Rear Bumper

[Jean-Marc Dugas]

Since I am working on the rear bumper of the 54XL, it may be the right moment to do some bumper surgery.

When Tim had the car he had to replace a rusted-out rear bumper and got a funeral coach (I think) bumper. Esthetically it looks 100% better than the original 54XL bumper, but I would like to take it back to look original. The original bumper definitively looks more industrial and allowed for the use of the rear step.

Could anyone with a mid 70s Superior with the original bumper send me some detailed pictures and measurements of it? I want to make sure I get it right because when I start cutting, I will not be able to go back.

Thanks.

 

[John ED Renstrom]

First find the step. Once you have it in hand you can see how it will go. The only difference in the center section from 65-67 is the cut out for the taillights or back up lights. So a center step out of a superior is all you need. Unless your modal used the bolt on underneath one.

 

[Jean-Marc Dugas]

First find the step. Once you have it in hand you can see how it will go. The only difference in the center section from 65-67 is the cut out for the taillights or back up lights. So a center step out of a superior is all you need. Unless your modal used the bolt on underneath one.

I have the step. It is the bolt-on underneath one.

 

[Daniel Scully]

The bumper blades on the ambulance are cut shorter than a hearse. If you look at the distance between the edge of the bumper and lights, you see the difference. The top plate, which is one piece on a hearse, might be able to use but would have to be sectioned with another to make it longer.

 

[Tim Prieur]

J-M, you raise an excellent point. Here is a picture of the car when I got it in 2008. You can easily see the square component. The outer portions were badly rusted through, and could not be repaired. I searched for an XL bumper, including on this site, with no luck. When I found the funeral coach bumper, I found that the sizing of the center piece was slightly different with the new one, and went with the complete replacement. I fear I may have thrown the baby out with the bathwater when I recycled the end pieces, but I will look and see if I still have it. I will drop you a note if any success.

 

[Paul Steinberg]

Almost any bumper can be repaired with new steel. It is just the time and labor that usually make finding a replacement more economical. I have seen some very rare 1950's Cadillac bumpers recreated from a sheet of steel, an anvil, and a person that knew where to hit to get the part looking like a factory-stamped bumper. There is a fellow on one of the Chevrolet forums that have made a complete reproduction of the exceedingly rare aluminum bumpers that came on the stripped-down drag racing cars of the early 1960s.

 

[Tim Prieur]

Paul, that was exactly the problem, especially up here. To repair the pieces was not financially feasible.

 

[Jean-Marc Dugas]

Using some good old grade 12 math I figured that the distance between the end of the taillights and the edge of the bumper section is 2 inches. As you can see from the picture below, one of the extrapolations gave me 2.1 inches and the other 1.97 inches. I would say that this is convincing enough to call the distance 2 inches.

From there I can mock it up on the car with tape and cardboard to guess the size of the other components. One more thing for the to-do list.

If you have any detailed pictures of a set-up like this, please post them here to help me with the project.

 

[John ED Renstrom]

Re creating the end caps and licence plate lights will be the hard part. But it looks to be all flat steel from the look of it.

 

[Jean-Marc Dugas]

Re creating the end caps and licence plate lights will be the hard part. But it looks to be all flat steel from the look of it.

I think the end caps that are currently there can be used, but I think you are correct, everything else seems to be flat steel. I hope that someone with this bumper set-up can send me some detailed pictures to confirm.

 

[John ED Renstrom]

If you look hard at that factory picture hard . They cut the bumper at a 45 which left the inside corner of the light Exposed. Then covered it with expanded metal. The pictures looked weird to me. I now see why

 

[Tim Prieur]

J-M, thought this would be of interest. This is the rear of the 75- 51". It has the same bumper as I used as a replacement, and I know this one is original. The square insert must have been limited to the XL, as was the mesh step.

 

[Jean-Marc Dugas]

J-M, thought this would be of interest. This is the rear of the 75- 51". It has the same bumper as I used as a replacement, and I know this one is original. The square insert must have been limited to the XL, as was the mesh step.

That is what I thought as well until I spoke with a gentleman that has a 1976 Superior 54. His car has the same bumper as the 54XL. Maybe it was an option.

He gave me the measurements for the center plate of his car, so worst-case scenario if I cannot source the plate I can have one made..