71-72 Chrome front bumper on a 73

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TheDude73

Member
Joined
Jun 5, 2015
Messages
6
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0
Location
Michigan
My Car
1973 Convertible
Hello. I just got a 73 vert. It has taken some slight damage in the massive urethane bumper. I am thinking of making the swap to a 71-72 chrome bumper. It was posted on this site that you can use 69-70 brackets to install a 71-72 bumper on a 73. The member said new holes who need to be drilled in frame for the brackets. This would make the new chrome bumper fit better to the 73 fenders. Can anyone confirm or deny this? I have tried emailing the member who posted that with no luck. To make more confusing there are several vendors on EBAy selling 71-73 chrome front bumpers. Will these fit properly with no modifications? Please help

 
Mine's a '71, and originally came with a urethane bumper, but I converted to chrome because my painter couldn't figure out what flex-primer is all about. But, that's another story for another time.

The urethane bumper is designed to fit closely against the bumper openings in the fenders. The chrome bumpers were '71-'72 only options, and require spacers to fill the gaps. As you can see here by the gray plastic spacer between the bumper and fender on mine:

carshow2015-1.jpg

They may or may not fit the bumper opening of the '73 fenders very well, since they're designed for '71-'72s.

As for which bumper brackets to use, one or some of the other guys should have some info for you regarding that. Thin Lizzy recently went through a bumper upgrade on his awesome '73 'vert - he should have some information for you. ::thumb::

Good luck! I hope this helps.

 
I'm not saying they won't fit but I just can't see how they could fit and look right. I hope for your sake they do I just don't see it. Good luck.



Mine's a '71, and originally came with a urethane bumper, but I converted to chrome because my painter could figure out what flex-primer is all about. But, that's another story for another time.

The urethane bumper is designed to fit closely against the bumper openings in the fenders. The chrome bumpers were '71-'72 only options, and require spacers to fill the gaps. As you can see here by the gray plastic spacer between the bumper and fender on mine:

They may or may not fit the bumper opening of the '73 fenders very well, since they're designed for '71-'72s.

As for which bumper brackets to use, one or some of the other guys should have some info for you regarding that. Thin Lizzy recently went through a bumper upgrade on his awesome '73 'vert - he should have some information for you. ::thumb::

Good luck! I hope this helps.
Nice car the chrome bumper looks great!::thumb::

 
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TheDude73,

Can you provide us with a picture of your 73 front bumper? One possible solution would be to swap the fenders from a 1971-1972 and install the arms from the same 71-72 mustang. I have a 1973 Coupe and often wondered what I would have to do if my front bumper was damaged. I do have a decent spare though. Maybe you could locate one, minus the inner mounting brace, and have it shipped per a reasonable cost.

mustang7173

 
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Hello TommyK,

That is a nice looking front end process on that 1973 Mustang. It looks like he installed the front fenders and valance from 71 72 also. That really the only way to do and look right.

Thanks

mustang7173 :bravo:


TheDude73,

That is one pretty 1973 Mustang Convertible. I understand the reasoning behind the chrome bumper, but it just does not look right with the 1973 front fenders.

Thanks

Mustang7173:bravo:

 
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0_DSC01508.JPG


The things that jump out at me (compared to the pic of mine toward the top):

  • The trailing edges of the chrome bumper don't match up to the fender openings
  • The lines of the valance don't match up to the lines of the fender openings
  • The bumper doesn't 'fill' the fender openings as it should because the '73 bumper is so much bigger


Other than those things I am noticing from purely a factory fit perspective, the car looks awesome! Oddly enough, Thin Lizzy's car is very similar (color, etc.) and that really doesn't look bad at all. I would think with a lighter colored car, the mismatched details would stick out a LOT more persistently.

However, if those are '71-'72 fenders with a matching valance (which I'm starting to think they are), then simply realigning that bumper will make things fit a LOT better - maybe it's because the '73 bumper mounts are still in-use. I'm not convinced that the valance is a '71-'72 valance though - it's probably the original '73 valance. Tough to tell.

The '73 fenders have a slightly larger bumper opening, and the '73 valance has a significantly less "open mouth" appearance, partly because the bigger bumper is in the way and there isn't anything down there, whereas the '71-'72s have their signal lights below the bumper in the "open mouth" portion of the valance.

That is indeed an awesome-looking car, though. ::thumb::

 
I have a 73 urethane bumper I'll sell you... I'm in central NY..

 
Mine's a '71, and originally came with a urethane bumper, but I converted to chrome because my painter couldn't figure out what flex-primer is all about. But, that's another story for another time.
Hey Eric,

I never used flex aids of any description on refinishing my '73 front bar, and it's all AOK!

Greg.:)

 
Guys,

Look at the Crites 73 fiberglass replacement bumper. I used it on mine and with a little massaging it looks better than the original. I made my own brackets in lieu of the ones listed.

www.critesperformanceparts.com

Thanks, Jay

 
Mine's a '71, and originally came with a urethane bumper, but I converted to chrome because my painter couldn't figure out what flex-primer is all about. But, that's another story for another time.
Hey Eric,

I never used flex aids of any description on refinishing my '73 front bar, and it's all AOK!

Greg.:)
My bumper needed some divots repaired, so I tried my hand at that - they came out great, but I gave it to them with the car, and his body guy obviously did nothing more to it before he shot primer. I'd used some aggressive sand paper in a vibrating palm sander to remove the paint - which I'm thinking I maybe should not have done. I'd also used some "Icing" body filler to fill the divots, which I later also discovered I probably shouldn't have done (used a different 'more flexible' filler & technique).

Suffice it to say, with the aggressively rough surface of the urethane, the primer didn't go down properly - it cracked as it was drying... every place except for the repaired places I'd used the more stable Icing, that is. I was not anticipating the much more knowledgeable than I paint & body guys to accept my repairs as "finish-level" and actually start painting the piece.

At that point in the game, I just took the bumper home and ordered the chrome replacement I currently have on my car. I'll be doing some better research and re-repair the bumper properly before I repaint it. Once that's done, I may toss it back on the car if it doesn't take too much adjustment of the repop fenders and valance to make it work.

I think the urethane of the '71-'72 bumpers might actually be a little 'squishier' than the '73s as well. I remember noticing that mine had significantly more stress fractures in the factory finish than Auron73mach1's bumper. Of course, that doesn't mean a whole lot considering the age and conditions of storage for each of the cars.

Honestly, once I'd resolved to going with the chrome bumper, I kind of even like it a bit better than the stock urethane bumper - it "matches up" the rear end better, and works well with the chrome rims and bright work trim around the glass. Gotta have chrome on a classic muscle car, after all. ;) :cool:

 
Heres the bumper. Damage is mostly on passenger side corner, with paint chips and cracks throughout. So, should I leave it alone not do anything-$0, or put on chrome 71-72 and live with the gaps-$150, or fix and paint-$????. What do you think?

 
Thanks for all the replies. Here is the bumper I am considering changing because of damage. So should I leave it alone and live with the damage in the corner of the bumper and minor chips and scratches-$0, change the bumper to a 71-72 chrome bumper and deal with the gaps-$150, or fix and paint mine-$0000. I don't know what it would cost to fix and paint bumper. Let me know what you guys think.

IMG_6375.JPG

 
If the bumper is no worse than that, I'd repair it. (okay, in reality, I'd touch it up with an artist's brush and some touch up paint and ignore it) If you look at some bumpers, you'll see that the middle inside area should be painted black. That damage is very minor and if you can accept a repaint of it without blending into the rest of the car ie, pull the bumper, have it repainted and then reinstall it, any minor color mismatch should not be obvious.

Nice looking car

 
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