VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 31 single bar front bumper brace

our 31 cabriolet had a pair of single bar bumpers on the rear and a double bar bumper up front. i elected to use the single bar up front so as to match. got a used single bar front bumper but had to get a repo brace from the filling station. looks like they welded a pipe on each end of the brace with not so neat weld bead. i'm assuming that the original brace was one piece unlike the filling station's three piece brace as the original braces for the rear have no pipes welded to their ends.think i can gingerly grind most of the extraneous weld bead away if in fact the original brace was one piece. thanks, mike

Yes, the original Chevrolet bumper brackets were one piece with rolled ends.

The ends are rolled. Similar to the rear bumper. They are not welded on pipe.

Were all bumpers single originally? I have double front on my 31 with double separate
bumper-etts in th rear??

In early 1931 double face bar bumpers were used. In late 1931 and for all of 1932, single face bar bumpers were used. Rear bumperetts were available for both years as well as a solid rear bumper.

Thanks Old Dog I thought I was screwes there for a minute

Nope, you are doing just fine......so far! ha ha!

I have a single bar bumper on the front and rear "bumperettes" on my '31 5 passenger coupe. The front bumper was broken in two when someone tried to tow the car. Can it be repaired, or must it be replaced? Also, what was the original finish on the bumpers; about 50 years ago mine were painted with silver paint. Were they originally chromed? Con Oamek, Redlands, CA

I've had some repaired. I'm sure you loose some, if not all of the integrity of the bumper. Sometime you have to fix them for the appearance if you can't find another. As for the finish, they're chrome on just the face. The back side & the top & bottom edge are silver if i'm not mistaking. I'd have to look at the one i have at home...joe

Since you have a single face bar bumper and not the early 1931 double face bars, you can purchase a new reproduction face bar and/or bracket from the Filling Station in Lebanon, Oregon. The face bars come already chrome plated.

On the finish, when the bumper face bars were originally plated the top and bottom edges and the faces were polished and then chrome plated. Since the backs of the face bars were not polished the backs were plated also but the finish was a dull chrome.

i HAD NEW BUMPER BRACKETS MADE FOR MY 31 COUPE. They are the two face bumpers. I took them to a local shop that works on leaf springs. They did a great job on reproducing the brackets with the curl on the ends just like the original ones. Good luck on the project.

Thanks for the information. My 5 passenger coupe has a homemade crank handle slot welded on to the bumper; guess I will skip that "improvement" when I put it back together. I also have a homemade flat metal bar, twisted to horizontal, between the rear bumperettes with a hole for a hitch bolt (pre-hitch ball setup!). Luckily this is only mounted on the bolts and not welded. What would be a more appropriate hitch setup? I have a neat old trailer I would like to tow.