'74 Bumpers

[magaoidh]

Are 1974 914 bumpers the same physical size as the chrome 1973 bumpers. I gather the centre section is painted metal.If so it would be possible to remove the tits, chrome the centre section, and then you cant tell the difference?
Please advise,Thanks Geoff.

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

There is no "center section". There is the rubber "bumper cap", the part along the top of the bumper. There is the metal bumper itself. The lower valence (or air dam in cars so equipped) is attached to the body of the car, not to the bumper, and is not really part of the bumper.

The chrome bumpers (the metal bumper) was an extra-cost option starting from the beginning, in the 1970 model year. (I believe Sixes had them by default, though.) Body-colored bumpers were the other option. In the 1974 mode year, the non-optional bumpers were black. I think the non-optional bumpers in 73 were body-color, but they may have been black as well. I'm not quite certain when the changeover was.

The 73 and 74 front bumpers both had the rubber bumperettes (or "bumper tits"). The 74 had bumperettes on the rear as well, while the 73 did not.

You can chrome any steel panel that isn't too full of bondo. But the chrome will show off any flaws very visibly, so you need to get the panel very very straight indeed to have it look nice. And chroming is not a cheap process any more (though it partly depends on where you live). So it may be more expensive to convert a "plain" bumper to a chromie than to just buy a chrome bumper in the first place.

Note that it will take extra work to weld the holes in the 74's rear bumper in a clean enough way to chrome them and have them look good. It may be more cost-effective to just thread a couple of carriage-head bolts through or put some covers on.

The Brett Johnson book, as I mentioned in my earlier post, is a good source of info for the "what came on which 914s" type of info. Not infallible by any means, especially when it came to exact model year changeovers (they loved to use up whatever parts were left in the parts bin!) but one of the best sources available.

--DD

[magaoidh]

Thanks for the info Dave,by centre section I meant the metal part of the bumper.Originally I though the '74 bumper was plastic.It may be cost effective to get them re chromed in Oz. I'LL check it out.Geoff

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

The 75-76 bumper has a rubber or plastic cover over the whole thing; that may be what you were thinking of. The 74 bumper is the same as the earlier ones (pretty much) except for the bumperettes.

--DD