1968 reproduction rear bumper- Junk

[hurlbird]

the rear bumper on my car needs a re chrome BUT has a college parking sticker from 1968-69 still on it and in good shape i got the car from the original owner. So I thought id get a reproduction till I decide what to do. Keep the old with the sticker on it, re chrome and do without the sticker, try to remove the sticker.

Anyway after some on line research i went with the CJ's rear bumper. Other than it being 1/8 inch too wide and the braces having a 1/4 gap due to the angle, the square bolt holes being misaligned and the replacement bolts 1/8 inch larger head diameter, they were perfect!

Anything out there of excellent quality that you guys have installed? thanks

[BGlover67]

the rear bumper on my car needs a re chrome BUT has a college parking sticker from 1968-69 still on it and in good shape i got the car from the original owner. So I thought id get a reproduction till I decide what to do. Keep the old with the sticker on it, re chrome and do without the sticker, try to remove the sticker.

Anyway after some on line research i went with the CJ's rear bumper. Other than it being 1/8 inch too wide and the braces having a 1/4 gap due to the angle, the square bolt holes being misaligned and the replacement bolts 1/8 inch larger head diameter, they were perfect!

Anything out there of excellent quality that you guys have installed? thanks

Doesn't that just drive you crazy?  There are so many things that have been reposed for early Mustang and Shelby's that are just plain junk.  Would it really have been so much more money to get it right the first time?  I can think of dashes, quarter panels, bumpers, and window gaskets just for a start that no one really makes an accurate reproduction of.  Sad.   

[hurlbird]

who is giving all the positive feedback on these products? I read 8-10 very positive comments. Must be false...

[Bob Gaines]

who is giving all the positive feedback on these products? I read 8-10 very positive comments. Must be false...

There are companies that place bogus + feedback on behalf of companies who pay them to offset and bury negative feedback. I wouldn't be surprise to know that same thing isn't applied to some of these poorer repro reviews.   

[68blk500c]

A side note but on topic, go find a good graphics shop and have them reproduce the college sticker to add to your re-chromed bumper.

[Side-Oilers]

Good idea on the graphics shop.

Maybe you could somehow bake the new sticker on a cookie sheet in the oven until it gets "patina" cracks.** 
Not over 451F however.   

**I've never tried it, and my wife doesn't let me near the oven, so use your own judgment.

[hurlbird]

thanks... Nobody has a quality reproduction source?

[shelbymann1970]

the rear bumper on my car needs a re chrome BUT has a college parking sticker from 1968-69 still on it and in good shape i got the car from the original owner. So I thought id get a reproduction till I decide what to do. Keep the old with the sticker on it, re chrome and do without the sticker, try to remove the sticker.

Anyway after some on line research i went with the CJ's rear bumper. Other than it being 1/8 inch too wide and the braces having a 1/4 gap due to the angle, the square bolt holes being misaligned and the replacement bolts 1/8 inch larger head diameter, they were perfect!

Anything out there of excellent quality that you guys have installed? thanks

Doesn't that just drive you crazy?  There are so many things that have been reposed for early Mustang and Shelby's that are just plain junk.  Would it really have been so much more money to get it right the first time?  I can think of dashes, quarter panels, bumpers, and window gaskets just for a start that no one really makes an accurate reproduction of.  Sad.   

When it comes to sheet metal parts making a set of dies to stamp out parts are not cost effective for a limited run(even using China). There are factors in sheet metal stamping where unless the original dies were saved and kept in good shape it would be difficult without spending well into the 6 figures for a set of dies to stamp out a part consistent with the factory sheet metal.While technology has vastly improved the cost to make dies it is still costly for limited runs and those making the parts are in business to make $$$ off their investments.  Most repo stamped metal to me are done using short cuts and it appears "manual labor" for some processes and why parts vary. Why other parts that would use molds are not made correctly are a mystery to me. Gary

[67 GT350]

LOL, the same thing happened to me. I had a 66, I ordered a rear bumper from CJPP. Bumper bolts would not work, they were off over 1/4 inch! I thought the car had rear damage, which it did not, (it was a beautiful California car that sat from 1975 until 2014). This is where it get good. I called CJPP and told them about it. They wanted pictures???!!!!?!?!?! Ever try to get pictures of chrome? Anyway, I got my tape measure out and proved with the pictures that it was not properly manufactured. I got the typical like that CJPP uses. "We have not had any other costumer complaints about this." OK well pictures do not lie. So after complaining more, they said OK we will replace it, I said, are you selling a different brand? They said, "No" it will be the same one we sent you. I thought, Hmmmm so what if its the same? I decided to say, "OK please send me another one." They then told me, "Just return it to us and we will ship out another one." I then asked about a "call tag" they said, I was responsible for shipping, I priced shipping and it was about 40 bucks, I called them and told them that and they said, sorry you have to pay for shipping, I said I have to pay for a defective bumper's return? It was a big fat YES. I decided to just order another one......and when I got it, guess what....it was a big fat NO GO, NO FIT. SO I called my credit card and reversed the charges for both bumpers. That was the LAST time I ever dealt with CJPP.

