Well finally i have the 1st prototype in hand. The 914 rear bumper in fiberglass.
It will come with a black Gelcoat that can bolt right up like the OEM Bumpers.

Please note that these are fiberglass, and will come with the disclamer that they are not intended for on road use and are for show cars only, as they have not been tested for impact and are not DOT approved.

I have been told the fronts are in the works and next week I may have another prototype. We'll see how that timeline works, but it is in the works, and you will want these in sets more than likely.

We are working on the chrome finish for these, I should have some pictures in about a week on this part. I'm working on 2 variations on this part to determine the one that is going to work best.

The real beauty is that the substructure will not rust if ( or more like when ) the surface has a rock chip. May even have an option to have a clear bra installed over the chrome finish. I'm working on trying to get a quantity deal to do these.

These bumpers are going to be set up to accomidate the fiberglass tops that will be available after these are done. These will also be set up to use the rubber bumpertops.

So the pricing is still coming together, but shipping costs and cost for product will be much less than the counterpart in steel.

These will mount just like OEM as we are fabricating hangers that match the OEM counterpart.

Chrome finish ?
Are you talking plating? or some kind of chromium paint?

You can spray chrome anything with the latest technology.

Cant wait to see these in chrome. How do the bumper tops attach? Same as stock?

They look great!

Mark,make these with integral tops in FG. Why bolt a 10 lb gob of rubber to a nice light bumper? Not to mention the cost of the rubber tops...
Or just FG tops...

Those early bumpers in steel are already lighter than those '76 rubber force fields on your electric Lima bean!
Just Kidding Speed....Mine"s more of a "granny Smith"

Would there be any way to put the two together to create a seamless bumper?

Yep same as stock

Actually the rears are just a little under 7, and we will make these so that you can use the rubber, or a fiberglass repro, and will also be a o piece option. This would allow you to run a "chrome" bumper with an OEM looking top. and probably shave off 25lbs on the rear, and 28 on the front.

Yes, this will be the one piece option.

Wow that looks great! Must have had a great bumper to use for the mold .

I'd be in for a set of front and rear one piece if the price is right ...

chrome + black =

Not sure Im following this right, it sounds like there are quite a bit of variations you are going to make available. For the front bumper your going to have the option for:
Black no top
Chrome no top
Black? One piece (seamless top integrated)

I assume you are putting the fog light squares in these too? Or will these be like the qrs ones without fog light cutouts?

Very awesome stuff Mark, love having you in this community.

Will the fronts have fog light squares?

Yes.
It's being worked on now.

The prototype is at finishing now and I have my fingers crossed. We tried 3 different levels of prep to see how much work we needed to do.

Can't wait to post some pictures

Thank you.

Yes the variations will allow for more options, and we all like options.

The fog light "holes" will be contoured to the OEM bumper. We'll have to figure out the mounting but that shouln't be too much of a problem.
-mark

Hey : Ther is a
guy in Detroit that use to make F/G bumper Tops.

Can't remember his name? May be some one from the Motor

City area will chime in. As I remember ( heck I can't even

remember his name) it was a very nice product!
Dave

I can be in for a rear one piece .......for a good price.
Thanks

Me too...keep us posted! Looking good.

Perfect timing! My ugly dented tit-holed '73 is due for replacing soon.

The rears are done in fiberglass and the fronts as in the works. The "chrome" finish is pretty close to being done. Here's a few photos

I'll have the 1st of the black ones available to ship starting Monday. Pictures to follow shortly.
-Mark

I may have missed it but did you set a price for these yet?

No, just a thread that's taking forever. I will have 2 of the rear earlys painted black in later today (so I've been told). I'll get some pictures up later today. But, the fronts are not done yet. Soon, I hope, because not too many people want just the rears.

Any chance for a quality one piece GT front ? .... and a good GT (oil cooler ) front valence ?
The unknown source front valence I have is crap.
Does anyone have experience with Getty design versus AIR ?

Mark! still interested in just the rears...!

Just a note on the chrome finish, I saw on the 'jay leno's garage YouTube channel' a video with a chrome finish product that can be used on anything and looks awesome.

Mark ! You're the man !...

...

Carl Rudolph Company
Farmington Hills, MI
E-Mail: contact@carlrudolph.com
http://www.carlrudolph.com/about.html

Greg

What is the status of these bumpers? in chrome.

Thanks to all that have been interested on these. I had James make the rears in the 70 style bumper as shown, but these have drawn out to a point that I really can't work with him on these. He says he'll make the fronts to match at some point, but I was not comfortable opening up a GB as we had been having some issues with production schedule for the tops.
Sorry,
MArk

PS I do have one rear in black in my inventory that I'll sell for $175 + shipping if someone wants it.

Bummer, looks like I'll have to send mine out for repair/chrome (or at least price it out to see if it makes $ sense over SS).

What is the finished thickness of the fiberglass ?

You have a PM Mark

little over 1/8"closer to 3/16"

"Shave off 25lbs on the rear, and 28 on the front."


This sounds good to me !

Are the front and rear currently available ?

This was a pretty much wasted project. We made the rear bumper in fiberglass. The intent was to drop silver nitrate in solution onto the bumper to make it look like chrome. In reality, the process proved to be more time consuming than we could pencil out these being sold at.

Purchase the FG bumpers from an aftermarket company, like Mikey, and have them sprayed with Spectra Chrome. Walla!

http://www.alsacorp.com/

I've posted this elsewhere,some difficult to obtain here in Canada.
Anyone try it there?

What's wrong with the one you have now? Looks great and is functional to your cooling. Will you be able to cool that 3.6 with Std configuration bumper? Thinking out loud.

We tried the Alascorp product. It's good. But found it requires some prep, we looked at outsourcing it but found the cost at about $175 a bumper, maybe a little more, so by the time we make a $250 part and add $175 + transfer back and forth, $475 with zero potential for profit, and a sharp downside due to damage, and any unforeseen issues, so we pulled the plug. I can sell the fiberglass ones at $275 ($25 profit) for those that want them, but didn't see that panning out.
If I'm wrong let me know.

Can't stand the dimpled and crooked aftermarket 916 bumpers. Whoever made that mold was high as a kite.

yeah that's the way,labour cost cramps the margin ipso facto.

How smooth is the FG bumper? Can a chrome vinyl wrap be applied?

Chrome wrap could be applied, only the cost is about the same. The other issues was when I checked the length was not optimal so there was a bit of waste. If you do chrome I'd send you one to try.

I have seen some pretty good chrome vehicle wraps. Might be a good way to go.