Reproduction Bumper Guards that don’t fit worth a $^#@!
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/accessories&page=3
They really fit the radius nice don’t they!!!!!! And then how in the world do you bolt them on to the bumper, the original bumper guards were 11 gauge which was strong enough for you to draw up the bumper bolt with out bending the material. The reproduction is only made from 16 gauge material and you’ll bend the @#$* out of them if you try to draw the bumper bolt up tight.
One more reproduction item to add to the pile of crap in the corner of the barn, this one made in Taiwan from Classic Parts of America this time.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

WOW! Must be your bumpers are way off!

You wouldn't think it'd be that difficult to get the correct radius, would you?

16 gage steel? They'll probably bend when the wind hits them, which should also peel off the flash chrome job.

Why can't you get decent parts? Make 'em right and I'd spend the extra money. I wonder if these are licensed by GM? If so, would they set standards? Probably not......<sigh>

I don't think they license anything that does not have Chevrolet, the Bow Tie or any other markings that identify the part with GM or Chevrolet.

Not sure if you are bashing the foreign manufacturer or the "American" vendor that sold you these but.... this isn't the first time I warned you against buying cheapo repop parts...
yet you continue to buy these parts & you continue to complain about these repop parts..... Seems kinda masochistic to me.

It is my experience that the guys that are too lazy to search out quality GM NOS parts or too cheap to pay for quality GM NOS parts usually end up "kissing their sister" & opting for the cheapest shiny repop part they can locate easily in a fancy color catalog.

Ya get whatcha pay for.

Just realized that Denny is trying to fit front bumper guards on the rear bumper of his truck.

You can clearly see the left rear taillight & the rear of the bed in Denny's picture.


The stock front bumpers have a slightly larger/deeper radius than the stock rear bumpers.

Not so much a case of the manufacturer making parts that don't fit....
It is a case of the customer trying to make a part fit in the wrong location.

Might have something there Joe, the entire front end is off the truck right now and I assumed the contour was the same on the front and rear bumper. I'll dig out the new front bumper from the pile when I get a chance and see it it matches.
Thanks for bringing it up.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Okey dokey, I just wouldn’t sleep tonight unless I resolved this so I dug thru the pile and unwrapped the new bumper. Thanks to Joe for pointing this out. I was testing the fit of the bumper guards against the new rear bumper, here is the fit against the new front bumper:
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/122141778/large
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/122141780/large
My apologies to Classic Parts of America and Taiwan my, mistake. I just goes to show you maybe some of those “cheapo repop parts” aren’t so bad after all.
My lesson for today; different contours on the front and rear bumpers of an Advance Design truck.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

I would have never guessed the contours were different! Live & learn.........

Not sure how long the Chinese chrome will hold up on these new parts, but we can use Denny's truck as the experimental truck.

Please keep us posted on how well the guards hold up to the elements Denny.

Oh, I’m sure that I’m not the only one around with “Chinese” chrome on my vehicle. Since I was a teenager in the 50’s growing up in the Midwest, I can attest to the fact the even the US chrome wasn’t all that great. Eight or ten year old $100 beaters were about all that I could afford to drive back then and none had great chrome by the time I got them and all pretty much had body rot at an early age.

And at the rate I’ve been moving this winter Joe, I doubt if the old gal is gonna see anything but these four gray wall that surround her for the near future. Even if I had her finished we’ve both been put out to pasture and we only venture out of the barn when the “elements” aren’t a factor.
You’d be better off finding someone with a daily driver as your Ginny pig.
By the way, thanks again for pointing out the difference in the bumpers. If I don’t learn something new every day then it’s been a waste and I should have just stayed in bed.

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

In the '40's and '50's the chrome was terrible. This goes back to the pre-war models also. Was common for rust to form on the bumpers within the first year. In 1955 and 1956 The pot metal chrome would pit if the new cars sat in stock too long. During 1956 Chevrolet began spraying the chrome items with a liquid wax to prevent rusting/pitting while cars were in storage - before they were sold.
The above dooes not take into consideration the Korean chrome used on 1952-53 models. That was a story in its self.

Now you mean to tell me even GM was passing off Chinese stuff as Genuine GM back in the day, shame on them! Yep Gene, that’s the way I remember the chrome back in the day, nothing to shout about.
Actually the repro bumpers (front & rear) that I bought look really good. The only thing that they could have done that would have made them indistinguishable from the original bumper was to break the edges before they plated them. A simple 5min. deburring job and they would have had a perfect copy. Other than that they look just fine, the triple chrome sticker that was on the back I’m assuming means they were Copper/Nickel/Chrome plated.
Now that my buddy Joe straightened me out on which end the bumper guards go on, I’ve only got one thing left to bitch about with them, and that’s the use of the lighter gauge material. The actual forming and plating looks just fine.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Some bumper/guard history from the parts book that you may find "intresting"
Using the 1950 book the front bumper for a 1947-1950 1/2 and 3/4 ton truck was part #3683350. The rear bumper for a 1947-50 single unit (panel truck) has the same number.
The 1947-50 pick-up is #3684823. Without looking farther I would guess the pick-up bumper has different mounting hole locations and probably had less "curve" as the box was flat across the back.(in 1951 the bumper was extra)
The 1950 book lists the accessory guard as accessory
#986133 with an application of 1947-1950 front or rear???. (they are not listed in the 1948 book and I think they were first available as an accessory in 1950). The 1950 accessory manual just says bolt them on....dosen't mention to which end.
The 1953 book shows they were discontinued 1-10-53 and seeing the chrome bumpers vanished in 1952 may be part of the reason.

