My research indicates that something is not quite right with the rear bumper on our ‘57.
There is an unused hole towards the forward end of the “wing” on each side. The holes are in the lower portion of the 2 piece assembly. Right now there is a 1/4” hex cap crew and nut in each hole. It attaches to nothing.
Left Side Bumper Wing
I have a couple of ideas but am interested in your thoughts.
P.S. For those of you living in “warmer” climates that red object in the background is a snowblower. It is getting a lot of use this week!
looks to be strategically placed. Was there ever a continental kit on your 57? I’m not at all familiar with 57 continental kit except the one removed from our 57. I remember the chrome side extensions bolted to the rear returns on the bumper somehow. Maybe that smaller bolt held the splash pan.
Last edited by MarkR on Mon Jan 15, 2024 1:51 am, edited 2 times in total.
That is a head scratcher. If only our cars could talk. I think we all spend a lot of time on forensics trying to figure out what was on the mind of the former owners.
I've seen the "extra bolt" due to misaligned to the frame placed on the front left side bumper. Somebody added it on. This is a head scratcher. The bolt head is small compared to the bumper bolt heads placed on the assembly line. Did you try to follow the placement behind the bumper.
1956 Thunderbird Sage Green
1953 Ford Custom Liner Hot Rod With Flat 8 Motor with Henderson three 2 barrel Carbs
VTCI Member # 12309
I agree with Ward 57 that it would be great if these classics could talk to us. I do have a few pictures of the car from the mid-90's when it was in Scottsdale. The bolt is clearly visible on the right side in one view.
Mark might be on to something with his comment about the aftermarket continental kit. I had not thought of that. Both holes are symmetrically located in each wing. I cannot see any other signs of such a kit.
In response to ICON 1956's ideas, I also have seen modifications like this done to make things fit. In this case the alignment is good and there is literally nothing behind that hole or even projecting into that area of the inside of the bumper.
The rear bumper fits well but I have no idea if it is the original. I do think that it has been re-chromed at least once. The appearance is ok for a driver car but it is not as good as what I would have expected from the factory. The top surface is starting to pit some so I am considering re-chroming it again. There are no signs of a rear end collision.
I had some ideas about the reason for those holes. One was that they were added by whatever shop re-chromed it so it would hang better in their process. The other is that it is actually an aftermarket bumper and the holes were there as part of the manufacturing process. I have seen many cases where holes were added to the flat steel blank to locate the blank correctly in the forming dies. On the other hand I find it hard to believe that there would be enough demand to justify the tooling cost to create an aftermarket bumper for just a one year bumper at this volume. Maybe original bumpers had them and the holes were welded shut before they were chromed.
The chroming shop has said that they can weld them closed for not much cost before they re-chrome the part.
I just wanted to confirm that the holes were not "standard" on a '57.
Rusty57 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 15, 2024 12:49 pm
Mark might be on to something with his comment about the aftermarket continental kit. I had not thought of that. Both holes are symmetrically located in each wing. I cannot see any other signs of such a kit.
I found this picture.Mark could be correct on the continental kit was probably on installed previously ....Take a close look of the two bolts attached to the bumper.
Attachments
1956 Thunderbird Sage Green
1953 Ford Custom Liner Hot Rod With Flat 8 Motor with Henderson three 2 barrel Carbs
VTCI Member # 12309
Excellent photo and explanation. However his odd hole is more to the center. I have seen other '57 continental kits where the filler panel between the body & bumper are more accordion looking. Different kit, different attachment, quite plausible I think.
Good picture Icon. Our 57 was completely disassembled when I bought it. There was a continental kit included. I had no intention of using it so didn’t pay much attention to the parts. Notice in the picture that the bumper appears to be overlapped a bit by the side return bumper pieces thus the two big bolts. There has to be some sort of attaching point underneath for the large splash pans maybe accounting for Rusty’s smaller bolts.
My splash pans were similar but ribbed for strength like Ward mentions.
Many thanks for the additional information. We’ll never really know why it is there. The Continental kit theory is the most plausible.
My original post was prompted because once again iI was thinking about having the rear bumper re-plated. I am going to pass on that for now. As I much as I like to keep things looking nice I cannot justify that kind of money on a driver car. There is already a lot of marginal chrome on it.
My plan to find either a chromed head or stainless steel 1/4” round head bolt. At least then it won’t be quite so obvious a flaw. Sort of a $5 solution instead of a $2000 solution. It’s not that I won’t spend that type of money on a classic car. It’s just not where I would spend it.
