Factory Photos of 1973/1974 Soft Bumpers Being Painted

[Richard F.]

Does anyone have photos of 1973/1974 bumpers being painted at the factory or 1973/74 related factory photos.

Thank You

Rich

[David H.]

Re: Factory Photos of 1973/1974 Soft Bumpers Being Paint

Does anyone have photos of 1973/1974 bumpers being painted at the factory or 1973/74 related factory photos.

Thank You

Rich

Richard,

Attached is a photo from December 1980 with bumpers on a rack. Perhaps bumpers were supplied by an outside vendor, already painted, and ready for installation.

Dave

[Richard F.]

Re: Factory Photos of 1973/1974 Soft Bumpers Being Paint

Dave

Thank you, surprises me, by 1980 they must have been very confident concerning paint match.

Rich

[Mike E.]

Re: Factory Photos of 1973/1974 Soft Bumpers Being Paint

Dave

Thank you, surprises me, by 1980 they must have been very confident concerning paint match.

Rich

[Joe L.]

Re: Factory Photos of 1973/1974 Soft Bumpers Being Paint

Dave------


I believe the bumpers were painted at St. Louis. However, a different paint formulation was used for the bumpers that made the paint resistant to cracking/flaking off when the bumpers flex. As far as I know, all Corvette urethane bumpers from 1973 and later were painted off the cars.

[Christopher K.]

Re: Factory Photos of 1973/1974 Soft Bumpers Being Paint

That’s a very informative photo Dave, thanks for posting it! Since they were painted with a flex additive it make sense to paint them separately. Probably a faster assembly process also even though the retainers were not in yet. I agree with Mike that paint match was never spot on and those two tone bumpers must have really been a challenge!

Thanks Rich for posting the question.

[Joe L.]

Re: Factory Photos of 1973/1974 Soft Bumpers Being Paint

That’s a very informative photo Dave, thanks for posting it! Since they were painted with a flex additive it make sense to paint them separately. Probably a faster assembly process also even though the retainers were not in yet. I agree with Mike that paint match was never spot on and those two tone bumpers must have really been a challenge!

Thanks Rich for posting the question.

Chris------


Yes, the paint match between the bodies and bumpers was not perfect. And, over time it gets worse, sometimes much worse.

[David R.]

Re: Factory Photos of 1973/1974 Soft Bumpers Being Paint

In a related area, I bought a new silver 1973 Chevelle Laguna with the flexible front nose cone, and after being damaged less than a year later in a collision on the front corner that slightly dented the metal fender (but did not appear to damage the nose cone at all) the dealer's body shop repainted the fender after repairing it, and blended the paint onto the nose cone. As the paint they used did NOT contain the "flex additive", eventually the "new" paint flaked right off the side of the nose cone where they had blended it. You would have thought that the dealer would know better. They did make it right, and hopefully learned something in the process.

[Keith K.]

Re: Factory Photos of 1973/1974 Soft Bumpers Being Paint

Chris------


Yes, the paint match between the bodies and bumpers was not perfect. And, over time it gets worse, sometimes much worse.

Here is a photo of my 74 when it was about a year and a half old. As you can see, the rear bumper was terrible. The front wasn't so bad. I still own the car.

[Jimmy P.]

Re: Factory Photos of 1973/1974 Soft Bumpers Being Paint

Hi Keith,
Nice to see that photo again Now, since the '74 bumpers were in two pieces wonder if they were put together off the car then painted or painted as two separate pieces? If so, might it be possible to have a right and left side slight mismatch in color?

[Richard F.]

Re: Factory Photos of 1973/1974 Soft Bumpers Being Paint

Jimmy/Keith

It's like you guys are still updating the judging manual , yes the two halves were painted separately and then riveted together using pop rivets and metal plates. I'm sure both halves were side by side when painted, pic attached.

Take care, Rich

Hi Keith,
Nice to see that photo again Now, since the '74 bumpers were in two pieces wonder if they were put together off the car then painted or painted as two separate pieces? If so, might it be possible to have a right and left side slight mismatch in color?

[Keith K.]

Re: Factory Photos of 1973/1974 Soft Bumpers Being Paint

That makes sense. Both halves of the rear were similar, the front bumper was ok. This car was built just a few days before the long strike so there were issues - the passenger side rear fender actually had runs in the paint.

[James G.]

Re: Factory Photos of 1973/1974 Soft Bumpers Being Paint

FWIW From 1969-1973 The urethane bumpers for the Trans Ams and Camaro's were supplied already PAINTED as were the GTO Urethane noses.
Not saying the Corvettes were the same... however the likely hood that Corvettes were different is highly unlikely.

[Joe L.]

Re: Factory Photos of 1973/1974 Soft Bumpers Being Paint

FWIW From 1969-1973 The urethane bumpers for the Trans Ams and Camaro's were supplied already PAINTED as were the GTO Urethane noses.
Not saying the Corvettes were the same... however the likely hood that Corvettes were different is highly unlikely.

James------


I don't think the Corvette urethane bumpers were pre-painted at their manufacturing source or anywhere else prior to delivery to St. Louis. Here's why:

1) If the bumpers were pre-painted, there would have been a different PRODUCTION part number for each of the different colors. The AIM's would then likely show "chart" on the bumper cover pages. The "chart" (not generally available now) would contain the part number for each color. I just can't conceive of a situation in which the supplier would have shipped the different colored bumpers to St. Louis under a single part number as I know of no other case in which differently colored parts as delivered to St. Louis were assigned the same part number;

2) The part numbers shown in the 1973-82 AIM's for the front and rear bumpers were the same as the SERVICE part numbers. The SERVICE parts were supplied unpainted. Once again, if the bumper covers used in PRODUCTION were supplied pre-painted, they would have had a different part number than the SERVICE part number even in the HIGHLY UNLIKELY event that all of the pre-painted bumper covers had the same part number for all colors;

3) The 1980-82 AIM's specifically instruct that certain specified painting procedures are to be used for the bumpers. There would have been no reason for this instruction if the bumper covers were painted elsewhere because instructions for supplier painting would have been contained in the GM specifications for the part and not in the AIM which was a document used only by the vehicle assembly plant.

If the bumper covers for the other models you mentioned were actually done at the supplier of the covers, the higher volume of those models may have justified it. That's just a guess, though. I have noted over the years that the initial and later paint match for those vehicles was even worse than for Corvettes so pre-painting for the other models may explain it.

[James G.]

Re: Factory Photos of 1973/1974 Soft Bumpers Being Paint

The primered cars are reported to have been shipped with SILVER, not primered bumpers.
There would no reason to paint the raw bumper silver -

The problem is the flexible paint... you would need an entirely different gun and paint supply (with flex agent)... for every color - so there would be an entirely different paint area for the bumpers. or another set of guns on the paint line.


As an aside
IT IS KNOWN that the 69 Camaro endura bumpers were supplied to the assembly plants painted -
I also know that there were not part numbers for individual colors, there was only one part number.

anecdotal evidence - I have bought 2 NOS RS noses in GM boxes for second gen camaros which were painted - one white and one red - flexible paint. Same part number both boxes no note of color. additionally one NOS Trans Am endura which was black primer.