Technical ‘37 Ford With An Aftermarket Desoto Bumper Question

When I bought my ‘37 Ford it had a Continental Kit that I despised so I removed it. With what’s going on in the world, there is definitely more time to do things that I should have done years ago. One I’d like to do while under self quarantine is get the bumper back to the body where it belongs. Any suggestions on doing that? Do I need to order new bumper brackets? Will the shorter brackets align with the existing holes in the aluminum bumper? I don’t have an Oxy/Acetylene torch so getting the existing brackets hot enough to get them where I need them is probably not an option. Any advice would be appreciated.
My apologies for the orientation of the photos..... that’s F’d up.

Maybe the best option would be pulling the bumper, pans and brackets off and sell everything including the Continental kit.... but how much demand is there for that for a ‘37 Ford?



Thanks,
Allan

 

I’d suggest buying a set of stock brkts and go from there.

 

@Al T I have set of rear bumper brackets for ‘37 and/or ‘38 Ford that need a good home. If they will work for your application, I will give them to you if you pay shipping.

I think I have a photo of them....if I can find it I will post it. If I can’t find it, I will dig them out and take pic. That may take a day, however.

Ray

 

HnStray, thanks very much! Should be able to pay some parts forward as well.

 

Yeah, but for the one guy that wants it for a tail dragger, where will find another???

 

Let's see the rest of the car

 

These are some old photos...... there have been some changes since then.

 

There’s been a pretty healthy discussion about skirts or no skirts.....

 

..... and I’ve been de-ninetying it.

 

Love the skirts and the car.
Love seeing the transformation.
Good work.

 

Have you considered installing the stock bumpers?

 

Mmmmm. Think my Dad needs that Continental kit for his 1936 Cabriolet. Just me thinking out loud for him .

 

Someone will want the continental kit stuff, even if it gets adapted to fit a different car of the same period. I think that rear bumper was custom made, you can have that done for Briz bumpers, maybe came in a kit with the continental stuff, I think once you have stock bumper brackets you're going to want a different bumper. If you pull that one into the body, it's going to wrap around the rear fenders really far, like the ends might overlap the ends of the skirts. I'd sell the bumper with the continental kit stuff. The '49 Chevy license overrider is cool though, I'd keep that.

 

I was going to say pretty much the same thing as Squab did above.

I think he said it all and the bumper will look really out of place moved in. The stock 37 bumper is not curved as much as that Briz bumper.

I don’t know if Briz is still building bumpers but I’d look into getting one designed to fit the rear of the 37

 

@Al T

Well, obviously it took “more than a day”......I have excuses if one or more is necessary.

In any case, the brackets have been found....pics attached. It appears there will need to be some ‘tweaking’ required, but they should be useable if they are what you are looking for.



Let me know what you think......

Ray

 

Ray,
Thanks for the post!
Sending you a PM.

Allan

 

So I pulled the bumper off thinking I was going to be using the generous offer of stock brackets from Ray.

As it turns out, the brackets are aluminum. Some rough bending got them more or less where they need to be to pull the bumper in where I’d like it.

With a little more fine tuning, this will work. Looks so much better.

I don’t think the bumper is too long at all.

 

Looks like you got what you wanted. Things just seem to work out.

 

Big difference.

 

1949 Plymouth ribbed bumpers or the stock 1937 Ford
bumpers would look so much better than your present ribbed "aluminum"
billet looking bumpers.
Just a thought or 2.

 

I respect your opinion...... but I’ve got them..... and I like them. Sure, there are better options out there, but I’ve got better things to spend money on. lol

 

I agree, length looks fine. Maybe it was the perspective of the picture that was throwing me off, but the ends really seemed like they wrapped around a lot further than they do. Now seeing the bumper in place, the size and shape seem just fine for the car.

 

Once again, I’ll have to agree with Squab.....what he said is how it looked to me too.

It looks good on the car. The tucked in look is much better.

I think I’d try polishing the aluminum bumpers now.

 

I was thinking the same thing!

 

I think these Brizio/Desoto style bumpers look better than the traditional ‘49 Plymouth bumpers in this application. They are slightly convex, and thinner in cross section, and they go better with the era of the car.

The popular ‘49 Plymouth bumpers are ‘C’ channel cross section and have a heavier look, which in my opinion anyway, is less complimentary to the ‘30s era cars.

Btw, I have a ‘49 Plymouth Club Coupe, have owned it since 1995 .....so no disrespect for the Pilgrim bumpers...I like them just fine...

Ray

 

DO IT!!!!!!

I think it will make it go the direction you are taking the car and lose even more of the street rod feel.

 

Keep an eye out for the original 37 Desoto`s. You will need two fronts. .

 

Very nice car, love them 37's

 

If you sell the Continental kit. You should send the gravel panel with it. Then just make new one out flat sheet metal. The bumpers look much better tucked in.

 

if you are looking to get rid of those rear bumper brackets, I will buy them from you. I need a set for my 37 coupe.

Manuel