Front Bumper stamped GM-U its a one piece i'm wondering if its original or aftermarket. 1950 fleetline. the rear is also a one piece but i haven't checked to see if it has the same stamp on it.
I'm pretty sure there were one piece bumpers required in the West Coast, California. One piece bumpers are also know as the California bumpers. If my memory serves me, it was only in California where they were, for whatever reason. Now, they've become a nice mild custom change from the three piece bumpers. I have them on both of my cars.
Common thought on this - California & Canadian cars came with them. They were not available as a replacement part, at least through Chevrolet parts catalogs.
I thought all 1950 Chevrolet bumpers , not including bumper guards or wrap around tips , were 1-peice bumpers. Actually 49-54 Chevrolet's all being 1-peice bumpers and 55-57 Chevrolet's being some 1-peice and some multiple peice. I have owned several early Chevrolet's and they have all had 1-peice bumpers not including bumper guards. I currently own a 1950 Chevrolet Bel-Air Hardtop and it has 1-peice bumpers. But then again I do live on the west coast ...but not in California. Sent from my SM-T387V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
would really like to see pictures of them to see the difference , I thought they were all one piece and heavy.
All the 49-54 chevys I’ve seen had 1 piece front and rear bumpers. Other then over riders and wing tips etc. Now I am in Canada so maybe that’s why?
Here is a pic of a Chevy I built back in the eighties. 3 piece bumpers are all we had back then. California and Canada has the 1 piece. I saw pontiacs of the early fifties vintage in the junkyard and they had one piece bumpers and are the same as the chevies.
My girlfriend's 51 has 3 piece bumpers on it and when we went looking for parts locally that's all we found. I did get some one piece bumpers from the BobK estate but I don't know if they're originals or just weathered versions of the recent repops, could be either.
That was one of the keys to a car that was built in a California plant rather than "back east" when I was a lot younger. I used to think it only applied to 57 Chevys but it looks like it was done earlier too. Probably due to what stamping press that the plant that did the bumpers had.
I always thought the 3-piece bumpers were used by the factories in cars going to "rust belt and denser population areas", cheaper replacement costs and happier insurance companies... dyno dave
Ease of manufacture … lots easier to stamp one piece than stamping 3 pieces, then riveting them together.
The three piece bumpers are actually bolted together. The bumperettes, both front and rear, cover the bolts and the area where the bumpers meet. I always thought it was the State of California that mandated the one piece bumpers. I seem to remember that being the reason. I also think it was in a post here, from many years ago.
I always thought it was a safety thing mandated in CA.......I know the tri-fives had "one piece" frames there too rather than the welded together "C" channels
Possibly some assembly plants bolted them together. Looking in my core pile, I find all the bolted 3 piece items have a mixture of hardware, some with course thread, some fine, some with the nuts on the outside, etc. Out of about 20 cores, only 5 or 6 are bolted.
When I removed my 3 piece bumpers from both cars, where they were bolted was related to the inner arm of the bumper bracket coming off the chassis. I don't remember if those flat heads held the bumperettes in place when the bolts were tightened up. It must have been the upper and lower holes were where the bumperettes bolted to the bumper, and the center hole bolted the bumpers to the bracket. It's been a long time since I took them off and replaced them with the one piece.
My 50 2 door deluxe had 1 piece bumper. Guys were always wanting to buy them. Pretty sure they were stock. The car was bought in Oklahoma when new. I had the paperwork from the 1st owner . Wish I still had the car.
I live in Joplin, MO. When I moved here 25 years ago I was told by older guys that Kansas Chevies also had one-piece bumpers. They called one-piece bumpers "Kansas bumpers." My '53 is a Missouri car and had original 3-piece bumpers when I bought it. My '51 Chevy is from Oklahoma City. Tomorrow I will check to see if the original bumpers are 1-piece or 3-piece.
iN STATES OTHER THAN California, DID THE DELUXE AND HARD TOP MODELS COME WITH 1 PIECE BUMPERS AND THE CHEAPER MODELS COME WITH A 3 PIECE? Must of hit the capital lock again.
The Jalopy Journal