Now I have been around long enough that I know everything in the book isn't gospel, while in the parts dept. in 1950 I don't recall selling the guards (they were never popular).
In my later life like in the '70's when I was digging old parts out of dealerships I never bothered to take the guards home with me as there was zero demand for them years ago.

If I would want a set today I would prefer to fine old originals and have them rechromed. It used to be common to even find new ones at swap meets.

My 2 cents worth.

Thanks for taking the time to match up that info Gene. That surprises me, giving someone a push with a car or truck was a common exercise when I was a kid. And I experienced my share of jumped bumpers back then. I would have thought bumper guards would have been one of the more popular accessories added especially to the pickups.

Of course I only have for a reference, the 1929-1950 reprint and not the original parts books like you have, and as you said the guards are listed in this late revision (1 APR, 1950) as 1947-50 ALL COMM, front or rear #986113 at $6.50. I can understand why a lot of them were not sold, $6.50 was quite a bit back in the days when the average wage was around $1.50/hour. But doesn't that muddy up the soup a little? If the curvature across the short side was indeed different on the rear AD bumpers, how’d the same guard look on the back, maybe something like my picture of my rear bumper? Feels like I’m chasing my tail.
I'd love to find a pair of original guards that weren't all beat up, rusty and didn't need another $50 in chroming and that I could take home for $45 a pair. But I think those days are long gone. You got a pair in your parts room you want to sell for that price????
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

From personal experiance of being pushed and pushing pickups and cars back in the 50s.Bumper guards helped if you were really careful and did the pushing on level pavement. They were a real problem if one car fell into a hole and the bumpers locked with bumper guards in place. I remember a technique used by older drivers. You would get up on the hung together bumpers and jump up and down and bounce them apart. I remember a couple of my younger engineer employees that got a couple of 1990 F0RD Crown Vics locked the bumpers with bumper guards, together because one guy pulled a prank and bumpped the other guy's company car, just a tad too hard, when the other driver was sleeping along side of the road. They couldn't get the cars seperated and called in on the 2-way for help. Our Assistant manager heard the call on his 2-way and (pushing 65 years old) went to the rescue and bounced the cars apart. One of the younger guys said.... "I can't believe how hard that old fart jumped up and down on the bumper. I thought he was going to turn the car over! Then the cars seperated! We were getting ready to call a wrecker!"

You bet Mack, I also did my share of bumper jumping. I think about those day every time I see someone today cry about a tiny tap on the bumper. Of course today a tiny tap on the bumper can cost you $1500 to get the scratch in the paint touched up.
DG

At the dealership we used to install a lot of the "brush" guards on trucks. Thats the tall painted guard with a large horizontal bar a bit above the bumper and a shorter bar above that. Had a bracket going back to the frame on each side. They looked like some one disassembled a leaf spring and made a grill guard out of it, We had one on our 1950 parts truck and on the 1950 tow truck.

Denny...If you have deep pockets & are ready to step up to the plate on a REAL grill guard.... you can upgrade from those little bumperetts to someting more substantial like....one of the original GM grill guards designed for the Advance Design trucks.

Here are a few pictures of both styles of guards on my trucks.

GM part # 986153... We call this one " The Upright "












Or you could go big with GM part # 986486 "The Cadillac" of GM AD truck guards...
We call this one " The Cattle-Guard " {this is the guard that Chevy Nut refered too & had on his shop truck in the 50's }.







NOS UNIT




If you are on a budget & don't really care about originality....
I guess you will have to be happy with "kissin' yer sister" & settle for the cheapo Chinese repops of the small bumperetts.

Thats not what I refered to. The one we installed was not GM and the "pieces" were just heavy flat steel. It weighed about 80 pounds. I remembered draging them around in a box unassembled. They weighed almost as much as I did. I can find a picture of one right now.

The pockets are inside out since I retired Joe, and I'm happy with the look of the small bumper guards, it's just enough to set things off with out being overpowering. I just don't like the looks of those massive cow catchers on the front of an AD. But then again I don't like the look of mudflaps, accessory hood ornaments or Fulton visors either. Although there was a Guide spot on the truck when I bought it, I'm struggling with that one also. I might just clean things up and fix the hole if I ever get around to the body work.
Each to his own, that's what makes the world an interesting place. Like to stay and chat, but I'm gonna be hitting the hay early, think I just may have a case of the new moan I a.
DG

Like this one?

That's a "Smash Hit" grill guard made by the Perry Company outta Waco, Texas.

I never saw that one before - looks like it was designed by a plumber.

Ain't that a beaut! Someone posted a few pics of those on the Stovebolt last fall. I think you hit the nail on the head Gene, it really does look like a plumbers nightmare.
DG

Man, you could take out a COW that thing, and not have scratch!

How cool to see the orig, ad!