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Posted by: horizontally-opposed Dec 20 2018, 12:48 PM

I've been looking for a very nice chrome 1970-1972 front bumper for 26~ years, off and on.

This part has always eluded me...through two paint jobs and who knows how many miles. I bought a new one back in 1992, but it was a "blem" and had a couple of imperfections, mainly in not quite matching the curve of the hood (a bit tight at the middle). It was a really nice bumper—but it wasn't up to the level of the rest of the car—which always nagged at me. It was a bit too nice to redo, and not appealing given the back and forth as well as downtime required to recurve and then rechrome it.

Thanks to bdstone, who connected me with Oscar, I ended up with a NOS bumper in steel now in first chrome with a NOS rubber top (also thanks to Oscar).

It arrived within a day of my birthday, which only added to its appeal. So, to Oscar and Bruce, I say thank you. Next beer is definitely on me, and I'll try to think of some other way to say thank you—and hopefully it won't take 26 years!

My best to you and yours this holiday season!

pete

Posted by: 914werke Dec 20 2018, 12:51 PM

Posted by: BeatNavy Dec 20 2018, 12:54 PM

That's awesome, Pete. Congrats.

Oscar's group buy on bumpers rocked, and I'm glad I participated. I'm also glad I got a chance to meet Oscar when he came back East for the McLeod memorial yard sale-palooza last summer. Super nice guy

Posted by: SirAndy Dec 20 2018, 12:56 PM

Posted by: IronHillRestorations Dec 20 2018, 01:13 PM

Yea, what Andy said! You can't brag about new bling and not share Pete!

Posted by: dr914@autoatlanta.com Dec 20 2018, 01:30 PM

always great to find NOS.

Posted by: ValcoOscar Dec 20 2018, 01:39 PM

Backside of NOS Bumper Cap...I'll let Pete post photo of his NEW bumper.



Thanks Pete for the kind words...Bruce, thanks also

Oscar

Posted by: Ferg Dec 20 2018, 01:51 PM

Whoo hoo mission complete.

Now let's find Pat an early perfect rain tray

Posted by: horizontally-opposed Dec 20 2018, 02:21 PM

Yeah, that's fair. Here's the old bumper, at Rennsport in 2007* and at the Malibu Car Wash last year after getting soaked at Luftgekühlt**.

Will get some pics of the new bumper up when it's on the car!

pete

(*photo from Wikipedia, **photo from my iPhone)


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Posted by: SirAndy Dec 20 2018, 03:29 PM

Yeah, i can totally see how you would hate that ill fitting POS bumper ...

Posted by: mepstein Dec 20 2018, 03:47 PM

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Posted by: Larmo63 Dec 20 2018, 04:01 PM

Deep sixes rock.

Nice bumper too.

Posted by: Martin Baker Dec 20 2018, 04:52 PM

Pete, is that the shot I took at RENNSPORT IV? Looks familiar!

MB

Posted by: horizontally-opposed Dec 20 2018, 05:01 PM

That's ok, I'm laughing at me too.

But we all have our ticks, don't we?

pete


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Posted by: horizontally-opposed Dec 20 2018, 05:01 PM

I was trying to think of who took the photo on Wikipedia...

Posted by: bdstone914 Dec 20 2018, 06:03 PM

Posted by: 914Sixer Dec 20 2018, 06:51 PM

Nothing better than NOS

Posted by: 914_7T3 Dec 20 2018, 10:45 PM

From what I recall, I got a set of NOS bumper tops and you got a car in the deal!

Posted by: Larmo63 Dec 20 2018, 11:01 PM

I hope you used the 914 Rubber spacers on the bumper top?

Since you are so pedantic about it.........

Posted by: 914_7T3 Dec 20 2018, 11:14 PM

Hey @http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showuser=17068 , I know NOS is not your thing. However, having no idea what you are actually talking about and having to look up the definition for Pedantic, I much prefer this term than calling others a CW!

Posted by: Justinp71 Dec 20 2018, 11:28 PM

I remember seeing this car at Rennsport, it is very clean! and nice! I didn't even notice the bumper imperfections

Posted by: horizontally-opposed Dec 21 2018, 12:25 PM

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Posted by: horizontally-opposed Dec 21 2018, 12:37 PM

I think he means these things?
https://shop.914rubber.com/Bumper-Top-Rubber-Base-Set-OEM91455911610.htm

Whether they're in there is a question for Oscar, as the rubber top was on the bumper and I decided to merely check the torque on the nuts and then trial fit the bumper for the first time last night. Contour is dead on, but the bumper top is a bit lower than the other one, particularly in the central 2/3rds. The old bumper top may or may not have some spacers under it—will look this weekend. May need to rework my headlights and "brows" a bit too. We'll see. I'd just like to get all of these lines more even. I've seen so few 914s with all the lines right up there (same is true for early 911s, if you look at them), and I think it really cleans up the nose of the car. One of those "once you've seen it, you can't unsee it" things. I blame a friend named Dick for the affliction.

