Features The Nerf Bar

I bought this one at Carlisle. I know I could have made a nicer one but the romance of having one made in a back yard garage sometime in the 50s was too much for me to resist.


The best one was the one that used a 49 Chevy front tag guard in the middle. It came in the AMT 40 Ford coupe kit.

 

I think your Dodge needs its bumpers! I like those years, (my Dad's first car was a '47 sedan)

Also, that's an accessory overrider, not a nerf. Maybe the overrider could go, but that thing is gonna look awkward without a bumper. You could shave the guards, but the bumpers overlap and bolt together underneath them.

 

I have to agree with weez, the car needs bumpers to look right. A set of ribbed bumpers would look good. My 2cents...

 

I bought 2 sets of the double bends for my 39. have to make extentions for the rear. beautiful parts

 

Exactly, as in the often used "slide job" pass that wasn't completed properly or in unintentional side to side contact as the cars track / shift around laterally when racing close aboard. The nerf (side) bars hit, and help keep the wheels from touching. Conversely, as a kid I always heard people saying at the track that one car got nerfed out of the way and I used that term nerfing myself to mean, incorrectly it would seem, for bumping someone out of the way versus side to side contact. Gary

 

So, if a nerf is a small bump or contact, that's probably where Nerf balls got their name.

A Nerf bar: where people get drunk and throw foam at each other.

 

I love the McCoy '40. To me it's just right. Nerf bars are really tough though. They either pull it all together like the McCoy car or the 37 posted earlier, or they just fail. Seems to be no middle ground. Subtlety is the key, I suppose, something that compliments the car but doesn't overwhelm it. It takes a good eye and an even better fabricator to pull this off. Of course, the same can be said of most elements of a really well done project.

 

Thanks guys! It's the kind of input I'm looking for (OT for this thread), but I'm still weighing my options since I just picked this thing up a couple months ago. I like the idea of a ribbed bumper. My biggest fear is making a mistake on something that I can't go back on.

I guess what I really need is Weez to draw me up something I can be inspired by (hehe)

 

A 50's survivor Deuce 5/W I greatly admired in the 70's,.. The Nerf bars were thrown away,....

 

Bass engineered one hell of a nerf bar/headlight mount/shock mount for his '29 roadster. Form AND function...same as everything else that comes out of his shop.

 

Any pictures of 35 Fords with nerf bars?

 

I made the ones on my avatar from heavy wall stainless. The stainless came from hospital I.V polls

 

Made the ones on my T and sprint car from SS as well. Buff it up and you are done, as long as you aren't super fussy. Way cheaper than chrome, and I like the look. ( roll bar and sidecar are Stainless too.)

 

Built this in '63 , was intended to be a push bar in an emergency.
We always towed it back to the pits though.

 

Did you say side car? PM sent. Gary

 

Many years ago I bought a set of double-oval chrome nerfs at a swap meet. They were supposedly from a fully-chromed old show car '41 Olds or somesuch odd make. I thought they would be adaptable to an early '30's Ford so I added them to the collection.

Then as I was cleaning house one time I came across them and decided they were too "odd" and wouldn't work on an early Ford. I don't remember if I sold them directly to him or if they went through another person first, but they ended up on Nads' '34 five-window. And they DO work. Just funky enough. Or maybe Nads is just funky enough to make them work for him.

 

Heres a pic of the nerfs I made for my topolino, flame cut from 3/4" steel, ground, sanded and polished to death ready for a chrome dip.

 

Latest one we did,

 

Oval racers need protection all around but they call their side bars "nerfs" and the front and rear bars are still called bumpers. And they are made to be used and take quite a bit of punishment.

I like em too, and I remember all the old dirt track cars from when I was a kid had em on the sides too so you didn't ride up on someone else's tire. Here's my '34

 

Actually in some states back then and even now I suppose they needed to be mistaken for a bumper.

Believe it or not Missouri still has a bumper law, it isn't enforced much any more, but it still exists. Back when I was still a Senior in High School ( late '60s early '70s) they still enforced it. Nerf bars were an option if they were not deemed to flimsy.

I have always loved them myself. I like them from simple to extreme. For my personal tast they need to be stout enough to push with but light enough to not look truckish.

I really like the ones that Ryan published. The idea of using the original bumper irons is a great idea. really smooth. If I get to keep my '38 it is going to have nerfs.

 

Mine are kind of a cross between a nerf and push bars... Not sure what I'd call them... bumperettes?

These were bought from another HAMBer a few years ago, I think he said they were on a '41 Ford custom back in the 50's, so they were a bolt on to the holes in my '46 frame. Do they look familiar to any of you guys who memorize the little pages... They are over 1/2" thick, and the chrome is almost mint.

 

Here's mine on the front of my '61 Falcon Sedan Delivery. California requires a front bumper. I love the rollpan on the '60-'61 Falcons. My Dad made them for from metal concrete forming stakes. These sufficed. Nasty shin getters tho', when workin' under the hood.

 

I call 'em evil. Looks like they'll gore ya! Looks good

 

That is an absolute!
Later,
Dick

 

Gotta show the back of Russ' car.

 

Here's a couple simple ones

 

Very nice work Josh!