To end this story, I ordered a bumper form a company called "Dorman" I think, and it fit like a glove and looked great....BUT I still dont recommend any repro, because you just do not know what you will get.

On to my Boss 302's rear bumper, fits like (you know what), I have been looking for an original Ford bumper for years now, the re-poop is still on my restored beautiful car. That sucks!

Sorry for the rant, but it is just unreal.

[68stangcjfb]

The rear bumper on my car is an NOS Ford one from 1977. I took it out of the wrapper myself. It fit like a glove and it's a thing of beauty! Lines in the Chrome at all! My front bumper is a repro. I put it on in 2008 so I don't remember the brand but it did fit well and the chrome WAS excellent. My car sits in the garage most of the time but in the last 2 year's I've noticed the chrome on the front bumper getting cloudy. So not only do some of the bumpers not fit well. The chrome doesn't last like on original bumpers. I'm always looking for a really nice nos Ford 67/68 front bumper for a concourse car.

[Coralsnake]

I guess I am not shocked a cheap, off shore bumper does not fit.

I am also not shocked some selling that item would lie and say they never had issues before or wouldn't stand behind it

[67 GT350]

I guess I am not shocked a cheap, off shore bumper does not fit.

I am also not shocked some selling that item would lie and say they never had issues before or wouldn't stand behind it

Don't be, believe me....I would not make that up. It was crazy. I bought it from them on ebay and it was too long for ebay to do anything about it and believe it or not I left them bad feedback and they blocked me from buying from them on ebay, but I was able to still buy from them if I wanted to on the website. I will not buy anything from them. I did give them a poor rating on Google....but I think that never went anywhere....

[shelbymann1970]

I guess I am not shocked a cheap, off shore bumper does not fit.

I am also not shocked some selling that item would lie and say they never had issues before or wouldn't stand behind it

I remember doing my 68 Shelby back in 2007-9 and not being able to find the DS inner door handle(bought the car in pieces). I bought a Scott Drake and it was clocked wrong on the spline. I believe when I mentioned it on another forum Tim Lea mentioned that is why NOS ones are so expensive. It seemed the Mustang world knew about that for a long time. When I called Scott Drake an employee told me that was the first they have heard of that.  . That it would take months for them to correct it.  I "finessed" the inner door so the handle fit correctly. Seems that is the standard action-they were surprised and nobody else has ever mentioned it. I bet they are still clocked wrong. Gary

[68stangcjfb]

As of 2012, those driver side inner handles we're still clocked wrong. Luckily I finally found an NOS one.

[shelbymann1970]

The rear bumper on my car is an NOS Ford one from 1977. I took it out of the wrapper myself. It fit like a glove and it's a thing of beauty! Lines in the Chrome at all! My front bumper is a repro. I put it on in 2008 so I don't remember the brand but it did fit well and the chrome WAS excellent. My car sits in the garage most of the time but in the last 2 year's I've noticed the chrome on the front bumper getting cloudy. So not only do some of the bumpers not fit well. The chrome doesn't last like on original bumpers. I'm always looking for a really nice nos Ford 67/68 front bumper for a concourse car.

Back in the early 80s I bought a couple of bumpers for a resto of a 69 from Ford(I got a 20 percent discount at the dealership thanks to my Father-in-law being a Ford employee). The trim condition was horrible compared to my originals and of course the chrome was average at best. Being in the field of stamping off and on as a Die Maker for decades I knew even as a "fresh Die Maker" that who ever fixed the trim die didn't give a crap about doing it right-service parts. Jagged edges from bad trim steels or improperly fit trim steels. I paid twice the price of new bumpers back then to have my originals done at a chrome shop. I caution anyone buying "NOS" bumpers  and look at the date codes if they are there on the shipping wrappers-kinda like buying 67-68 rocker moldings. 69 stamped pieces are different than 2001 stamped pieces. Gary