66 Bumper Brace Spacer

[Peter M.]

Re 66 front bumper braces - Judging manual make mention of spacers present inside the bumper ends thru which black phospahte coated bolts pass but makes no mention of zinc plating or black phosphate coating for the spacers themselves. Does that mean the coating/color is not judged?

[Joe C.]

Re: 66 Bumper Brace Spacer

Peter:

I believe that the bumper bolts you refer to, are zinc plated, not black phosphate--most, if not all reproductions available today carry an "M" head mark, although the original bolts had other headmarks, such as "TR", "RSC", etc., in addition to "M".

The shims were only used as needed to align the bumper to the body (my car's bumpers did not require any shims). If properly installed, they will not be seen anyway.

Joe

[Peter M.]

Re: 66 Bumper Brace Spacer

Joe - Thanks for your reply - I think you may have misunderstood the question - I believe all the 66 front bumper bolts were zinc or cad except for the bumper brace bolts that attach from the fore/aft under car braces (from the cars front main crossmember) which attach to the chrome extentions that run from the downward loop of each bumper. The judging manual clearly states that those 4 bolts/l washers and nuts are black phosphate (which my originals are) - the question refered to the spacers (not shims) that are inside those lower braces ie are they black phosphate or zinc/cad as the judging manual does not seem to address this.

[Joe C.]

Re: 66 Bumper Brace Spacer

Peter:

The spacers inside my braces are reproduction, and are black phosphate, like the thru bolts---that is not to say that they are "correct". There is always the possibility that a judge who is having a bad day will dislike the color of your spacers. The TIM&JG is only a guide, and as far as I know, any omission does not prevent the excluded item from being scrutinized, and gives the judge very wide latitude in determining authenticity. The spacers, although not specifically mentioned in TIM&JG, are part of the "attaching hardware", and there is a line item for this on the "chassis" judging sheet. In cases such as this, just hope that the person judging your car knows what he/she is doing, and woke up on the right side of the bed. Sorry I could not be more specific, but I think you get the message.

Joe