[DeTomaso] Removing bumpers

Mike Thomas mbefthomas at comcast.net
Sun Mar 11 16:36:49 EDT 2012


FWIW, If you choose to go with a fiberglass replacement of the original L
front bumper, beware that there are a number of them out there (not sure
from which vendor) that are noticeably twisted due to a bad mold, and do not
meet the corners of the body well at all.  I had one of these on 6328 when I
bought her, and for the longest time thought the front of the car was
twisted by the way the front on view was distorted by the twisted bumper.

Mike Thomas

-----Original Message-----
From: detomaso-bounces at realbig.com [mailto:detomaso-bounces at realbig.com] On
Behalf Of JDeRyke at aol.com
Sent: Sunday, March 11, 2012 1:00 PM
To: boyd411 at gmail.com; detomaso at realbig.com
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Removing bumpers

With an L, when you remove the front bumper and the shock absorbers, you'll
find a network of overlapping sheetmetal seams where fenders & front panels
are spot-welded together. Pre-Ls had this area bodyworked and leaded but Ls
have it covered with the bumper. So besides the 2" holes for the bumper
shocks and the rings of smaller holes, there's considerable bodywork for the
'bumperless look'. Removing the bumper & all the attachments lightens the
front by about 60 lbs which you may notice as a change in handling. Removing
the rear lightens things by another 15 lbs. 

The chrome bumpers do not qualify as 'body-protectors' at any speed and the
L was only rated at 5 mph when new. A fiberglas replica is not much worse
and is lighter and cheaper. FWIW, the bumper spec (Sept '72) was supposed to
guard against headlight & tail light plus fuel system damage. It had nothing
to do with human protection or body damage. That came later. I'd suggest a
fiberglas L bumper painted body color as Tom Tjaarda wanted to do
originally. There is an article on bumpers in the upcoming April newsletter
(in the printers now). Good luck- J Deryke

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