GTR1999

I need front & rear for a 75, which brand have you guys used what was the price range you found. How bad is the fit,can the bumper be fit without getting into the body?
Thanks,
Gary

NHvette

My 75 had an Eckler's fiberglass (before truflex was available) rear bumper.
It has the letter recesses and fit nearly perfect. Although the rear quarters
seem to have a little more play than the front. So, it can be made to fit
easier.

I'm lurking ... need to know the info for a front bumper on mine.

Oh - as Paul Borowski has clearly stated before ... flexible urethane is best,
as our cars were hand assembled to less than stringent tolerances. The flexible
cover helps to hide these inconsistencies.

:seeya

KenSny

I recently had the opportunity to compare Eckler's and Corvette Central's Flex rear bumpers side-by-side and do a trial fit on my '75.

I installed a 75 rear for a friend of mine on his 74. For all you purists out there don't even comment. The 74's split down the middle is just plain terrible looking. Guess GM was in one big hurry to get that on the 74 model to meet "saftery" concerns. On the 74 the 75 bumper install was a piece of cake - no big bumper absorber bar like the 75 so either fit pretty good.

On my 75 tho ---- The Eckler's piece fit the best. Less parts to remove from the absorber bar, no cutting with the sawzall, etc and only a little blending of the outside to the fender and deck panels. Costs a bit more ($40-50).

If you think you are going to just bolt up the new bumper and have it look good, you are in for a suprise no matter which rear bumper you get. These are not going to fit as easy as the original urethane, but it will look one heck of a lot better in the years to come when a new urethane begins to warp....

BTW: Just so the supporting vendors don't take offense. This is my opinion only and I am only stating my experience with both of them examined on my car. Someone else's car may be different, their bumper absorber bar may not be aligned correctly, etc. Whatever!

jlsru

I just installed a flex unit on my 75 and am not happy with it at all.This is not a Ecklers unit.On the drivers side it fits really well but on the passenger side it sets in about a good one eight inch.I try to push it out but it wouldn;t move enough not much flex at all.I am afraid I will damage the body of my car if I put too much pressure on it.I even tried using a heat gun on it.Any suggestions.I want to have it painted in a couple of weeks.By the way I paid 300 dollars for mine.

HDFLH67

Ditto above; same exact scenario from MAD. I made some extra radial cuts on the inside lip to help with shaping, but it will still need some work before painting.

Stewart's74

I bought my front and rear from Bairs. They get them from Toledo Pro Fiberglass. As stated before some minor tweaking is required but now after paint, they look awesome.

CLICK TO ENLARGE



[Modified by Stewart's74, 1:26 PM 3/18/2004]

StingrayDK

:bs

JBR

Just got mine back from the shop, Ecklers fit wonderful very little fitting to do. :cheers:

KenSny

I believe Corvette Central's product is made by Toledo Pro Fiberglass.

To the '74 guy who said "BS" I got to say this: It's bad enough we can't have REAL chrome bumpers on our cars because the insurance companies didn't want to pay claims for "bumper dents" so they got some laws passed. But at least GM could have made an effort to make them look like someone thought about how it would look.... Maybe that's why it was split for only one year? Bad press? Maybe that's why you see so many cars with 80's style front & rear kits. Each to their own opinion. Enjoy your car the way you want it......

GTR1999

Stew from the picture that looks good,what type of tweeking did you have to do? Did you paint the car after fitting or just the bumper?
Thanks,
Gary

Stewart's74

The bumper was fit before the entire car was painted.
Opun trial fitting the rear bumper was approximately 1/8th of an inch too wide.
Some body filler was required on the left rear quarter panel.
Fits like a glove now.

J R C

I'll be having both of mine done this year ... the shop I'm using is great with fiberglass so it shouldn't be a problem (the whole car needs a repaint so I'm in the same situation). The only thing I noticed (great photo by the way) is that your rear bumper appears to have the "simulated" split versus being two separate pieces ... is that true?

On using a later year bumper ... it's not so much that I'm a purist but I don't like the fake black bumperettes that appear on the '75 ... just detracts from the looks and they don't really help protect the rear at all. I bought my flex-fit bumpers from Ecklers at last fall's Chevy/Vette fest and talked to their rep's there ... they mentioned that the flex-fit is still fiberglass but it just is a lot more plyable (it will give a little bit when you push on it with a finger) than regular 'glass. I have seen a number of '74's that have been restored either way (sometimes adding an even later model bumper with a spoiler) ... it comes down to personal preference. I prefer the split ...

Stewart's74

Yep, simulated split. Do a search but I believe you can find a 74 bumper without the split and without the 75 bumperettes.

J R C

Could be ... already have the split replacement (Ecklers ran a free freight + 10% off deal last fall) ... yours came out great ... looks quite "clean"

Paul Borowski

Here's my comment and I've done both my '74 & '75. The '74 is the nicest, most simplest one to do. The taillights are mounted "independently" of the bumper. To get the correct fit and appearance(my belief)you need to make the '75-'79 SET-UP like a '74. If you try to mount this bumper(TrueFlex in my case on my'75)with the stock tailight supports, IT DISTORTS the bumper something terrible as you "tighten" it in towards the car. You need to DELETE the black plastic/dark grey tailight supports and mount the tailight DIRECTLY to the rear bumper. You use that same three bolt cadmium ring, but now on the backside of the bumper and NOT the backside of the tailight support. Also on my '75, I had to "trim down" the vertical pieces BEHIND the "phony bumper pad". Also did'nt reuse that aluminum piece that looks like an "A" frame house on the '75-'74s DO NOT HAVE THIS. Also, the rear most impact bar on a '74 is TOTALLY adjustable, where it is not on the '75 where the '75-'79 have those impact shocks in the corners. The tailight holes on the '75-'79 need enlarged too so the tailight does'nt have that "leaned in" look. The tailight needs to be vertical. I'm done writing now, fingers ache :lolg:

79VetteMike

For what it's worth, both of my bumpers came from American Custom Industries(ACI) and they fit great. They are fiberglass though.

HDFLH67

Very nice! I am going from orange to yellow this spring. Is yours the #56 bright yellow?

R 73 454

I sort of like the "split"! It makes a '74 easy to spot. I like one year items. I don't even bother trying to figure what year a C-4 is! :lurk:

Big Fish

My opinion is fit is going to be directly related to any body repairs the car may have had over the years. My front one required a lot of glass and mat to get it right.

Edit: forget about the OEM bumper retainers for the front if you are going with a glass bumper, they will not fit. I used "T" fasteners that I made myself from stainless steel.


[Modified by Big Fish, 10:37 PM 3/18/2004]

GTR1999

TTT