice, smooth look on the front of the car, and have been quite surprised to see that it has very rarely been done. I would like to see more of these on the '58 bodies, myself.

Edit: not my car. It is a '58 Del Ray sedan delivery that belonged to a client of mine and a really good guy, who has since passed. Imperial Kustom Ltd. Co. Is actually the name of my metalshaping business...

I hope you enjoy the photos!

 

Sweet.

 

I dig it. The peak is reminds me of a 59 front bumper.

 

Looks great!

 

Very nicely done.
What are your plans fir the rear plate?

 

DAM, I mean that looks 58 times better what Chevy did with it.
Thank You Imperial Kustom.
What's honkin' under the hood?

 

After looking at your first pic, I just gotta say "DAM"!


Kind of a minor change that makes a big, big difference.

 

None. Originally we were going to do a similar treatment, but the owner passed before we got to the rear. He was an awesome guy.

 

The car belonged to a client and good guy who has since passed. It had a late-90's LT-1 in it, though.

 

Yes
That looks really good!!!!

 

See modifications like this make me feel like there's two people in my head. First one(the kill joy) thinks it simplified the front too much. The other one thinks it makes it look sleek and almost like an artists rendering instead of a real car. Honestly in my opinion that's a sign of a good modification. Should not have any middle ground when it comes to spectator reaction lol

 

Yep, one of those subtle changes that makes you scratch your head and have to think twice about whether it is factory or not. These are my kind of custom treatments when you see something to clean up an area like the manufacturer should have. I like it!

 

I like it! Nice job!

 

That is nice, As Guthriesmith said, a subtle change that just works. That is if you don't get hassled for no front plate in Idaho.

 

moremoremore ...more pictures of this C-Dan delivery please

 

looking good.

 

Very nice modification. Looks simple but there’s a lot of hours of labor to make it look right . Like a factory option . There be guys looking at that and saying my uncle had one just like that from the factory. It was a special option he paid through the nose for it . Or it was made for states that didn’t require front tags .

 

SUPER clean look! Nice job!

 

I love it and looks like something out of Valley Customs back in the day. I had no idea that they could plate lead.
I welded up a modified ‘54 Oldsmobile grill one time and used stainless wire when I TIG welded it up and the plater hated me and told me that it took a special process to plate mixed metals. Leave it up to me to shoot myself in the foot

 

It takes a special process called flash plating, possibly the same process it took to plate over your stainless. While I'm not exactly sure what that is, Ogden Chrome knocked it out of the park.

 

Idaho definitely has front plate laws and almost exclusively hassles older vehicles to enforce it. Most of us just pay the ticket and keep our front bumpers smooth.

 

With everything that went into this from beginning to end, between my labor and having it chromed, this modification cost almost exactly $3000. While things have gone up considerably in the number of years since, at the time the owner said it was worth every penny. That meant a lot to me as he was notoriously tight with his money. But, he always came back for more, so I must have been doing right by him. RIP Bob McDonald.

 

Great job, just what the front needed. Wonder if something similar could be done on the rear? In the mid 60's I had 58 Bel Air 2 door hardtop, 348/4 speed, white with the 2 tone silver interior. Have searched for an identical car for years. At the time I had no idea how few of them they made.

 

It could absolutely be done to the rear. It is only metal, afterall.

The owner and I intended to smooth the rear bumper as well, before his passing.

 

We need more content like this on here. Outstanding work.

 

I always thought that the '58 had a somewhat dated look for its time. What you did there is to impart a bit of early '60s styling like someone doing it in the early '60s.
I had gotten tired of seeing those horizontal, slated grilles everywhere back then in those days. I blame the J.C. Whitney mail-order grilles for that. But for some reason, your grille strikes just the right note with me.
That slight misalignment of the chrome strip on the hood front is driving me nuts, though.

 

Bumper is beautiful!!

 

In early 1965 I too bought a ‘58 Bel Air 2 dr hardtop. Mine was a 283 Powerglide. I knew it wasn’t common even then, but it wasn’t until some years later that I began casually looking for another one. Have only seen fewer than a handful over a couple of decades. I preferred the proportions of the Bel Air roofline over the much more plentiful Impala.

Ray

 

It sadly seems that this is no longer the kind of content the H.A.M.B. wants or appreciates. The technical stuff just goes by the wayside.