So I suppose "pedantic" is fitting when it comes to my efforts to try and get the shut lines on my 914's front end "right" to my standard—which has zero to do with concours. Last time the car was judged was at the 1995 Parade, I think, and that's when I knew concours ain't for me. But man, it's been tricky to find a straight early front bumper—which put me onto the search for an NOS piece, if for no other reason than to ensure its contours haven't been altered.

Posted by: horizontally-opposed Dec 21 2018, 12:41 PM

Many thanks! It was more or less "taped together" in time for that event, as it had been disassembled for a while after paint when a parking space next to the RSR I was racing that weekend came up. Hard to believe it, but the car has since been repainted due to some metalwork issues from a separate shop that bubbled up at the RF and LR, and the painter decided to do the whole car.

As so many cars here, many of which are more ambitious than my build, it's been a bit of an odyssey. But a fun one, for the most part, too.

Posted by: ValcoOscar Dec 21 2018, 12:44 PM

No spacers installed



Oscar

Posted by: horizontally-opposed Dec 21 2018, 12:58 PM

No worries whatsoever!

In distant memory banks, I seem to remember spacing my last bumper top with washers. Easy enough to check since that bumper is off the car.

My question for the collected wisdom here: Any advantage to the rubber ones from 914 Rubber over plain washers, other than being the way the factory did it?

Posted by: SirAndy Dec 21 2018, 01:10 PM

Rubber doesn't rust ...

Posted by: horizontally-opposed Dec 21 2018, 05:56 PM

Good thing they used rubber studs on the bumper pad…

Posted by: steuspeed Dec 21 2018, 06:41 PM

Selling your old bumper for a cheap price? With all it's issues you know.

Posted by: JRust Dec 21 2018, 07:17 PM

I was just thinking I could suffer through with your old bumper myself

Posted by: horizontally-opposed Dec 21 2018, 10:44 PM

LOL, you vultures.

Haven't decided whether to keep the bumper as a spare/core or sell it. And y'all should see some more pics of the thing before you decide if this one's for you. I'd say the pics here make it look better than it is (even if it's a lot nicer than most I've seen).

So, to the group: What's a fair price for a never-been-rechromed, zero-rust early front bumper with two slight "dings" and a bit of push in towards the center (hence why it is tight at the center of the hood)? What's a "cheap price?"

And for a factory rubber top, purchased 10-15~ years ago from HPH and with very little time in the sun since? It's "like new," or very close to it.

Posted by: 914_7T3 Dec 22 2018, 12:17 AM

Priceless

Posted by: Larmo63 Dec 22 2018, 01:11 AM

Priceless, and............celebrity owned.

Posted by: mepstein Dec 22 2018, 08:45 AM

bumper $200-350
rubber top $100-200

Posted by: Montreal914 Dec 22 2018, 11:21 AM

Keep it.

Posted by: worn Dec 22 2018, 11:42 AM

The thing about NOS that has always worried me is that you let all of the NOS gas out of the package when you install it. I have a few pieces of low value stuff uninstalled just for that reason.
I believe pedantic is not quite the right word as it describes overbearing explanation of an arcane or otherwise boring subject. Like what I just did. The quest for the bumper is either a courageous and uncompromising search for what is just and right...or sort of obsessive. Really depends on how good looking your car already is.

Posted by: horizontally-opposed Dec 22 2018, 11:45 AM

Danke schon, man.

At $300-550, and considering what it took to find a truly good one, it probably is smarter to keep it—if for nothing else than peace of mind when I park and drive the car. Particularly given what I paid Rich at HPH for the then-NOS rubber top and the fact it's still near perfect. And I can have it fixed over the next few months since I no longer need it to enjoy the car...which I suspect is going to take at least two trips to a plater in Sacramento or San Jose, one to drop off and one more after it's stripped to do get it recurved and final fit before it's rechromed.

There aren't a lot of parts on a 914 I'd consider storing for a rainy day, but the front bumper is one of them—as it's kind of like the nose of a 1970s Alfa...in being vulnerable and just about always less than perfect on cars that actually see use. I still think there's a market for a truly good repro front bumper, and am not sure why Restoration Design hasn't blessed the 914 community with one, even if it's just plain steel ready for chroming. In 26 years of on again, off again searching, I only had two shots at an NOS piece, and never saw a perfect used one. Worse, so many of them out there have or have had rust and been rechromed multiple times.

Pedantic? Yep.

Posted by: horizontally-opposed Dec 22 2018, 11:48 AM

That's the best moment!! (And one to be savored.)

But I get you, and guess I view low-mile, super-original cars the same way. Either preserve them (not me, thank you), or take the same approach I do with NOS parts: hunt and then gladly use what has been saved through time on its way to you.




As one who works with words for a living, I do believe you make a good point…