Thread: '37 bumpers

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Can anyone tell me if the front and rear bumpers on a '37 Ford are the same or does one have more of a curve to it than the other? I have an old rusty '37 bumper to play with for the back of my '35, but it seems from pictures that the front bumper on a '37 may have less curve allowing it to fit better for me on the rear. thanks!

They should be the same. I think what you might be seeing is the difference in the way they pull up on the mounting brackets. The bumper faces have some "spring" to them and will flatten out as they are drawn to the bracket. My '36 appears the same way.

ok thanks Bob. I think i'll just have to shorten the brackets and see how far I can pull it in towards the body. I think to get it as close to the body as i want it will stick out too far past the fenders on the sides as the bumper flattens out. Then I would have to cut it up and re chrome it which would cost too much.

Here's a pic of the brackets I put on the back of the coupe, I have a similar pair on the roadster. I can't find where I stashed the stock brackets right now, but these measure 5 inches out from the mounting surface to the flat inner leg face. It gets the bumper about as close to the fender for a street driven car as would be comfortable. I don't think your bumper would spread that much with this kind of setup, mine didn't.

Okay, I just ran across something interesting about the '37 bumpers. Drake sells one part number for both front and rear. Rock Valley shows two part numbers for passenger, one for truck. They use the same part number for the pass front, and both front and rear on pickup, then the different part number for the pass. rear. So, your original idea MAY still be right about different curvature. Still, they are flexible, so it may not make a difference.

Originally Posted by 35fordcoupe

Can anyone tell me if the front and rear bumpers on a '37 Ford are the same or does one have more of a curve to it than the other? I have an old rusty '37 bumper to play with for the back of my '35, but it seems from pictures that the front bumper on a '37 may have less curve allowing it to fit better for me on the rear. thanks!

The front and rear bumpers on a 37 are definitely not the same. Here's a pic of mine hanging on my garage wall. The top one is the front, bottom is the rear. Hope this helps.

wow randy that does help. not only is the front bumper less curved, but it seems to be narrower which should work out great! I lucked out and found a rear bumper to play with for cheap (although I think it is too pitted to save, it was only 20 bucks). now I just need to get my hands on a front bumper to see if it will work (short of spending $400 on a new one only to find out it won't work.

bob- the funny thing about the bumper being so close to the fender with the short brackets is that the bumper is mounted to the body so if it gets hit, the body is going to be smashed anyway. that is if whatever hits the car actually hits the bumper. way back when in the late fifties when my dad was driving this car it was hit at the spare tire crushing the body and the bumper was usless anyway...and that was when the bumper sat 4-5" higher!

thank you both!